4 ms·

Virgin Galactic reveals initial vehicle design for high speed travel

13 points by punnerud 6y ago

Johnjonjoan 6y ago
Am I the only one who takes great pleasure in traveling (relatively) slow? (hyperbole) Give me a train over a plane any day. I don't want to seem old fashioned but I think there's great value in seeing the world go by at a speed you can actually relate to; where the things you pass still look the same as if you walked by them. I see it as an extremely value for money sight seeing tour.
- rocelot 6y ago
  Of course, like most things, it's entirely contextual. I agree with you, there's nothing I enjoy more than just looking out the window of a car, or train, or plane for that matter -- and if there isn't an urgency, or I'm traveling for pleasure that's just fine! Of course if I need to cross a portion of the globe as quickly as possible for any number of plausible reasons, or I have to cover an enormous distance on a regular basis, like I'm sure most people would agree, (and I'm sure for a stiff price) I'd certainly be glad to have the opportunity to take advantage of a hyperspeed way to do it.
- thatfrenchguy 6y ago
  You need to give people more time off for that. Not happening in the US any time soon, we're going the other direction.
deleted_account 6y ago
Mission Concept Review is a milestone in NASA's Program/Project Lifecycle: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nasa_systems_engineering_handbook_0.pdf https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nasa_sy.... It sits between the "Concept Studies" and "Concept and Technology Development" phases.
mchusma 6y ago
This is great! Let's see a new race between Boom and Virgin for a new generation of fast planes.
- mchusma 6y ago
  For some quick stats vs Boom: Virgin looks like mach 3, 19 seats. Boom looks like mac 2.2, 55 seats. https://boomsupersonic.com/overture https://boomsupersonic.com/overture
sunstone 6y ago
Interesting they are going for this approach rather than the parabolic near space technique of spaceX. Could these just be different market segments?

13 points by punnerud 6y ago

Am I the only one who takes great pleasure in traveling (relatively) slow? (hyperbole) Give me a train over a plane any day. I don't want to seem old fashioned but I think there's great value in seeing the world go by at a speed you can actually relate to; where the things you pass still look the same as if you walked by them. I see it as an extremely value for money sight seeing tour.

rocelot 6y ago
Of course, like most things, it's entirely contextual. I agree with you, there's nothing I enjoy more than just looking out the window of a car, or train, or plane for that matter -- and if there isn't an urgency, or I'm traveling for pleasure that's just fine! Of course if I need to cross a portion of the globe as quickly as possible for any number of plausible reasons, or I have to cover an enormous distance on a regular basis, like I'm sure most people would agree, (and I'm sure for a stiff price) I'd certainly be glad to have the opportunity to take advantage of a hyperspeed way to do it.
thatfrenchguy 6y ago
You need to give people more time off for that. Not happening in the US any time soon, we're going the other direction.

deleted_account 6y ago

Mission Concept Review is a milestone in NASA's Program/Project Lifecycle: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nasa_systems_engineering_handbook_0.pdf https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nasa_sy.... It sits between the "Concept Studies" and "Concept and Technology Development" phases.

mchusma 6y ago

This is great! Let's see a new race between Boom and Virgin for a new generation of fast planes.

mchusma 6y ago
For some quick stats vs Boom: Virgin looks like mach 3, 19 seats. Boom looks like mac 2.2, 55 seats. https://boomsupersonic.com/overture https://boomsupersonic.com/overture

sunstone 6y ago

Interesting they are going for this approach rather than the parabolic near space technique of spaceX. Could these just be different market segments?