Red Tape For SpaceShipTwo
FYI,
"Red Tape For SpaceShipTwo"
Space Daily/UPI
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/spacetravel-05y.html
: Last week, aspiring personal spaceflight operator Virgin Galactic
: quietly delayed the target date for launching its first commercial
: suborbital spaceflight by a year or so -- not surprising considering
: the scope and technical complexity of building a space vehicle for
: tourists instead of professional astronauts.
: What did raise eyebrows during the congressional hearing on
: commercial space -- which is where Will Whitehorn, Virgin
: Galactic's president, dropped his news -- is why the firm is
: backing away from a debut flight in 2007. It turns out the first
: roadblock is signing the papers to have Scaled Composites, Burt
: Rutan's aircraft-design and construction firm in Mojave, Calif.,
: begin work.
: Virgin Galactic, a subsidiary of Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic
: Airways in London, last year announced plans to license the
: technology that Rutan and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen developed
: to create the world's first private manned spaceship.
: The problem is U.S. export controls issues -- particularly those
: that involve the sale or license of technology that could have
: military applications -- have delayed Virgin Galactic's ability to
: place a formal order for the spaceships, Whitehorn told members of
: the House Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics.
: "At this point, due to uncertainty about possible licensing
: requirements, we are not able to even view Scaled Composites'
: designs for the commercial space vehicle," Whitehorn said. "After
: U.S. government technology-transfer issues are clarified and
: addressed if deemed necessary, we hope to place a firm order for
: the spacecraft."
: The difficulties with export controls have emerged despite the fact
: that British-owned Virgin Galactic plans to operate its commercial
: spaceflight services initially in the United States.
: "I thought Britain was a relatively friendly nation," Rutan told
: committee members, adding the export-control issues also are
: affecting the financing for the project.
: "We have had to move away from the basic concept of this being a
: foreign-funded development," he said.
: The issue affects far more than Rutan's ability to sign a contract
: with Virgin. Other firms, including a group in Dubai, have
: expressed interest in buying spaceships, he said.
: "We have wrestled with this problem in terms of technology transfer
: to Virgin Atlantic for about five months now, and it has been
: difficult," he explained, adding that he has been discouraging
: foreign sales until a routine personal-spaceflight industry is
: established in the United States.
: Despite a price tag of $200,000, about 100 people have signed
: contracts for rides on Virgin Galactic's spaceliner and agreed to
: pay the money upfront, while another 29,000 or so aspiring
: astronauts have agreed to put down deposits of $20,000 each.
: Rutan intends to pack as much luxury and amenities as possible
: aboard the ships, which will carry somewhere between five and nine
: passengers. He wants participants to have their own windows to
: enjoy the view, as well as the ability to float during the
: 4 minutes or 5 minutes of weightlessness planned for each
: suborbital excursion.
: If the technology can be developed to make suborbital spaceflight
: as safe as commercial aviation in its early days, then the market
: for space tourism will be enormous, Rutan said.
: He predicted up to 500 passengers will fly during the first year of
: commercial spaceflight service and 3,000 people will fly by the
: fifth year of operation.
: "By the 12th year, 50,000 to 100,000 astronauts will have enjoyed
: that black sky view," Rutan said. For that kind of breakthrough,
: however, spaceflight will have to become 100 times safer than it is
: today, he added.
: The most important step the United States could take to clear the
: road for private firms to build passenger spaceships is to change
: its licensing and regulatory oversight, he continued.
: With the SpaceShipOne flights behind him and the challenge of
: building, testing and flying commercial space vessels ahead, Rutan
: did not mince words when speaking of the difficulties he
: encountered dealing with the branch of the Federal Aviation
: Administration assigned to oversee commercial space issues.
: "The process ... just about ruined my program," he said, referring
: his experiences with the office of the FAA's associate
: administrator for commercial space transportation, which bases its
: requirements on assessing and minimizing risk to the non-involved
: public.
: "It resulted in cost overruns, increased the risk for my test
: pilots, did not reduce the risk to the non-involved public,
: destroyed our 'always question, never defend' safety policy, and
: removed our opportunities to seek new innovative safety solutions,"
: Rutan said.
: Because the agency's policies stemmed from its oversight of
: unmanned-rocket launches and an emphasis on assessing the
: likelihood and affect of launch failures, the process is ill-suited
: to reducing the probability of failure in passenger ships, which is
: how airline regulations are based, he said.
: "The regulatory process was grossly misapplied for our research
: tests and, worse yet, is likely to be misapplied for the regulation
: of the future commercial spaceliners," Rutan said.
: He noted ensuring public safety can be built into the process so it
: minimizes vehicle development costs.
: "This is a subject that FAA seems to be afraid of, Rutan said.
: "They seem to be happy that they're not required ... to certify
: these ships. I think it really comes down to the problem that they
: flat don't have the people that are qualified to do it."
--
Mark Reiff <markreiff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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