Cirgin Galactic are testing their space plane today (shortly) for those wanting to watch see the above links
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I have seen so many people hating on Virgin and Branson because, â⌠well actually, he is only going into the upper sky. It isnât actually outer space. He just spend a billion dollars just doing for clout!â
Isnât it all for clout anyway? They are fulfilling childhood dreams and hopefully helping to make it cheaper for our peoples in the future. People spend thousands of dollars just to go up in a padded airplane to be âweightlessâ for a few minutes.
Bravo Branson and safe travels to all. It is an exciting time to be alive.
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Canât really get that exited about some tourism to âspaceâ⌠I want humans back on the moon and hopefully to Mars soonđ
Itâs not all for show, itâs the precursor to their space commercialisation⌠not many players serious in the market yet?
As in, itâs not Just rich guy living out kids dreams, more like those concept cars?
If it pushes technology forward it may be that tourism will fuel innovation which can be used in other industries. Iâd be surprised if Branson was so short sighted that he was only doing this for a handful of people. It go out of business quickly in that case.
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Im sure Elon and Jeff are so jealous now.
The scenery outside the window is black AF. It sure is âspaceâ enough for me. No point in going further to incur needless risks.
Fair, I was commenting on the publicity and the pre-game hype that these billionaires are doing. More importantly the hate and vitrial that these Musk and Bezos nut swingers spit while going into battle defending their lordsâ right to own an industry. There is room for everyone and competition in this space is what we need.
But since you bring it up, what is the point of a concept car? It is a thought experiment; to show what the company vision is and to humble brag about the technologies that they are working on and/or have already created and put into use. There is nothing wrong with that. It is a tool to win over the hearts and minds of the people that are loyal while hopefully attracting people that otherwise would not look at your brand. It is used to signal to your competition that you are serious and that you innovate. However, I seem to, maybe mis-, remember back in the day, thing were a lot less concept-y and a lot more, âwe have been working on this in secret and we now have a near production prototype that will see real world use Soonâ˘.â Like how Apple does product releases after their major shows.
While Virginâs technology could be used for space travel, it is impractical for doing any real scientific research as your payload limit is paltry. But If I recall correctly, his original vision was to cut global travel time. That is very different from the missions of Blue Origin and Space X. The Stans that donât see that and think that this is some type of turf war are missing the point.
**That post seems a little ranty. I am not going after anyone in this thread in particular, so please do not take offense. I just wish people could stop being so factional and just appreciate that the private sector may actually be doing what the world governments failed to do post space race. We could be witnessing Capitalism do something beneficial to the world, even if their motivations are not so altruistic.
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I dunno, Virgins idea of sub orbital, really quick flights, might be Too niche.
Sounds really impressive, but the kind of person it would be aimed at, would already have access to a (slower) private jet, which would be able to operate to/from more places?
Blue Origin I will just continue to joke about, because lex Luther bezos needs no help, but gets it anywayâŚ
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I like the fact that we have a renewed interest in space and all that. But is really Virgin aiming for anything more than skipping along space to get around the globe faster? I honestly havenât been paying that much attention.
This was Bransonâs original goal of doings something achievable and then building from there. Virgin Galactic started on this before the technologies that Space X and Blue Origin use became fesable and ubiquitous. With that said, their aims are in the name. Remember that Branson came up with this idea shortly after the Concords were shutdown.
I think another use case of the Virgin tech would be to launch parts into space and use something in space already to âcollectâ the cargo and then assemble in space. Overall, it takes less fuel than using a traditional rocket launch, and while the max payload is small, you have reusable crafts that can carry people and cargo with quick turn around. Basically a quick, one way Space Ferry.
You can use the Space X and Blue Origin tech to launch the big stuff into space and transport the big stuff from space back to earth instead of burning things up in the atmosphere.
I honestly see all of the technologies co-existing. I have not paid much attention to Virgin since ~2014 so I donât know if their immediate plans have deviated from global shuttling, but their aims were always to shuttle people to and from space as well as around the world. One of their long term goals was to create a space station for recreation and leisure.