Aviation Week has a lengthy update on the test schedule for SpaceShipTwo. A brief summary:
- The plan: Begin powered flights by the end of 2012, commercial flights from New Mexico in late 2013
- High drop-test flight tempo over the next few months to get through un-powered flight envelope by end of Summer
- SpaceShipTwo has been modified with larger strakes on the inboard sides of the vertical tails to deal with a stall problem discovered during a test last September
- The modifications will require the pilots to “re-clear” parts of the flight envelope evaluated during early glide tests, i.e., repeat the earlier flights
- Â Integration of remaining RocketMotorTwo components is set for the Fall
- Powered flights will start with burns of RocketMotorTwo lasting 15 seconds at the end of this year
- First five powered flights will go transonic and not require a full-duration motor
- Initial powered tests will be followed by longer RM2 burns above 200,000 feet
- The June 1 SS2 taxi tests were to test modifications to the wheels and brakes necessitated by the increased weight of the propulsion system
- The Spaceship Company has begun work on producing parts and components for additional SS2s and WhiteKnightTwos
- A full-scale replica of SpaceShipTwo will appear this week at the Farnsborough Air Show, during which Virgin Galactic plans several announcements.
Read the full story.
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