Eve is the name of the ship which is named after Richard Branson’s mother.
A press conference was recently held with Tom Poberezny-EAA President, Will Whitehorn-Virgin Galactic president and Doug Shane –Scaled Composites President
Tom stated that AirVenture’s core is homebuilding and innovation. That’s what bonds EAA and Scaled. This year’s convention has an unprecedented depth & breath of displays. Advance ticket sales are up 32%. From last year camping is up 3%, and some warbirds are starting to arrive.
Will Whitehorn stated that he is grateful to EAA for hosting the display.
So far this year VMS test flights have progressed very well. The ship is capable of lifting 17 tons to 50,000 feet. A future application is to boost unmanned rocket for launching satellites and other unmanned ships.
VMS is built from all carbon and is powered by 4 P&W 308A engines. Richard Branson will take his 1st flight in EVE on the Tuesday arrival.
Historically space travel has been held back with the launch systems. This system provides flexibility and lower cost.
Doug Shane said a large group from scaled coming out to Oshkosh. The ship will arrive at OSH on its 16th flight, having about 50 hours of flight time. The ship will fly in on Tue, have demo flights on Tue, Thu and depart Aug 1 at about 10 AM.
During the tests so far, they have flown as high as 35,000 ft, but expect to go as high as 43,000 during the flight to Oshkosh. The trip is expected to take about 4.5 hrs non stop from Mojave.
The VMS has a 140’ wingspan, and is 53’ between main wheels
After requests from tourist customers, Space Ship 2 was made to be able to carry a heavier payload. That allows a greater amount of “Human in loop” space science. One of the first commercial contracts they have is from NOAA for gas and carbon content measurements in the atmosphere. This allows a better collection than existing balloons. Astronaut training is also a desired commercial use.
So far they have invested about $130 million, and expect the costs to be about $400 million to reach commercial operation status.
I asked about the development environment in Mojave, and Mr. Shane responded that there is no better location for this type of development. The management of Mojave Airport does everything then can to help them. The location provides the best possible test environment since they can get access to nearby Military Operating Areas (MOA) which gives access to unique airspace which is not available anywhere else.
