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Which to me is why it’s crazy these have so much fuel and burn so hard - while Virgin’s “plane” gets as high as it does. Virgin isn’t trying to leave orbit, bu
by SlowRobotAhead 6y ago
Which to me is why it’s crazy these have so much fuel and burn so hard - while Virgin’s “plane” gets as high as it does.
Virgin isn’t trying to leave orbit, but it’s still really an interesting comparison to rockets.
- KineticLensman 6y ago> Virgin isn’t trying to leave orbit It isn't even trying to reach orbit. As soon as the fuel is exhausted it cannot help but fall back to Earth because it hasn't achieved orbital velocity. The passengers get a few minutes at high altitude, enough to experience weightlessness and see the stars. It's a suborbital lob, a much more polished version of the X-15 in the 1960s. [Edit - clarity]
- dotancohen 6y agoOrbit requires about 7.8 km/s. That an "s" on the end, not an "h". Orbital vehicles travel almost 8 kilometers every _second_ so as to miss the Earth when they fall. You're right, Virgin's plane gets very high, about one quarter as high as the international space station. But some missions require actual orbit.
- mnw21cam 6y agoYeah. See the first two pictures in https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ for an illustration. It only takes a small amount of fuel to reach space. It requires a huge amount to reach orbit.