Aerospace Technology

Many little children on Earth have always wanted to become an astronaut and go to space. As they grow on, they realize that only a few per year are chosen to work in government owned organizations such as NASA. However, currently, there are privately owned companies that are being formed that allow new astronautical careers. The Virgin Galactic Spaceline Company is a company that is creating spacecraft for commercial purposes. Burt Rutan, a famous aerospace engineer, develops and designs the spacecraft for the Virgin Galactic Spaceline Company and is known because of his creation of SpaceShipOne and currently constructing SpaceShipTwo. He is one of the best influential designers of aircraft and airframes in the 20th Century. Burt has also won the Ansari X-Prize for the SpaceShipOne´s historical flight on June 21. The Virgin Galactic Spaceline Company will allow astronautical careers to form and an expansion of an aerospace industry. Since this company is privately owned, astronauts and engineers will not be considered working for the government but commercially hired. The Virgin Galactic Spaceline Company are working with the Rutan Aircraft Factory commonly referred as the Scaled Composites company. The Scaled Composites Company was founded by Burt Rutan and has achieved creating lots of aircraft such as the famous Orbital Science Pegasus rocket, the rocket that carried the first hypersonic jet plane into action(X-43A scramjet) and the historical 318 White Knight that carried the first commercial spacecraft into high altitude and allowed SpaceShipOne to be blasted into space. These commercial spacecraft companies will allow more aerospace engineering jobs to expand and career astronaut seeking people will have a better chance of accomplishing their dreams.SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo are both commercial spacecrafts that transports passengers into low orbit and allows them to view and observe the earth from above the atmosphere. They are privately funded thus, did not receive any help from NASA or any other government organizations. On June 21, SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded manned spacecraft to leave the earth´s atmosphere. This accomplishment gave a name for the date, “historical flight”. To improve the engines of the SpaceShipOne, aerospace engineers are currently developing the engine by inserting a hybrid rocket engine that uses both liquid (nitrous oxide oxidizer) and solid(solid-form rubber fuel) propellant. To increase the speed of SpaceShipOne even more, many engineers propose to expand the amount of nitrous oxide oxidizers to and burn in its initial thrust which increases speed to have an earlier burst from the atmosphere. However, the use of an extensive amount of nitrous reduces the signal from the control system of steering in the atmosphere. Many engineers currently are arguing over the use of extensive nitrous or having a better control system of steering in the SpaceShipOne. It currently has the speed of Mach 2-3, 2 or 3 times the speed of sound, a reasonable amount of achievement without government funding. However, Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder, helped the project and donated 25 million dollars. Unfortunately, the historical SpaceShipOne was used only three times because of Burt Rutan decided to not risk damage on the spacecraft. It is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. However, two identical SpaceShipOnes are being used as experimental tests to reveal beneficial information for the future construction of the SpaceShipTwo.SpaceShipOne only allowed two passengers excluding the two pilots. To throttle into the atmosphere, a 318 White Knight jet-powered aircraft, needs to transport the SpaceShipOne 50,000 ft high. The 318 White Knight had the similar size of a Boeing 737 and had the length of 82ft. After reaching 50,000ft, the 318 White Knight dropped the SpaceShipOne and then flew back to base while the spacecraft blasted through the atmosphere. SpaceShipTwo, on the other hand, will support six passengers excluding the two pilots with a total of eight people. It will be transported just like SpaceShipOne but a 318 White Knight 2, the descendant of the 318 White Knight. SpaceShipTwo will be twice the size of its descendant and will construct windows for the passenger´s viewing pleasure. Five SpaceShipTwos are being constructed but names have not yet been placed. Currently, 200 people have reserved tickets and 95% of them have passed the 6-8g centrifuge tests, a test where it determines the ability to resist 0 gravity. The Scaled Composites expected the price of one seat of SpaceShipTwo would be around $200,000. The New Mexico government have funded for Spaceport America, the launch site of the SpaceShipTwos. Another spaceport is under construction in Mojave, California. These two spaceports will start being used after commercial launches begin.Many people have wanted to go to space but without being an astronaut, it was nearly impossible. However, the Virgin Galactic Spaceline Company gives the opportunity for people to visit space just like touring the Eiffel or hiking Mt. Everest. People now have a chance to visit outside our atmosphere with commercial spacecraft such as SpaceShipOne and Two. Although beforehand, passengers must pass the G-force test whether or not passengers are capable of resisting zero gravity. As many other companies such as the Rutan Aircraft Factory or the Scaled Composites Company are developing and helping with commercial spacecraft. As these privately owned companies expand their research and commercial spacecraft constructing abilities, I, in my opinion, believe that space tourism may occur one day.Information from www.wikipedia.org, www.aerospace-technology.com, www.space.com, and www.virgingalactic.com. Branson on model seats of the SpaceShipTwo. Virtual images of a flight on the SpaceShipTwo. Note the circle shaped windows that allow observations of Earth.