The day has a 'y' in it, so Virgin Galactic has announced another delay
- Reference: 1631532655
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/09/13/virgin_galactic/
- Source link:
This new delay will affect Virgin's first commercial mission, the 23rd for the VSS Unity rocket-powered spaceplane, after a supplier flagged a manufacturing defect in a component of the flight actuation system.
The issue is unrelated to the Unity 22 test flight problems in July, when, as readers may recall, founder [2]Richard Branson's flight veered off course slightly for a matter of minutes. That debacle ensured that further SpaceShipTwo flights were put on hold while the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Virgin Galactic probed what caused the drift.
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As for the Unity 23 component, Virgin Galactic remained tight-lipped on what it was, only confirming it was unsure if the issue had found its way into its vehicles. The timeline for any potential repair or replacement (if required) is therefore unknown.
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FAA issue aside, "which is focused on air traffic control clearance and communications," according to Virgin Galactic, the company had been pressing ahead on preparations for Unity 23, its first research customer mission.
The flight is to carry three paying crew members from the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council. These will be Angelo Landolfi, Pantaleone Carlucci, and Walter Villadei, who trained as a cosmonaut and will serve as mission lead. Chief Astronaut at Virgin Galactic Beth Moses will also be along for the ride, but not interacting with the Italian experiments.
[6]Branson (in a) pickle: FAA grounds Virgin Galactic flights after billionaire's space trip veered off course
[7]Branson sews cash parachute for Virgin Atlantic with $300m Virgin Galactic share sale
[8]Richard Branson uses two planes to make 170km round trip
[9]Richard Branson plans to trump Jeff Bezos by 9 days in billionaires' space race
The Register asked Virgin Galactic for clarification on the component itself and what impact repair or replacement might have, but we have yet to receive a response.
Combined with the ongoing FAA investigation, the company reckons that mid-October is now the earliest date for the opening of the flight window for the Italian Air Force flight, Unity 23. A delay, sure, but nothing compared to how long it took before Richard Branson and his beard could be loaded up.
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In the company's [11]financial results for Q2 2021 , it announced it was aiming for late September for Unity 23.
Virgin Galactic also set a starting price of $450,000 for a seat onboard the rocket-powered contraption, with options for couples and a "friends/family" package. ®
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[1] https://investors.virgingalactic.com/news/news-details/2021/Virgin-Galactic-Provides-Update-on-Unity-23-Test-Flight/default.aspx
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/03/virgin_galactic_grounded/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YT91vLNnyHImyTgv2HNKAgAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YT91vLNnyHImyTgv2HNKAgAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YT91vLNnyHImyTgv2HNKAgAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/03/virgin_galactic_grounded/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/16/branson_sells_virgin_galactic_shares/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/12/virgin_galactic_successful_crewed_flight/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/02/branson_vss_unity_move/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YT91vLNnyHImyTgv2HNKAgAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://investors.virgingalactic.com/news/news-details/2021/Virgin-Galactic-Announces-Second-Quarter-2021-Financial-Results/default.aspx
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Only if you're happy with monopolies.
Well, yes, the gargantuan amounts of carbon-based emissions that Musk's erections produce on each launch will, if widespread, render everything pointless as they cook the planet to death in the fullness of time.
He claims he will develop renewable biofuels to feed their appetite, but neglects to observe how many planets he will need to grow and process enough biofuel on.
That's what happens when you spend your formative years without a mothership.
Since you appear a little under-informed on the topic, I offer in good faith a video by Everyday Astronaut that addresses the subject at length:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4VHfmiwuv4
If you are disinclined to watch the full thing, here's the TL;DW: The amount of emissions isn't nothing, but it's not nearly as much as you think.
I'd suggest you look for some actual numbers for CO2 from the space industry, then compare them to CO2 from a variety of other human activities. You might find that, if we do end up cooking to death, rocket launches will have pretty much nothing to do with it.
Monopolies
A monopoly does not have to be evil but it does provide illegal opportunities. The sort of thing to look out for would be SpaceX putting their launch price up by $50M and bundling 1000 "free" Teslas with every launch.
SpaceX prices are unpopular with their critics. When the US government buys a launch from SpaceX they say the prices is much higher than the cost to SpaceX (while still being far cheaper than the alternatives). When talking to investors they say the prices are much lower than the costs because no-one knows the cost of re-use, the investors are subsidising the price, re-use is impossible and only makes sense if you can re-use at least ten times, and other self contradictory rubbish.
Investors are throwing money at anything that might be able to compete with SpaceX. Rocket Lab are close to being able to re-use stage 1 of their small Electron rocket and have started on a medium sized re-usable rocket. If Jeff cancelled his stupid legal actions he would be able to retain the staff required to build his own rocket.
The "issue" is that SpaceX and Roscosmos launches of commercial cargo/passengers and Blue Origin (with it's err, uppy downy launches of something useful) have become basically reliable and basically on schedule. This is not like the old days when delays were common often due to development not keeping pace with flight plans and big bangs causing upsets to the schedules. I for one would rather suffer the inevitability of successful launches than wait for explosions to break the monotony because safety and development envelopes were pushed too hard ...
The quesion is whether cost cutting to maximise profits on the balance sheet will compromise the safety of the systems ...
>The quesion is whether cost cutting to maximise profits on the balance sheet will compromise the safety of the systems ...
Compared to the Space Shuttle ?
The thing about maximizing profits is that it generally requires minimizing blowing stuff up.
No Ys in most of European days
Where I live in the middle of Europe, there are no Ys in the days at all, but there are a few Ks: Nedela, Pondelok, Utorok, Streda, Stvrtok, Piatok, Sobota.
Re: No Ys in most of European days
Clearly Mr Speed is confused because today is Sweetmorn, the 37th day of Bureaucracy in the YOLD 3187. Grudnuk demand sustenance!
Supplier identified fault
Maybe it’s me, but sometimes the tone of these articles always seem to be belittling which ever company is being written about, be it Virgin, Space X or Blue Origins. I remember the outcome back in Jan 28 1986 where a supplier identified a fault, who also ended up being belittled, bullied, threatened and ultimately overruled.
Finding faults is not a bad thing when the ship is still on the ground, or during testing. But I guess that “Fault found, flight delayed, fault fixed” doesn’t cause big front page headlines.
Re: Supplier identified fault
Are you new here? This is the house style.
Re: Supplier identified fault
The Register has an "entertaining tabloid" style that is slightly more informative than the Sun or Mirror newspapers.
In any case, good news never sold any newspapers.
I used to find, about 10 years ago this pretty exciting, but Musk and .co have surely now rendered this all a little pointless?