Virgin Galactic range

May 6, 2009 6:18 PM

If traveling from one place to another what is the range of Virgin Galactic's Space Ship two?

I have seen the proposed space tourism venture Virgin Galactic and the idea of a "space port" in New Mexico. It seems that the ship will take off and land from the same spot, but how far could it go if it wanted to land somewhere else? I cannot seem to find this info online but hope someone caught an interview where it was discussed. I would think it could really cut travel time for some routes ie: New York to London by taking advantage of its suborbital capabilities. I'm sure there are many legal reasons and red tape that make this unrealistic (as well as the $200,000.00 price tag) but it must be possible.

posted by dstopps to travel & transportation (4 comments total)

We can get a back of the envelope approximation using some available data. Assume that SS2 is traveling its maximum speed of 4200 km/h at its apogee of 110 km and that its velocity is parallel to the surface of the earth. Using a simple ballistic calculation and ignoring the effects of air resistance and lift, one can calculate the range to be 174km.

Wikipedia claims that SS1's range was 65km , so that sounds about right given that SS2 will fly slightly higher and somewhat faster than SS1.

Of course in reality SS2 is launched from the WhiteKnightTwo mothership, which has a US coast-to-coast range while carrying SS2, so the practical range is ~5000 km.
posted by jedicus at 6:32 PM on May 6, 2009

Typical aircraft have roughly a 1:10 glide ratio and the space shuttle glides at about 4.5:1 once down in the denser atmosphere. Assuming around 5:1 for SS2, it could glide around 500 km from the apogee.
posted by exogenous at 7:02 PM on May 6, 2009

Your main problem with distance flying will likely be on-board power generation to run instrumentation and flying controls.

A regular aircraft generates power (naturally) from the engine(s), gliders use unpowered surfaces and instrumentation and batteries. Since SS2 utilises a rocket engine that burns on ascent then shuts off, I'm guessing it will rely on fuel cells or batteries for power after engine shutdown.

Distance flying would take time; time that would require energy for onboard systems. I'd be very surprised to find an SS2 with more on-board power than required to return from apogee to a "local" area and land, + a small margin.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 8:39 PM on May 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Thanks for all the answers, especially the math to back them up. I guess I was thinking it could go farther.
posted by dstopps at 5:00 AM on May 7, 2009