Trust in thrust –
A ride to the Moon for under $ 18 million? That’s quite a price.
The easiest way to keep up with Eric Berger’s space reporting is to sign up for his newsletter, we’ll collect his stories in your inbox. VSS Unity moves to New Mexico . In what Virgin Galactic described as “another vital step on its path to commercial service,” the company successfully relocated its VSS Unity spacecraft to Spaceport America’s Gateway to Space building. Attached to the carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, the spacecraft made the journey from Mojave, California, where Virgin’s manufacturing facilities are based.
a news release from the company, the captive carry flight provided an opportunity for engineers to evaluate VSS Unity for more than three hours at high altitude and cold temperatures, a longer period of time than is experienced during missions to space. These environmental evaluations of system performance are difficult to replicate at ground level. The company said it plans additional test flights from New Mexico but did not say when commercial service will begin — although presumably this will happen some time in Rocket Crafters suffers engine-test anomaly . The Florida-based engine company conducted a test last week that resulted in a mishap sending debris flying, News 6 reports . The over-pressurization anomaly started several small brush fires that were put out by the Cocoa Fire Department. No one was injured. Dangerous plastic .. . Rocket Crafters is seeking to develop a hybrid rocket engine that uses a 3D-printed solid-fuel grain that is advertised as burning “smoothly and reliably every time.” Pieces of plastic debris from the anomaly produced two large holes in the roof of the building where the test occurred. (submitted by Ken the Bin) Michigan promotes Lake Huron launch site . A state task force selected a facility on the shores of Lake Huron, Wurtsmith Airport, as its candidate to become a horizontal launch facility, the Detroit Free Press reports . The selection of Wurtsmith, which stopped operating as an Air Force base in 2018, was announced Tuesday at the state Capitol by a group of lawmakers and the Michigan Aerospace Manufacturing Association. More funding needed, though … The state authorized $ 2 million to conduct a feasibility and site selection study on the project, but no money was included in the budget proposed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer earlier this month. While the $ 2 million was earmarked and spent for the study, more state money will be needed if the project moves forward. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
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