One step closer to suborbital travel

[JustMeHere]

Imagine getting from LAX to SYD in 3 or so hours.  We got a step closer today:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/22/virgin-galactic-completes-third-spaceflight-of-vss-unity.html

On long haul flights it is going to be more economical.  Can't wait.

[ajb]

$200-250k per seat for the first 600 seats    I mean sure that will come down as the system matures/expands, but considering that you've got the launch vehicle which is itself comparable to a long haul airliner (though it doesn't need to travel very far), and then the specialized suborbital vehicle all for a whopping six passengers, it's hard to imagine that the prices are going to end up being affordable for anyone but the very rich in the foreseeable future.  Seems like starship would be a better bet in terms of economical suborbital travel, simply because that's 100 passengers (possibly more for earth-earth hops) per flight so easier to get to economies of scale. 

[Neilm]

IIRC the virgin idea is "just" space tourism. Go up to "space" and more or less straight back. At the moment they only go up to just over 80 km which is in space for America, but it not for the rest of the world who use the revised Karman line at 100 km.

I don't know if Virgin are planning to go over the 100 km line with the next version.

[JustMeHere]

The SpaceShipTwo can go higher, but they aren't trying.  It did not burn all of its fuel.  It can go higher than the 55 miles it did today.

The long term goal of the company is point-to-point travel.  The attraction is much of the flight can be done in a "glide" phase. 
https://www.space.com/38758-virgin-galactic-point-to-point-travel.html

Watch the video below.  The main rocket engine only needed to fire for one minute.   My guess is they do the minimum necessary for both safety and making it easier to get back home.    From about 8 miles high to 55 miles. 

https://youtu.be/CbFPOnyCyZs?t=5014

[BrokenYugo]

Seems impractical for the similar reasons to those that killed the Concorde. Getting there 5 times faster is less attractive when it's 5 times more uncomfortable than a equal price ticket on a subsonic jet airliner.

[JustMeHere]

Seems impractical for the similar reasons to those that killed the Concorde. Getting there 5 times faster is less attractive when it's 5 times more uncomfortable than a equal price ticket on a subsonic jet airliner.

The goal of suborbital flight is to address the thing that made the Concorde fail.  It's not about speed.  That's a side benefit.  Not having to push air out of the way is where the savings will be.

[Alex Eisenhut]

Seems impractical for the similar reasons to those that killed the Concorde. Getting there 5 times faster is less attractive when it's 5 times more uncomfortable than a equal price ticket on a subsonic jet airliner.

The goal of suborbital flight is to address the thing that made the Concorde fail.  It's not about speed.  That's a side benefit.  Not having to push air out of the way is where the savings will be.

That would be great if we were in the cheap energy go-go 1960s and we didn't have free instant communication.

This is nothing more than a stunt. It's another 450 foot yacht, or twenty seventh hypercar next to the horse stable. It's nice, for a negligible part of the population.

And if you think "savings" will lie in the shortest part of the flight... um, no. The paradox is that the Earth isn't big enough for that part of the flight to be much of a savings. Maybe if we lived on a Ringworld after the Fall of the Engineers.