Tier 1b
Encyclopedia
Tier 1b is Burt Rutan
's nickname for the suborbital
tourist
human spaceflight
platform in development at Scaled Composites
with Mojave Aerospace Ventures
by The Spaceship Company
for Virgin Galactic
. It is an evolutionary development of Tier One
, the Ansari X-Prize winning entry in the demonstration suborbital space tourism contest held by the X-Prize Foundation.
White Knight Two will be an aircraft capable of attaining an altitude
of at least 50000 ft (15,240 m) or 15 km and be aerobatic, offering several seconds of weightlessness
. This will allow space tourists to train before their flight. White Knight Two will have a twin-boom design, with SpaceShipTwo nestled between the two hulls. One hull will contain tourists on zero-g flights, the other hull will contain astronauts in training, and be identical to SpaceShipTwo's cabin. White Knight Two is a development upon the White Knight (or White Knight One) design.
SpaceShipTwo will have a cockpit similar to SpaceShipOne, and a large cabin to allow tourists to float weightlessly. It is anticipated that the flight profile will allow for 4 minutes of weightlessness and 40 seconds transition from weightless to one g
. SpaceShipTwo is a development upon the SpaceShipOne design.
White Knight Two will carry SpaceShipTwo up to launch altitude, where it will be air launch
ed, and will rocket through suborbital
trajectory.
The launch customer of Tier 1b is Virgin Galactic, which will have the first two WK2 units, first five SS2 units, and exclusive rights to the craft for the first few years.
The first WK2 was rolled out on July 28, 2008 and named VMS Eve
. Its first test flight was on December 21, 2008.
Burt Rutan
Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft...
's nickname for the suborbital
Sub-orbital spaceflight
A sub-orbital space flight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it does not complete one orbital revolution....
tourist
Space tourism
Space Tourism is space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, hoping to create a space tourism industry...
human spaceflight
Human spaceflight
Human spaceflight is spaceflight with humans on the spacecraft. When a spacecraft is manned, it can be piloted directly, as opposed to machine or robotic space probes and remotely-controlled satellites....
platform in development at Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites is an aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman that is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States...
with Mojave Aerospace Ventures
Mojave Aerospace Ventures
Mojave Aerospace Ventures is a company founded by Paul Allen and Burt Rutan to handle the commercial spinoffs from the Tier One project. It owns the intellectual property arising from Tier One, and it is in turn owned by Paul Allen and Burt Rutan...
by The Spaceship Company
The Spaceship Company
The Spaceship Company is a spacecraft manufacturing company formed by Burt Rutan and Richard Branson in mid-2005, jointly owned by Virgin Group and Scaled Composites, which will own the technology created by Scaled for Virgin Galactic's Virgin SpaceShip program...
for Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is a company within Richard Branson's Virgin Group which plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public, along with suborbital space science missions and orbital launches of small satellites...
. It is an evolutionary development of Tier One
Tier One
Tier One is Scaled Composites' program of suborbital human spaceflight using the reusable spacecraft SpaceShipOne and its launcher White Knight. The craft was designed by Burt Rutan, and the project is funded 20 million US Dollars by Paul Allen...
, the Ansari X-Prize winning entry in the demonstration suborbital space tourism contest held by the X-Prize Foundation.
White Knight Two will be an aircraft capable of attaining an altitude
Altitude
Altitude or height is defined based on the context in which it is used . As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The reference datum also often varies according to the context...
of at least 50000 ft (15,240 m) or 15 km and be aerobatic, offering several seconds of weightlessness
Weightlessness
Weightlessness is the condition that exists for an object or person when they experience little or no acceleration except the acceleration that defines their inertial trajectory, or the trajectory of pure free-fall...
. This will allow space tourists to train before their flight. White Knight Two will have a twin-boom design, with SpaceShipTwo nestled between the two hulls. One hull will contain tourists on zero-g flights, the other hull will contain astronauts in training, and be identical to SpaceShipTwo's cabin. White Knight Two is a development upon the White Knight (or White Knight One) design.
SpaceShipTwo will have a cockpit similar to SpaceShipOne, and a large cabin to allow tourists to float weightlessly. It is anticipated that the flight profile will allow for 4 minutes of weightlessness and 40 seconds transition from weightless to one g
G-force
The g-force associated with an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall. This acceleration experienced by an object is due to the vector sum of non-gravitational forces acting on an object free to move. The accelerations that are not produced by gravity are termed proper accelerations, and...
. SpaceShipTwo is a development upon the SpaceShipOne design.
White Knight Two will carry SpaceShipTwo up to launch altitude, where it will be air launch
Air launch
Air launching is the practice of dropping a parasite aircraft, rocket, or missile from a mothership. The parasite aircraft or missile is usually tucked under the wing of the larger mothership and then "dropped" from underneath the wing while in flight...
ed, and will rocket through suborbital
Sub-orbital spaceflight
A sub-orbital space flight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it does not complete one orbital revolution....
trajectory.
The launch customer of Tier 1b is Virgin Galactic, which will have the first two WK2 units, first five SS2 units, and exclusive rights to the craft for the first few years.
The first WK2 was rolled out on July 28, 2008 and named VMS Eve
VMS Eve
VMS Eve is a carrier mothership for Virgin Galactic and launch platform for Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo-based Virgin SpaceShips....
. Its first test flight was on December 21, 2008.
External links
- SPACE.com : Burt Rutan on Civilian Spaceflight, Breakthroughs, and Inside SpaceShipTwo (Leonard David) 11 August 2006 03:54 pm ET