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Good for them, but man it's been a long time. SS1 won the X-Prize almost exactly 9 years ago, and apparently took about 3 years to get there. I know a revenue v

Good for them, but man it's been a long time. SS1 won the X-Prize almost exactly 9 years ago, and apparently took about 3 years to get there. I know a revenue version is going to have more details to attend to, but that's still a long time for approximately the same system. My understanding from the "industry" is that most of the delay was in scaling the hybrid engine up. Which I can imagine, as it's the largest operational hybrid ever made--though a smallish motor as far as conventional liquid or solid rocketry goes. I wonder if they regret pioneering in this particular area. If it works eventually (and looks like they finally got it going) it may work out okay, but they'd probably have been flying years ago with a liquid system. As is they may just barely beat XCOR (which has next to no money in comparison) into revenue flight. Personally I don't doubt that the hybrid approach was a poor idea (if for no other reason than casting and reloading giant rubber grains seems cumbersome in comparison to re-filling with kerosene), but we'll soon have a hybrid rocketplane (SS2) and a liquid rocketplane (Lynx) flying side-by-side, so I guess we'll see. Though Virgin's money and press may tilt the playing field.

ianstallings 13y ago
I think it comes down to safety. Supposedly the hybrid is a safer rocket motor than a conventional liquid engine. I understand their concern. They already have 600 tickets sold at $250k a piece and if on launch number 40 the rocket goes BOOM, which liquid rockets are prone to do, it could be a disaster. I think eventually it's a given that one of the rocket motors will explode. Hopefully when the hybrid one goes, say from a air pocket in the solid fuel, it won't be a fatal disaster. That all being said - space is dangerous. I hope people are prepared for all that entails.
- deletes 13y ago
  Agreed, They might as well close the company when a disaster happens. I wouldn't risk my life for 3 minutes of weightlessness. A week or two in space is another story.
  - ianstallings 13y ago
    Yeah I don't like the idea of going to space for a quick trip very much. Rockets are incredibly powerful, and hence dangerous, machines. Never mind all the inherent dangers of the environment. It's just not enough pay off for me. One could always take a lift on the vomit comet if they want to feel weightless: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced_gravity_aircraft http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced_gravity_aircraft A trip to the ISS though? Holy cow I'd risk my life to go there. 300km orbit for a few weeks? It's just too much to pass up.
  - tezza 13y ago
    Of course you are right it would be a complete disaster. However that might not be the end of it all. HN's SimonW gave a talk at Electromagnetic Wave 2013 about the fun and frolics of Zepplins. Apparently plenty of them crashed and burned, but people kept travelling on them. Early aeroplanes would crash too. http://lanyrd.com/2013/emw/scgptt/ http://lanyrd.com/2013/emw/scgptt/
- InclinedPlane 13y ago
  There's very little evidence of their hybrid rocket motor being safer than liquid fueled engines. An accident at the Scaled Composites plant killed 3 people and severely injured several others during a test of the rocket system, for example. Also, liquid rockets are not particularly prone to "go boom", the most likely failure scenario is a loss of control, but that can happen to any rocket.
jlgreco 13y ago
Scaled Composites had an accident back in 2007 with SpaceShipTwo that killed three people while they were testing their N2O tanks on the ground. I think that may have set them back a few years.

ianstallings 13y ago

I think it comes down to safety. Supposedly the hybrid is a safer rocket motor than a conventional liquid engine. I understand their concern. They already have 600 tickets sold at $250k a piece and if on launch number 40 the rocket goes BOOM, which liquid rockets are prone to do, it could be a disaster. I think eventually it's a given that one of the rocket motors will explode. Hopefully when the hybrid one goes, say from a air pocket in the solid fuel, it won't be a fatal disaster. That all being said - space is dangerous. I hope people are prepared for all that entails.

deletes 13y ago
Agreed, They might as well close the company when a disaster happens. I wouldn't risk my life for 3 minutes of weightlessness. A week or two in space is another story.
- ianstallings 13y ago
  Yeah I don't like the idea of going to space for a quick trip very much. Rockets are incredibly powerful, and hence dangerous, machines. Never mind all the inherent dangers of the environment. It's just not enough pay off for me. One could always take a lift on the vomit comet if they want to feel weightless: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced_gravity_aircraft http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced_gravity_aircraft A trip to the ISS though? Holy cow I'd risk my life to go there. 300km orbit for a few weeks? It's just too much to pass up.
- tezza 13y ago
  Of course you are right it would be a complete disaster. However that might not be the end of it all. HN's SimonW gave a talk at Electromagnetic Wave 2013 about the fun and frolics of Zepplins. Apparently plenty of them crashed and burned, but people kept travelling on them. Early aeroplanes would crash too. http://lanyrd.com/2013/emw/scgptt/ http://lanyrd.com/2013/emw/scgptt/
InclinedPlane 13y ago
There's very little evidence of their hybrid rocket motor being safer than liquid fueled engines. An accident at the Scaled Composites plant killed 3 people and severely injured several others during a test of the rocket system, for example. Also, liquid rockets are not particularly prone to "go boom", the most likely failure scenario is a loss of control, but that can happen to any rocket.

jlgreco 13y ago

Scaled Composites had an accident back in 2007 with SpaceShipTwo that killed three people while they were testing their N2O tanks on the ground. I think that may have set them back a few years.