Will Support Sierra Nevada Space Systems, Orbital Sciences In
CCDEV2
Virgin Galactic said Thursday that it will be supporting Sierra
Nevada Space Systems’ (SNC) and Orbital Sciences
Corporation's (OSC) work on commercial space vehicles.
VG has long stated its ambition to use the success and
experience gained through its SpaceShipTwo sub-orbital space
program to develop new markets and products with the aim of
transforming the safety, cost and environmental impact of access to
space. With this in mind, it has watched the growth of the
commercial manned orbital field closely. The second phase of
NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Program (CCDEV2), designed
to stimulate development of privately-operated crew vehicles to low
Earth orbit, presents an opportunity for VG to start to map a path
towards a commercial orbital service for fare-paying passengers by
encouraging reusable technologies and designs which can offer
important advantages to safety, cost and passenger experience.
Both SNC and OSC are pursuing vehicle designs under CCDEV2
featuring reusable lifting-wing bodies and runway landings, which
VG believes could revolutionize orbital space flight in much the
same way that SpaceShipTwo has revolutionized sub-orbital space
flight.
As a contributor to SNC’s and OSC’s submissions to
NASA, VG is proposing to market seats on these vehicles to the
public and to its existing customer base, which now numbers more
than 400 people who have made deposits of over $54 million. VG will
also investigate providing its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo, to SNC
and OSC during their test flight programs.
Orbital Sciences CCDEV2 Proposed Spacecraft
“Virgin Galactic has shown in the past few years how
private sector investment and innovation can lead to a rapid
transformation of stagnant technologies," said founder Sir Richard
Branson. "We are now very close to making the dream of sub-orbital
space a reality for thousands of people at a cost and level of
safety unimaginable even in the recent past. 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 whilst
driving down the enormous current costs of manned orbital flight by
millions of dollars."
“The knowledge gained by Virgin in the development and
promotion of the history making SpaceShipTwo suborbital system will
add considerably to our program," said Mark N. Sirangelo, Corporate
Vice President and head of Sierra Nevada Space Systems. "We are
proud to be the prime rocket motor provider to SpaceShipTwo and to
have Virgin Galactic joining a growing group of world-class space
companies who form our Dream Chaser team. Their participation will
truly enhance our efforts.”
Mark Sirangelo
Frank Culbertson, Orbital Science’s Senior Vice President
and former NASA astronaut, said "Virgin Galactic is clearly
breaking new ground in the commercial space market, and we are now
very excited to have them on our team. This partnership for
marketing and supporting our innovative and affordable design
carries a great deal of promise for achieving the kind of growth in
commercial spaceflight that will help to make this a sustainable
market in the future.”
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