Billionaire entrepreneurRichard Bransonand his team successfully flew to the “edge of space” on the Unity 22 mission aboard aVirgin Galacticplane on July 12. The event was hailed as thestart of space tourism, narrowly beating theplanned launch on 20 Julyby fellow billionaire business magnate Jeff Bezos and his firmBlue Origin.
But does the 85km (53 miles), the altitude of the recent Virgin Galactic flight, actually count as space? And what are these companies likely to achieve going forward?
The definition of where space begins is very subjective. The Kármán line is adistanceof 100km (62 miles), determined in 1957. This line has been adopted by the Swiss Air Sports Federation (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) to determine if an activity is aeronautical or astronautical.
Alternatively, the US Air Force and Nasa determine their boundary as 80km (50 miles), which is where military personnel get their “astronaut wings”. This altitude has been reached by a number of specialist planes including theX-15and notably the privately fundedSpaceShipOne, reaching 112km (70 miles) – well above VSS Unity’s current achievement. The Blue Origin launch is aiming for 106km (66 miles).
While this altitude allows some excellent views of the Earth, it is not an orbit. To be orbiting at this altitude you need to be traveling at a minimum speed of 7.85km/s (17,500mph) in a horizontal direction. Unity was just an acceleration straight up and then a controlled drop back down. This is relatively simple to do, but it’s significantly more difficult, both in terms of energy and engineering, to turn this into an orbit.
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The definition of the edge of space is not trivial. Space is not where you feel weightless, as this can be achieved for short periods of time in specialist drop chambers or onparabolic flights. And despite thetweet from Virgin Galacticstating the crew were in zero-gravity, the gravitational pull was roughly 9.5 meters per square second – about 97% of that on the surface. The weightlessness experienced is purely due to an extended free fall.
“To all you kids down there…” –@RichardBranson’s message from zero gravity.#Unity22
Watch the livestream:https://t.co/5UalYT7Hjbpic.twitter.com/lYXHNsDQcU
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic)July 11, 2021
Future outlook
The first billionaire in space hasexcited some, feeling that they too may one day see the Earth from 85km if they can afford US$250,000 for a one-hour trip. However, public opinion hasnot been unanimous, with many highlighting that the cost of the venture could be used to eradicate poverty or assist with the current pandemic response.
There’s also the environmental impact. According to Virgin Galactic, a single flight on Unity results in carbon emission of 1.2 tonnes –equivalent toa passenger in business class on a return trip from London to New York. Compared to aviation, this is small, but the more regular these flights become themore carbon will be added. Blue Origin’s engines, on the other hand, are powered by liquid hydrogen. While the emissions are therefore minimal, the generation of liquid hydrogen and carbon cost of transporting materials is still an issue.
Blue Origin’s New Shepherd spacecraft landing with parachutes. Wikipedia,CC BY-SA
Although Virgin Galactic has beaten Blue Origin to the punch – SpaceX is ahead of both in terms of private space exploration. It is focusing on launches to the International Space Station and much more adventurous space tourism,such as a trip to the Moon and back, which definitely classes as going into space. The success rate of SpaceX, including theCrew Dragon 2 craft, means that itsdearMoon projecthas a good chance of succeeding, although not for a few years yet. The plan is to develop a new rocket, known asStarship, to launch this first space tourism venture.
Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic is developing aconcept supersonic passenger transporteras a successor to the Concorde that would be able to fly up to 19 people from Los Angeles to Sydney in under seven hours. It also won a small contract with Nasato do researchon its flights.
Blue Origin has also collaborated with Nasa to develop concepts and technologies to support future human spaceflight operations. The current development isa concept robotic lunar landerdubbed Blue Moon, which is looking to deliver cargo – and maybe even crew – to the Moon. These projects will certainly provide more experience for the companies, although are a long way off being completed or tested.
Virgin Galactic’s sister companyVirgin Orbit, a low-cost, small satellite launch plan, is far more impressive. It has already completedtwo successful missions, deploying payloads to low Earth orbit. This works in a similar way to Virgin Galactic by having the LauncherOne rockets attached to a carrier plane (Cosmic Girl) and firing at an altitude of 10km. This is a good alternative for launching small, lightweight satellites to about 500km so that they don’t have to wait for an opening on larger rockets.
Branson has completed his lifelong dream, andBezos and passengersare on the brink of going a bit higher, but to the vast majority of people who will never get to experience such a flight, it is of little importance. No new records have been broken and no new technology has been tested. The real excitement will come when these companies are able to reach orbit, are willing to trial new technologies, assist significantly with scientific research, and open their doors to more people who aren’t super rich.
Article byIan Whittaker, Senior Lecturer in Physics,Nottingham Trent UniversityandGareth Dorrian, Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Space Science,University of Birmingham
This article is republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.
Story byThe Conversation
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