Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two crashed?
Discussion
toohuge said:
Jasandjules said:
That is a shame.
I don't want to make light of it but many people die pushing boundaries of technology
I agree. The risk that pioneers put themselves at are often overlooked. I don't want to make light of it but many people die pushing boundaries of technology
It must be awful for the company and the families at this time.
Folk in uni learn about risk premiums on debt of 2 or 3 per cent, for example. Small stuff, but perhaps we're just becoming complacent, so when the unimaginable happens it comes as a huge shock.
I'm grateful for these folks pushing boundaries for us.
simoid said:
I'm grateful for these folks pushing boundaries for us.
www.scaled.comEdited by cold thursday on Saturday 1st November 00:09
Bluequay said:
SV8Predator said:
Petrus1983 said:
something like this was bound to happen with one of the projects sooner or later, it's just what happens when you push and push against the barriers.
lazyitus said:
It's very sad but inevitable when humans keep trying to go the extra step. Aeroplanes, space shuttles, rockets... All have a history of death and disaster.
Well thank f
k you two were not on our side during WW2.How do you think humanity has progressed if it wasn't for "pushing against the barriers"?
In respect to not having an ejector seat I think it would have been too high - I saw in an interview with Felix Baumgartner that part of the project of parachuting from the edge of space was researching survivability suits for these types of endeavors.
CamMoreRon said:
Just to correct you on this, the craft with two fuselages is the launch vehicle, and the "space" craft is suspended between the two. The launch vehicle takes it up to 40k ft and detaches, then the space craft fires a solid rocket motor to boost it up to low Earth orbit. It was the space craft that had the malfunction and crash.. I assume the launch vehicle is ok. 
Anywho.. really sad to see this happen, but I seriously doubt it will put any ticket holders off!
Not even low earth orbit, it's suborbital.Anywho.. really sad to see this happen, but I seriously doubt it will put any ticket holders off!
SV8Predator said:
Well thank fk you two were not on our side during WW2.
How do you think humanity has progressed if it wasn't for "pushing against the barriers"?
But what boundaries is Virgin Galactic pushing? We were on the moon 45 years ago and the space shuttle was a manned space flight.k you two were not on our side during WW2.How do you think humanity has progressed if it wasn't for "pushing against the barriers"?
Galactic doesn't go very high, not to what I'd call space at all.
simoid said:
These days I think the chances of bad things happening can be so small that they're almost ignored. Not saying this is the case in this instance, however.
Folk in uni learn about risk premiums on debt of 2 or 3 per cent, for example. Small stuff, but perhaps we're just becoming complacent, so when the unimaginable happens it comes as a huge shock.
I'm grateful for these folks pushing boundaries for us.
I think that's it in a nutshell. We're so used to people being 'safe' whilst doing some quite extreme stuff that when it goes wrong there's quite a fuss..... and in these days of 24hr rolling news and instant worldwide communication news gets out faster, and we have more chance of photos or video to increase the impact of the story.Folk in uni learn about risk premiums on debt of 2 or 3 per cent, for example. Small stuff, but perhaps we're just becoming complacent, so when the unimaginable happens it comes as a huge shock.
I'm grateful for these folks pushing boundaries for us.
Thankyou4calling said:
Dr Jekyll said:
Far lower costs and reusability.
In theory
I know I'm playing devils advocate, that's how I am but other than bragging rights among very wealthy people ( and that's all it ever will be) whats the point of this project? In theory
Thankyou4calling said:
I know I'm playing devils advocate, that's how I am but other than bragging rights among very wealthy people ( and that's all it ever will be) whats the point of this project?
To make money from commercial spaceflight. A long shot but a perfectly reasonable objective.Thankyou4calling said:
Dr Jekyll said:
Far lower costs and reusability.
In theory
I know I'm playing devils advocate, that's how I am but other than bragging rights among very wealthy people ( and that's all it ever will be) whats the point of this project? In theory
I'm sure that when the Wright Brothers first flew, there would have been few people willing to predict that within 70 years we'd have a passenger transport capable of crossing the Atlantic in 3.5 hours.
I have always seen it as a great shame that, for reasons of political expediency, NASA was obliged to follow the route of using disposable rockets to get in to space, rather than developing the approach behind the X-15 and Dyna-Soar programmes. The Shuttle was only semi-reuseable, so only partially addressed this problem.
Projects like Virgin Galactic may finally offer a way out of that blind alley.
The whole project isn't pushing any boundaries. Well not technical ones anyway and they are the only important ones. Technically in the context of the industry what they are doing is fairly piss easy . Hell, they don't even have to deal with the beaut ratio nightmare that is ESA and before anyone mentions NASA they are a whole lot easier to deal with. The FAA and NTSB are going to have a field day with this though. The big difference between this and the proper stuff though of course is cost and simply put they are trying to do risk class 1 safety critical stuff on the cheap. At the moment the project is essentially just a tech demonstrator and PR stunt to help fund next gen launch concepts. No one really gives a fk about the grockle bus aspect, the money is in spacecraft launch.
The costs aspect are the main concern of the SpaceOps brigade, who obviously have different priorities over the Sys Primes and integrators. Again this thing never pushed any boundaries but it did cut corners and has done from day one. That's not a criticism, they are all the corners everyone in the Sys Prime world would love to bloody cut but can't because we aren't allowed. This is a ball ache for all of us now as it threatens a fair bit of future OPs planning within the industry.
k about the grockle bus aspect, the money is in spacecraft launch. The costs aspect are the main concern of the SpaceOps brigade, who obviously have different priorities over the Sys Primes and integrators. Again this thing never pushed any boundaries but it did cut corners and has done from day one. That's not a criticism, they are all the corners everyone in the Sys Prime world would love to bloody cut but can't because we aren't allowed. This is a ball ache for all of us now as it threatens a fair bit of future OPs planning within the industry.
eccles said:
Why single this project out? What's the point of a Bugatti Veyron?
The Veyron is the fastest production car ever made. It succeeded in its aim. Billions drive cars, cars are a massive business.Lots more points too.
Virgin Galactic isn't the fastest, highest, most reliable, highest. It'll never re coup it's costs and will end in failure.
What's the point of space ( if indeed this us space) travel? Other than fun for a few very wealthy people?
Thankyou4calling said:
eccles said:
Why single this project out? What's the point of a Bugatti Veyron?
The Veyron is the fastest production car ever made. It succeeded in its aim. Billions drive cars, cars are a massive business.Lots more points too.
Virgin Galactic isn't the fastest, highest, most reliable, highest. It'll never re coup it's costs and will end in failure.
What's the point of space ( if indeed this us space) travel? Other than fun for a few very wealthy people?
Q. What's the point of the internet when hidebound minded people get to post on it all the time?
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