VirGiN GAlACtiC

OUT OF THIS WORLD

Inthelast50yearsourqualityoflifehasbeenpositively influenced by man’s ability to go into space. The technology has been beneficial to many scientific endeavours such as weather

forecasting, communications and climate studies to name a few examples. Without it, our ability to understand the pace and

nature of climate change would be curtailed, as much of the evidence of the causes and

effects of global warming have been derived from satellite technology.

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Virgin Galactic’s commercial suborbital space craft are based on Burt Rutan and Paul Allen’s SpaceShipOne, which won the Anasari X-prizein2004.TheAnasariX-prizewasa $10 million US prize for the first commercial enterprise to travel into space using a privately funded, reusable, manned spacecraft twice in a two week period.

Rocket boosters power the first stages of ground based launches. Usually the oxygen is combined with fuel using curing and binding agents which contain toxic substances that deplete ozone (e.g. hydrochloric acid, aluminum oxide and chlorine). The advantage of Virgin Galactic’s hybrid rocket motor is that the fuel and the oxidiser are separate thus avoiding using these agents.

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Distance to‘STOP’ line

ahead

Crossroads Junction onbend ahead

T-junction withpriority over

vehicles fromthe right

Staggeredjunction

Distance to‘Give Way’line ahead

Warning signsMostly triangular

Double bend firstto left (symbol

may be reversed)

Bend to right(or left if symbol

reversed)

Roundabout Uneven road Plate belowsome signs

Dualcarriageway

ends

Roadnarrows onboth sides

Two-way trafficstraight ahead

Two-waytraffic crossesone-way road

Road narrows onright (left if

symbol reversed)

Traffic signals Slippery road Steep hillupwards

Gradients may be shown as a ratio i.e. 20% = 1:5

Steep hilldownwards

Traffic signalsnot in use

The priority through route is indicated by the broader line.

Level crossingwith barrier or

gate ahead

Level crossingwithout barrieror gate ahead

Level crossingwithout barrier

Tramscrossingahead

Opening orswing bridge

ahead

Falling orfallen rocks

Low-flying aircraftor sudden

aircraft noise

Tunnel ahead

Traffic mergingfrom left ahead

change

direction

in thinking

Continuing to realise the potential that space

holds requires a dramatic and rapid change in

space access technology, away from the dirty,

dangerous and expensive systems that have

been employed for the last half century. We need

to make space travel less carbon intensive, less

environmentally damaging, less wasteful, safer

and more cost efficient so that it can play a key

role in the low carbon economy of the future.

Here is what our companies are doing to make going out of this world more sustainable:

Cleaner space technologyVirgin Galactic is a clean-tech project whose

mission has been to overturn much of the

traditional thinking behind 50 years of space

travel . this has been realised with a design

that has transformed the safety, cost and

environmental impacts of access to space.

Virgin’s willingness to invest and take risks has

already pushed the pace of change beyond

that which government agencies and traditional

industry have been able to achieve.

• VirginGalactic’sspacecraftisairlaunched

from a carrier aircraft at 50,000 ft rather than

a vertical ground launch, radically reducing the

amount of energy and therefore rocket fuel

required to propel the vehicle into space

• thesystemisalmostentirelyconstructed

from carbon composite materials that are four

times the strength of steel but only a quarter

of the weight, dramatically reducing energy

requirements

• thespaceship’shybridrocketmotoronlyuses

benign, non-toxic fuels

• VirginGalactic’ssystemisreusabletoagreater

extent than any other manned space vehicle.

Test BedWhiteKnighttwo is already the world’s largest

all carbon composite aviation vehicle and the

most fuel efficient of its size. in achieving its

mission, Virgin Galactic can act as a test-bed for

new and clean technologies, such as the use of

carbon composites in large aircraft, which have

applications across a range of industrial sectors.

due to the experimental licence under which it

operates, Virgin Galactic could also provide an

ideal platform for testing the commercial use

of and regulatory requirements for sustainable,

renewable jet fuel.

rocketfuel

reduction

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cArBonfooTprinT

Carbon footprintCalculations suggest that emissions per

passenger, per suborbital space flight, will be

approximately 0.8 tonnes1 – less than the per

passenger footprint of a one-way business class

flight from london to New york. Approximately

70% of the spaceflight carbon footprint is from

the WhiteKnighttwo carrier aircraft, rather than

the spaceship itself. this means there is great

potential to reduce the overall carbon emissions

from non-renewable sources by using a large

proportion of sustainable fuel, once one is

available.

Our markets:

Space tourismto date, fewer than 500 people have travelled

into space, but Virgin Galactic will offer many

thousands of people from around the world

the opportunity to experience space travel first

hand. this kind of space tourism presents itself

as the primary target market for Virgin Galactic,

without which the project would not have been

feasible .

Scientific researchVirgin Galactic aims to support low gravity and

near-space scientific research through its space

launch systems. in particular, access to the upper

atmosphere from the limit of commercial aviation

at ~12km (40000ft) to the edge of space at

~100km is currently very limited. Balloons cannot

reach the upper atmosphere and orbital vehicles

fly too high. Ground-based measurements e.g.

with lasers, and rocket experiments into this

region of the atmosphere, have either limited

sensitivity or duration respectively.

the upper atmosphere is the “gateway” that

connects Earth’s environment and space. Here

great surges of energy meet; energy from the

sun and interplanetary space travelling inwards

and energy from the Earth’s surface radiating

back into space. A specific region of the upper

atmosphere, the mesosphere (50-90km) is a

highly sensitive indicator of global atmospheric

temperatures, with the potential to act as the

‘canary in the coal mine’ where climate change is

concerned . Virgin Galactic aims to revolutionise

regular access to this region for scientists and

their experiments, thus greatly enhancing

our ability to understand climate change and

determine appropriate strategies to mitigate the

impacts.

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earth

troposphere

stratosphere

thermosphere (aurora)

mesosphere

space

1. this is an estimate. Virgin Galactic will not know the exact carbon footprint until SpaceShiptwo completes its powered test flight programme.

An artist’s impression of virgin galactic’s future home, spaceport America in new Mexico - now in course of construction.

virgin galactic’s carrier aircraft vMs eve - the world’s largest all composite aviation vehicle.

The Virgin Galactic space tourism project has attracted a global media following and high levels of public enthusiasm and support. Virgin Galactic has been able to use its high profile to raise money for good causes. For example, in 2007 Virgin Galactic auctioned off a seat and raised $300,000 US which was donated to Virgin Unite to help support the creation of the Disease Control hub, a partnership with the South African Government that aims to help save thousands of lives (you can read more about this in the Unite section on page 74).

in addition, the ability to travel suborbitally and experience

periods of near-zero or ‘microgravity’ will allow for a wide

range of valuable scientific experiments to be carried out,

which currently have to be performed using sounding

rockets or at great cost, using the long duration space

station or space shuttle. Microgravity science can help to

address problems such as protein folding, instrumental

in developing drugs to combat a host of diseases; as well

as aiding research into new materials for transportation,

computing and biomedicine.

the space launch system under development will allow

more detailed, affordable and frequent microgravity

science experiments to be carried out by humans rather

than robots, potentially advancing several areas of science

that have stagnated in the last few decades due to poor

access to space.

Partnering with NASAuS space policy has increasingly been looking to the

emerging private sector to provide space launch services

– initially for payload but potentially in the future for

professional astronauts and scientists .

While not Virgin Galactic’s core market, given these

trends in uS policy, there may be future opportunities for

NASA to purchase Virgin Galactic suborbital flights for

professional astronaut training, science research and the

testing and qualification of equipment designed to operate

in space. this will allow NASA to achieve its aims more

cheaply, effectively and with less environmental impact

whilst enabling it to devote increased resources to non-

commercial but vital exploration activities.

The FutureVirgin Galactic’s plan for suborbital space launch

represents the first of many necessary steps if we are to

reap the greater benefits that space has to offer. the next

steps will require significant new private sector investment

which we believe will be readily available if Virgin Galactic

is a commercial success. it is clear from industries such as

mobile telephony that once technologies are opened to

private r&d and investment, that innovation and change

can rapidly follow. this is where Virgin Galactic, as a private

company, can really make a difference.

We believe that the advent of cheap, on-demand small

satellite launch vehicles, space-based solar power, space-

based server farms, transcontinental passenger and freight

travel via space and a range of other transformational

applications are all achievable in a relatively short time

frame. How short, will depend to a large degree on the

early and visible success of Virgin Galactic and other

similar cutting edge clean-tech space initiatives.

“We could use commercial suborbital human

transportation for early training of astronauts.

. . . If I could buy a seat to suborbital flight

for a few hundred thousand dollars. . . why

wouldn’t we have all our new astronauts make

their first flights in such a manner?”

Previous NASA Administrator Mike Griffin has

publicly stated:

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No vehicles over maximum gross weight

shown (in tonnes)

Parking restricted to

permit holders

No waiting

No stopping during period indicated except for buses

No stopping (Clearway)

No stopping during times shown

except for as long as necessary to set

down or pick up passengers

Signs with blue circles but no red border mostly give positive instruction.

Ahead only Turn left ahead Turn left Keep left Vehicles may (right if symbol (right if symbol (right if symbol pass either

reversed) reversed) reversed) side to reach same

destination

Mini-roundabout Route to be Segregated Minimum speed End of minimum (roundabout used by pedal pedal cycle speed

circulation - give cycles only and pedestrian way to vehicles route

from the immediate right)

One-way traffic (note: compare

Pedestrian crossing

point over circular ‘Ahead Buses and Trams only tramway only’ sign)cycles only

With-flow bus and Contra-flow bus lane With-flow pedal cycle lane cycle lane

113

Area in which

cameras are

used to enforce

traffic regulations

Traffic has priority over

oncoming vehicles

No through road

for vehicles

Hospital ahead with

Accident and

Emergency facilities

Touristinformation

point

Recommended route

for pedal cycles

Bus lane on road at

junction ahead

Information signs - continued

Road worksLoosechippings

Road works signs

Road works

1 mile ahead

End of road works and

any temporary restrictions

including speed limits

Temporary hazard

at road worksTemporary lane closure

(the number and position

of arrows and red bars

may be varied according

to lanes open and closed)

Lane restrictions at

road works aheadOne lane crossover

at contraflow

road works Signs used on the back of slow-moving or

stationary vehicles warning of a lane closed

ahead by a works vehicle. There are no

cones on the road.

Slow-moving or

stationary works

vehicle blocking a

traffic lane. Pass in

the direction shown

by the arrow.

Mandatoryspeed

limit ahead

Home Zone Entry

Source: david. l, (2008) Private Suborbital Spaceships Could Aid NASA Science. Space.com (http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/080910-tw-nasa-suborbitalships.html)