Space Tourism Archives

January 21, 2009December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

No More Tourists on the ISS?

Space tourist Richard Garriott on board the ISS in 2008. Credit: Richardinspace.com

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An official from the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said the International Space Station will not be available for visits by space tourists after 2009, the Russian news agency Novosti reported. As the ISS crew grows from three to six, all the seats on the Soyuz-TMA spacecraft will be used by astronauts and cosmonauts from the various international partners of the ISS, not leaving any room for paying tourists. Director Anatoly Perminov said the last commercial flights would be made this year; in March 2009 former Microsoft software guru Charles Simonyi will make his second trip to the space station, and a Kazakh cosmonaut will fly to the ISS in the fall of 2009.

Since 2001 tourists, or “spaceflight participants” have visited the ISS on 10-day trips, riding to the station in the spare seat on the Soyuz. But the crew increase on ISS means that all the available Soyuz seats will be occupied.

However, the space tourism company Space Adventures, which has taken care of the details in getting the tourists to the ISS, and they said they are working to secure additional seats for 2010, and beyond.

The first private citizen to go to the ISS was US citizen Dennis Tito, in 2001. Since then there have been five other tourists including South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth, American Greg Olson, Iranian-American business woman Anousha Ansari, Charles Simonyi, Richard Garriott (son of former US astronaut, Owen Garriott) .

Source: Novasti

January 12, 2009April 26, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

XCOR Releases New Images of Rocket Test

5K18 "Lynx" engine. Credit: XCOR and Mike Massee

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In December, XCOR Aerospace, Inc. successfully completed its first test fire of the rocket engine that will be used to power its Lynx suborbital launch vehicle to the edge of space. Today, they released some new images of the test that are sure to excite any rocket enthusiast. The new engine, called the 5K18, produces between 2500-2900 lbs of thrust by burning a mixture of liquid oxygen and kerosene. The engine was fired Monday, December 15th, 2008 at XCOR’s rocket test facility located at the Mojave Air and Space Port. XCOR is the company that dropped its price of a suborbital ride to the edge of space to $95,000. The Lynx will use four of the 5K18 engines to carry people or payloads 61 kilometers (37 miles) above the Earth. “Firing a new rocket engine is always an important milestone,” said XCOR COO Andrew Nelson. “It gives everyone on the team a tremendous sense of accomplishment and demonstrates to customers and investors that XCOR knows how to take new ideas and make them a reality.”

The test of the engine was performed using pressure-fed propellants whereas the final version of the engine will be fed using XCOR’s proprietary cryogenic piston pump for liquid oxygen and a similar piston pump for kerosene.

XCOR has been around for nine years, and during that time has built and flown many different engines and conducted over 3,600 hot fires of rocket engines. The 5K18 is the eleventh engine design XCOR has built and fired. All have had perfect safety records, according to XCOR, and they also have not had any lost employee time due to injury during engine operations. It has also never seen one of its engines wear out, which says a lot of the durability of their hardware.

XCOR’s experience also includes building rocket-powered vehicles. The company has already developed and safely flown two generations of rocket-powered aircraft. Overall, the firm has flown these vehicles 66 times, and XCOR alone accounts for more than half of all manned rocket-powered flights in the 21st century. The Lynx will be the company’s third rocket-powered vehicle, and the first designed for space access.

If you’ve got a spare chunk of change and are interested in a suborbital flight with XCOR, RocketShip Tours, of Phoenix, AZ, has begun sales of tickets for suborbital flights on the Lynx.

Source: XCOR

December 22, 2008December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

First Test Flight of WhiteKnightTwo

WhiteKnightTwo at liftoff. Credit: FlightGlobal.com

Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) made its first test flight on Sunday, Dec. 21, a 59min shakedown flight of the twin fuselage aircraft at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. WK2 climbed to a maximum altitude of 16,000ft (4,880m). “It reached an altitude 4,000ft above the original test plan’s maximum altitude,” said Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn. “That is how confident we are about the aircraft. Now we have to download all the data. There will be another flight early in the new year.” WK2 will carry Virgin’s SpaceShipTwo, the space plane that will bring passengers on suborbital flights, hopefully by 2011. FlightGlobal.com obtained exclusive video of the test flight, which can be viewed here.

The hour-long test flight of the four-engine WhiteKnightTwo used a skeleton flight crew. Previously last week, WK2 was taken out for four runs down the runway and a brief lifting of the nose gear on Dec. 20, and low-speed trips down the runway on Dec. 16 and 12.

Both WK2 and SS2 are being built by Scaled Composites of Mojave, CA, and Virgin Galactic has five SS2 rocket planes and two of the carrier crafts on order, with options on more. The WK2/SS2 combination will serve as the backbone for Sir Richard Branson’s suborbital spaceline company. The price per seat on the two pilot/six passenger suborbital SS2 is $200,000.

SpaceShipTwo flight plan. Credit: Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic hopes to start operating commercially by 2011 from the New Mexico Spaceport America. The new spaceport, soon to be under construction, announced that it had received its license from the FAA for horizontal and vertical space vehicle launches on 15 December and it expects to be fully operational in 2010.

Source: FlightGlobal.com

December 17, 2008April 26, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Spaceport America Closer to Reality

Artist's concept of the New Mexico's Spaceport America. Courtesy NMSA

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If you’re thinking about booking flight on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two, launching a payload with UP Aerospace or Armadillo Aerospace, or can’t wait to watch the Rocket Racing League, you’ll be happy to know New Mexico’s Spaceport America is two steps closer to becoming a reality and not just a dream. An environmental impact study on the facility was completed and approved, which set the stage for the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) to be able to issue a launch license to the New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA). The license is for both vertical and horizontal launches. “These two governmental approvals are the next steps along the road to a fully operational commercial spaceport,” said NMSA Executive Director Steven Landeene. Now, with license in hand, construction can begin on the futuristic-looking spaceport facility. Is the future and potential of commercial/personal spaceflight actually getting closer?

Several launches of smaller commercial rockets have already launched from the New Mexico site since April 2007, but now the spaceport can get ready for the “bigger” commercial rockets and commercial spacecraft that will launch the first paying customers in to suborbital space.

Landeene said bids will go out in January for the roads, runway and security buildings. The terminal and hangar are still in the design phase so those bids will go out sometime in the spring. “We could not pursue anything on site until this record of decision was received,” said Landeene. The NMSA currently projects vertical launch activity to increase in 2009 and construction to also begin in 2009 with the terminal and hangar facility for horizontal launches completed by late 2010.

Cross section of Spaceport America. Courtesy of NMSA

“We are on track to begin construction in the first quarter of 2009, and have our facility completed as quickly as possible,” he said. The NMSA is expected to sign a lease agreement with Virgin Galactic before the end of 2008.

“It’s an important day for New Mexico and the nation as Spaceport America now adds to the United States’ launch infrastructure,” said Daniela Glick, Chair of the NMSA Board. The NMSA says Spaceport America is now positioned to become the nation’s leading commercial spaceport facility. Spaceport America has been working closely with leading aerospace firms such as Virgin Galactic, Lockheed Martin, Rocket Racing Inc./Armadillo Aerospace, UP Aerospace, Microgravity Enterprises and Payload Specialties.

Sources: KFOX TV, NMSA

December 7, 2008December 24, 2015 by Ian O'Neill

Cheers! Japanese Brewery Produces Space Beer… But What’s the Point?

What could be more premium than space beer? (Sapporo Breweries)

[/caption]For the first time, beer brewed totally from barley grown in space can be enjoyed on terra firma. The Japanese-owned Sapporo Brewery is one of the oldest beer producers in the nation, so it seems fitting that the company would want to diversify into the next frontier. Although the beer wasn’t actually brewed in space, the barley ingredient was grown there. Through a joint program between Sapporo, the Russian Academy of Science and Okayama University in Japan, the small amount of barley was grown on board the ISS as part of a project to research the cultivation of foodstuffs in Earth orbit.

100 litres of Space Beer has been produced as a result of the successful microgravity barley farming effort, and a lucky 60 people will have the exclusive chance to taste the beer in Tokyo next month. Unfortunately, the Space Beer is not yet commercially available, so put that pint glass away…

Back in May, I was very excited to write about the first space beer brewing success, and Sapporo’s plans to manufacture 100 bottles of beer brewed from barley grown in space. However, my excitement quickly dissipated when I realised astronauts wouldn’t actually be drinking a cool one in orbit, and I became even less impressed when it turned out that the vast majority of the world wouldn’t actually have a chance of tasting it (unless, of course, you are in Tokyo and win the Sapporo space beer tasting lottery in January).

On further inspection, the prospect of drinking any carbonated product in microgravity becomes very unappealing. After all, bubbles don’t rise through a beer to form a nice head of foam in space; the bubbles remain suspended in the liquid. When you swallow the weightless mix of beer and CO₂ you have the rather antisocial “wet burp” scenario to contend with, making you very uncomfortable and extremely unpopular with your crewmates. Drinking and driving the Shuttle isn’t an option, and that’s not because flying a spaceship whilst intoxicated is a bad idea. It’s because you’d have a hard job keeping beer in your stomach and not all over the cabin. Ewww.

So, space beer is best served at 1-G, on Earth, and the managing director for strategy at Sapporo Breweries is very excited about how special this brewing effort is. “There’s really no beer like it because it uses 100 per cent barley. Our top seller is the Black Label brand, using additional ingredients such as rice. This one doesn’t, and is really a special beer,” said Junichi Ichikawa.

So what’s the point? Is this just a marketing gimmick, or does it have a purpose? I’m sure Sapporo are very impressed with this achievement, but what sets Space Beer apart from the stuff I’ll be drinking down the pub later?

As Ichikawa mentions, the barley used is only space produce, and there are no other ingredients (such as rice). However, I think we should ask whether there are plans to use water samples from the brand new urine recycler STS-126 installed during Space Shuttle Endeavour’s “home improvements” mission in the brewing process. I think this would make Space Beer more complete (besides, recycled wee tastes pretty good. Apparently).

The science behind growing stuff in space is also a great achievement as barley was one of several types of plant to be grown in orbit. Wheat, lettuce and peas were also grown earlier in the year and harvested. There are also plans to grow potatoes in space. All these projects aid the future of manned space travel; once we can sustain ourselves by cultivating our own produce, the dependence on Earth slowly diminishes. The operations on the ISS are a testament to these endeavours, and growing seeds and vegetables in orbit, along with recycling waste water is a tremendous achievement. Also, there appears to be no discernible difference in the DNA of plants grown in space when compared with those grown on Earth (in which case I’d expect no difference in taste between Space Beer and local pub beer anyway).

If you read the last paragraph and linked the future plans to grow potatoes in space with another alcoholic beverage, Cosmonaut Boris Morukov (who spent 11 days on the ISS) has a sobering message for any space man or woman wanting to set up their own distillery to get around the “wet burp” issue: “I think we would try to grow potatoes as food, not for vodka production.”

That said, where mankind goes, alcohol is sure to follow, it’s only a matter of time when we start seeing space bars popping up in orbit, on the Moon and Mars (especially if space tourism becomes a major industry)…

Original source: Telegraph, Sapporo

December 2, 2008April 26, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Fare Alert! Price Drops for XCOR’s Ticket to Space

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The commercial space company XCOR announced today that the travel company RocketShip Tours will begin selling suborbital rides on XCOR’s two-seater spacecraft, the Lynx. And get this: the price for the ticket has actually been lowered from the original estimates. $95,000 USD will get you a seat right up front, next to XCOR pilot and former space shuttle commander Rick Searfoss, for a 30 minute ride to the edge of space. XCOR decided early on not to sell the tickets themselves directly to consumers, but instead offer wholesale packages to adventure travel companies, which will set the price for customers. Jules Klar, founder of Phoenix, AZ-based RocketShip Tours, said in today’s press conference that the price includes the “complete and total experience” that incorporates a 5-day program of briefings, medical evaluations, test flights on aircraft to test for g-forces and claustrophia before going on the real flight on the Lynx.

2010 is XCOR’s target for their first test flights of the Lynx. The flight plan has the Lynx taking off horizontally like an airplane from the Mojave spaceport runway, but quickly going vertical and shooting up to 61 kilometers (37 miles) above the Earth, and coasting at apogee for over 4 minutes of a microgravity environment and a spectacular view of our planet. Then the vehicle heads into re-entry, putting passengers through a maximum of 4 G’s at pullout, then gliding and circling back to the runway where it all started. The flight lasts 30 minutes.

At today’s press conference, Andrew Nelson, COO of XCOR Aerospace, said the beginning of ticket sales is an important milestone for XCOR, and a monumental opportunity for people to realize their dreams of flying to space.

Nelson said that they already have presold 22 tickets, and the first commercial passenger on the Lynx will be Danish investment banker Per Wimmer. “I am going to fly aboard the Lynx because I want to experience space from a front row seat,” said Wimmer. He has already earned a reputation as a pioneering adventurer. He recently made the first tandem skydive over Mt. Everest, (check out his website www.wimmerspace.com. Wimmer, who uses his adventures to promote various charities, says, “My goal is to place the Dannebrog, the Danish flag, on the Moon one day. Flying to the edge of space aboard the Lynx will make me the first Dane to experience suborbital space flight and takes me one step closer to my ultimate goal.”

Per Wimmer and_Rick Searfoss at the press conference. Credit: XCOR

“What a life-changing experience it will be,” said XCOR test pilot, and former space shuttle commander, Col. Rick Searfoss in an earlier intervew, “to come screaming off the Mojave Desert, home of the most amazing flight test projects the world has ever seen, and climb vertically through the same airspace where humans first went supersonic, all the way to the edge of space and beyond. And the best part of it all is that you’ll ride right up front.”

So, if you’re looking for an unusual holiday gift for the person who has everything, check out RocketShip Tours. A deposit of $20,000 begins the process of assigning the participant to the qualification program. Klar said one does not have to be an athlete to fly aboard the Lynx, but the procedure will include a medical questionnaire and a screening performed by qualified aeronautic physicians. Instruction regarding life support systems, flight physiology, and other aspects of the Lynx suborbital flight will also be provided. “We want to ensure the experience is as safe as possible and that people are adequately trained and prepared.”

“Since this is a suborbital launch, training will require familiarization with the spacesuit and what will be experienced while sitting in the cockpit.” Klar said. “We will provide deluxe accommodations for all those who share in ‘The Right Stuff’ experience we offer and become part of this historic stage in the evolution of human space flight.”

“After the flight is concluded, participants will receive an HD DVD recording of their flight experience as well as other mementos,” Klar said.

While not exactly cheap, XCOR’s price is less than half of Virgin’s $200,000 price tag and extremely competitive with Rocketplane’s price of $250,000 per passenger. XCOR won’t fly as high as the other commercial space companies, but XCOR provides the up-front, fighter-pilot feel with an extremely “personal” personal spaceflight experience — the passenger and the pilot are the only ones on board.

Sources: XCOR press release, Cover It Live (Courtesy Jeff Foust)

October 27, 2008April 26, 2016 by Ian O'Neill

Ham Radio Operator Communicates with Space Station

Radio equipment (Palos Verdes Amateur Radio Club)

[/caption]A Canadian amateur radio operator had an 11 minute opportunity to listen out for the International Space Station (ISS) as it passed overhead on October 20th with space tourist Richard Garriott on board. Garriott was also using ham radio during his stay on board the station to communicate with other ham radio enthusiasts on the ground. Murray Crandon from Saskatchewan heard Garriott seeking contact and they exchanged call signs, but Crandon was aware Garriott had a lot of people to make contact with and kept his communication short…

“He just called, ‘CQ, this is Richard Garriott, NA1SS aboard the International Space Station,’ and then I just answered him with my own call sign,” Murray Crandon said.

“We didn’t have a lot of time and I wanted to respect everybody else’s opportunity to make a contact as well so we just exchanged our call signs … and we just moved on from there.”

Crandon is an 18-year ham radio veteran, so contacting Garriott was no new thing. He’d also been able to make contact with Charles Simonyi, another US space tourist on board the station, in April last year. He also had the opportunity to contact South Korea’s Antarctic base in the South Shetland Islands in March 2003. Whilst these amateur radio feats are impressive, Crandon wants to receive signals from even farther afield. “I suppose if they ever put a human on Mars, I’ll be listening,” he said.

Whilst ham radio might be considered rather “old fashioned” in the era of email, digital communication and satellite networks, listening out for other radio operators when scouring the radio frequencies remains a very popular hobby. It is also a powerful means for communities to support each other and for reliable emergency/disaster communications should the need arise. It also looks like it may be an efficient means to keep tabs on the space station crew.

It is estimated that six million people around the globe (and occasionally in orbit) are active ham radio operators.

On October 12th, Garriott was launched on board Soyuz TMA-13 with Expedition 18; he returned to Earth on October 24th after 10 days on board the station. During his stay Garriott performed a variety of science, education and commercial tasks including a series of ham radio communication events with students and the public.

Source: CTV

October 15, 2008December 24, 2015 by Ian O'Neill

Space Tourist Garriott Docks with Station (Videos)

The Soyuz TMA-13 approaches the Space Station alongside another Soyuz spaceship, set to return Garriott in 10 days (NASA)

[/caption]The Soyuz TMA-13 carrying Expedition 18 to the International Space Station (ISS) has successfully docked, delivering astronaut Mike Fincke, cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov and space tourist Richard Garriott. The Soyuz spaceship docked with the Zarya module ahead of schedule over breathtaking views of southern Asia. Richard Garriott, a 47 year-old computer games entrepreneur and son of retired US astronaut Owen Garriott, spent $30 million for the privilege of spending ten days travelling to, and living on the orbital outpost. To appreciate how the Earth has changed in the 35 years since his father first looked down on Earth from the US Skylab space station, Garriott Jr. will spend some of his time taking photos of our planet so the images can be compared…

It looked like a flawless docking procedure between the Soyuz spacecraft and the ISS over the scenic backdrop of the Earth. Soyuz gently floated toward its dock with the Russian-built Zarya module along side the Soyuz TMA-12 that carried Expedition 17 to the station back in April. The already parked Soyuz will be the return vehicle in eight days time (on October 23rd) for cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko who will chaperone Richard Garriott back to solid ground at the end of his space “vacation.” Volkov and Kononenko, members of Expedition 17 have spent six months in space.

View the Soyuz TMA-13 dock with the space station »

'Running the lockers' inside Skylab. (NASA)

Now that Garriott is getting settled in his temporary orbital home, he only has a short time to complete all the tasks he has set. As the sixth space tourist to visit the space station, he will obviously enjoy the views, but Garriott is also keen to follow in his father’s footsteps. Owen Garriott lived and worked on Skylab in 1973 for 59 days and he found that by running around the circumference of the station, that he was able to build up enough centrifugal force to remain in contact with the sides. Although Garriott Jr. is keen to try this zero-gravity activity out for himself, the International Space Station doesn’t have a large enough volume.

“I have been trying to figure out where on the International Space Station could this best be performed,” Richard said. “One of the great things about Skylab is that it had this massive internal volume and this nice ring of lockers that gave you a relatively smooth surface to make that attempt and a reasonable diameter so that at a nice jog pace, the centrifugal force would do a reasonable job of holding you to the outside wall. The ISS’s diameter is much smaller.” So it would appear that “running the lockers” as Owen called it, will not be possible on board the ISS. I guess they don’t make space stations like they used to…

View the Expedition 18 crew arrive on the space station, being welcomed by Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko »

Jogging inside the space station to one side, the Expedition 18 crew will begin to supervise the start-up of new life-support equipment for the station. This is one of the steps to ensure that the station can accommodate six full-time crewmembers as from the planned expansion in May 2009.

Sources: BBC [1] [2], collectSPACE

October 13, 2008December 24, 2015 by Ian O'Neill

Space Tourist Richard Garriott Launched on Space Station Vacation…

The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft (Expedition 18) launches Michael Fincke, Yury V. Lonchakov and Richard Garriott (AP Photo/NASA)

[/caption]…but the station’s toilet has broken down again.

For $30 million, you can get a ride into space for a 10-day trip on board the International Space Station. To Richard Garriott, this is money well-spent. He got to spend months training for the experience and he will use the adventure to carry out experiments, educational programs and to follow in his father’s footsteps. 25-years earlier, Owen Garriott flew on Space Shuttle Columbia, and before that he served on Skylab. Having successfully launched on board the Soyuz launch vehicle on Sunday, Garriott Jr. is keen to make space travel a family affair, and make some history along the way; he is the first second-generation American astronaut ever to be launched into space. It sounds like an exciting few days await the 47 year old computer video game entrepreneur…

But like any positive story, there’s a flip-side. The International Space Station, far from being The Ritz at the best of times, has been inflicted with a rather annoying inconvenience… the main toilet is out of order, requiring all on board to use the Soyuz en-suite. Although it is doubtful Garriott will get a room credit for the inconvenience, I’m sure the view of the Earth rotating below, the excitement of being involved in the biggest space project ever conceived, and the joy of zero-G will more than make up for the bathroom situation…

At 3:01 AM EDT (0701 GMT) Sunday morning, Richard Garriott blasted off from the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft. Expedition 18 is being used to ferry two new crewmembers to the ISS. American astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov will keep Garriott company until tomorrow’s (Tuesday) Soyuz docking with the station where the trio will join the existing ISS crewmembers Commander Sergei Volkov, Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko and astronaut Gregory E. Chamitoff. Volkov and Kononenko will accompany Garriott when he is scheduled to return back to Earth on October 23rd.

The cosmonaut, astronaut and space tourist wave to onlookers before boarding Soyuz (AP Photo)

“Today, my dream of following in my father’s footsteps to explore new frontiers is being realized,” Garriott said in a statement shortly after launch in reference to his father, 77 year-old retired NASA scientist-astronaut Owen Garriott. “It’s with honour and appreciation that I launch on my greatest adventure yet, and step into a role assumed by only five private individuals before me.”

Watching his son being launched into orbit, Garriott Sr. supports Richard in all his space-faring dreams. “He wants to charge full speed ahead,” said Owen, who flew to the pioneering Sklab space station in 1973 and flew on shuttle Columbia 10 years later.

Richard Garriott has been preparing for this moment for many months, and his excitement is evident in the post on his website before launch. “I feel well prepared for this flight, and have complete faith in my crew mates, our beautiful rocket, and the huge number of people it takes to launch our Soyuz and operate the ISS,” Garriott said, wanting his friends and family to be there with him. “I wish I could share this experience with each of you, in the way I have had the opportunity to experience it.”

U.S. astronaut Owen Garriott looks at the Russian Soyuz TMA-13 that will carry his son into orbit (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

Unfortunately, there will be some uncomfortable days aboard the ISS. On Thursday, the main toilet facility broke down in the Russian Zvezda service module, leaving the crew to use the Soyuz bathroom facilities. The main toilet has been the source of much hassle to the crew and flight controllers; back in June Oleg Kononenko had to carry out a lengthy in-orbit plumbing job to get the gas-liquid separator assembly pump replacement up and running. It would appear a similar problem has struck again, only three months later. Perhaps the crew should ask Kononenko to use his skills once more before the cosmonaut has to return back to Earth with Garriott on October 23rd…

For now, plumbing issues to one side, we look forward to seeing Richard Garriott, the sixth space station tourist, carry out his experiments and observations, relaying all his experiences to the rest of the world who cannot afford the $30 million ticket.

“I will return to our earth in a few weeks, with a vast array of photographs, and a lifetime of new stories,” Garriott wrote in his website message. “I look forward to sharing them with you!”

Sources: NASA, Space.com

September 30, 2008December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Virgin Galactic Wants to Do Science, Too

The White Knight. Credit: Virgin Galactic

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The company that aims to be the first “spaceline,” by taking paying passenger to space on a regular basis is also looking at contributing to science, too. Virgin Galactic is looking at the possibility of carrying scientific instruments on board the aircraft that brings its spaceship skyward. Richard Branson is teaming up with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to gather information about atmospheric composition and particularly greenhouse gases. NOAA is interested in flying atmospheric monitoring instruments on the carrier vehicle WhiteKnightTwo, because it will be in regular flight above 50,000 ft for the next year-and-a-half during its test-flight period. “Almost everything NOAA does at the moment is at 25,000ft (7,600m) maximum altitude. It’s quite difficult to find research aircraft that do atmospheric testing above that,” said Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic.

“One of the things that we as an airline operator know is that the tropopause is rising slightly. That has had quite an effect on aircraft flying in the upper atmosphere and the amount of turbulence they get. This is probably related to the mix of greenhouse gases and the levels they are rising to that’s moving the tropopause up,” said Whitehorn to journalists at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Glasgow.

SpaceShipTwo will be carried to about 15,200 m (50,000 ft) by the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft. The spaceship then ignites a rocket engine, taking passengers to a maximum altitude of 110 km (68 miles).

The vehicle would carry three instruments. One is going to measure CO2 and methane in the atmosphere. The second will take “flask samples”, allowing it to test for a much wider range of gases. These samples will be offloaded from the aircraft and taken to NOAA’s laboratories in Boulder, Colorado.

The third experiment will carry a tube sample, which empties of gases on the way up to high altitude and fills up on the way down.

Mr Whitehorn said that when SpaceShipTwo began flying, it could provide NOAA with regular sampling of gases through the outermost region of the atmosphere – known as the ionosphere – up to 110km above Earth.

This would be important for calibrating data from a major satellite mission called the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), which is designed to measure atmospheric carbon. The joint NOAA-NASA mission is due to launch next year.

The early part of the agreement between Virgin Galactic and NOAA is on a “no exchange of funds” basis, said Whitehorn, because it was currently classified as an experimental program.

SpaceShipTwo is currently 60% complete. The company plans to unveil the finished craft next summer. Virgin Galactic said 280 customers have signed up for flights to the edge of space.

Source: BBC