Article courtesy of Las Cruces Sun-News
By Diana M. Alba
LAS CRUCES – Spaceport America’s anchor tenant company, Virgin Galactic, announced recently it’s partnering with two other companies that have their sights set on orbital spaceflight.
The other companies, Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp. and the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp., have submitted competing bids to NASA for a chance at flying U.S. astronauts to space after the shuttle program retires.
But don’t expect orbital flights to launch from Spaceport America any time soon.
For starters, Virgin Galactic’s proposed role seems limited at this point. The commercial spaceflight company has said it would market seats aboard orbital flights to its existing suborbital-flight customer base, as well as to the larger public, according to a company news release. Virgin Galactic may also have some involvement in vehicle testing for the companies’ development programs.
Also, potential launch locations for orbital vehicles are limited by infrastructure and regulation. That’s the case with Sierra Nevada Corp.’s proposal, said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of the company’s space systems division.
“It’s not possible for any of the companies’ orbital to fly out of New Mexico because of physics and logistics, so we all would be flying out of one of the coastal spaceports,” he said. “New Mexico doesn’t have a rocket port that can launch a vehicle of this size – we’re flying out of an Atlas V rocket.”
Continued Sirangelo: “And there still is a prohibition against doing this type of launch from an inland port.”
Both orbital companies would use expendable rockets to propel their spaceships upward. And the spaceships would return to Earth using conventional, runway landings.
That means Sierra Nevada Corp. could touch down its vehicle, called Dream Chaser, at Spaceport America, Sirangelo said.
“We could fly to Las Cruces as an entry point and land there, if we wanted to,” he said.
By comparison, Virgin Galactic launches its suborbital spaceship from a runway using a carrier plane, WhiteKnightTwo, and also lands on a runway.
Sirangelo acknowledged there’s nothing to restrict Dream Chaser’s landing to a spaceport. Because there will be no hazardous chemicals aboard, he said, “all we need is a normal, commercial runway to land, which is the same thing a 737 would use.”
Spaceport America executive director Rick Homans said the spaceport is communicating with Virgin Galactic “to understand better their relationship and role with these two proposals and also understanding the different technologies and companies they’re teaming with.” Spaceport America’s emphasis now, he said, is suborbital flights, though “we’re open to exploring ways to participate in this project.”
“All of this is relatively new, and I think everybody is sorting out the various relationships,” he said. “If there is a way to participate, we’d be eager to do so, but that requires some extensive discussions.”
Homans said that discussion would have to take place with the orbital spaceflight companies themselves.
Virgin Galactic, in a news release, said both companies’ vehicle designs could “revolutionize” orbital flight, the way its own vehicle, SpaceShipTwo, has “revolutionized suborbital spaceflight.”
Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic founder, said his company has focused on making suborbital space accessible to people.
“We know that many of those same people, including myself, would also love to take an orbital space trip in the future, so we are putting our weight behind new technologies that could deliver that safely,” while greatly reducing costs of manned, orbital flight, he said.
Other involvement
Sierra Nevada Corp. is the builder of the rocket motor Virgin Galactic is using in its suborbital system.
Virgin Galactic in a Dec. 16 announcement indicated the company may support Sierra Nevada Corp. and Orbital Sciences Corp. by using WhiteKnightTwo as a carrier plane during development.
“We would be doing our testing work, which means we’d take our vehicles up to a high altitude, drop it and learn how to fly it home, using the Virgin Galactic plane,” Sirangelo said. “And we’d likely being doing that work out of Spaceport America. It’s likely our testing program would be happening in both Mojave (Calif.) and New Mexico.”
Sirangelo said he couldn’t comment about whether Virgin Galactic is proposing to become an investor in his company, but he did say “the companies will likely explore other areas of mutual interest later.”
Representatives from Virgin Galactic and Orbital Sciences could not be reached for comment for this report.
Diana M. Alba can be reached at (575) 541-5443.
