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New York, 9:54 AM
Fri Dec 4
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  • posts about #richardbranson more →

    Virgin Galactic's Boss Says Space Travel Will Never Be Cheap

    Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo Flies For the First Time

    Virgin Galactic's Spaceport America Gets FAA Green Light

    Virgin Galactic's White Knight, Branson, Rutan and Spaceman Buzz Captured on Vid

    Sir Richard Branson Claims He and Larry Page are Working Together

    Explosion at Virgin Galactic Motor Test Kills Three [UPDATED]

    New Mexico to Build a Spaceport for Space Tourism
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Kaiser-Machead Kaiser-Machead
    05/05/09

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's Boss Says Space Travel Will Never Be Cheap
    Forget what this guy says. Virgin won't be the only ones trying this in the future. Other more visionary engineers and designers and industrialists will eventually try an approach that works. These assumptions always stem from our limited understanding of technology, and then some ambitious crazy person/people in a laboratory, or a workshop, will come up with something that blows our minds away and we move forward.


    I think we'll always need to explore. If not, well we'll need to rely on the mentalists to retain knowledge for us while we fall into a Dark Age.

     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred
    Image of frigg frigg
    05/05/09

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's Boss Says Space Travel Will Never Be Cheap
    A catastrophic event in the next few thousand years sounds alarmist. The sun will blow up in 5 billion years, some other life-imperiling natural catastrophe will almost certainly happen before that, and could technically happen at any time. But the chances of it happening in the next few thousand years is as unlikely as our ability to respond to it with this kind of nascent technology.


    I wonder how many years it would take to develop space exploration to the point where it could conceivably shuttle our species to another home if the Earth became a big hot mess? Given that space flight is only 50 years old, I wonder what the practical goals could be in 500 years (outposts on all planets?), 5,000 years (travel beyond solar system?) or 50,000 years (wormholes, universal wifi with happy meals, etc.)?

     Reply
    frigg was starred frigg was unstarred
    Image of Geisrud Geisrud
    05/05/09

    @frigg: Universal Wi-Fi wil NEVER be a reality.
     Reply
    Geisrud was starred Geisrud was unstarred
    Image of fuzz54 fuzz54
    05/05/09

    @frigg: Within 500 years (probably more like 100) we will have created AI that is smarter than us and getting smarter. At that point I think all bets are off.
     Reply
    fuzz54 was starred fuzz54 was unstarred
    Image of frigg frigg
    05/05/09

    @fuzz54: I take it you've read "The Singularity."


    @radarskiy: you wouldn't necessarily have to transport the whole population to save the species. You're also assuming birth rates will continue to accelerate. It's possible with dramatically longer life spans, birth rates will dramatically decrease.

     Reply
    frigg was starred frigg was unstarred
    Image of Gann Gann
    05/05/09

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's Boss Says Space Travel Will Never Be Cheap
    It'll be expensive until I finish building my space ladder.
     Reply
    Gann was starred Gann was unstarred
    Image of norfizzle norfizzle
    05/05/09

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's Boss Says Space Travel Will Never Be Cheap
    I think 'never' was the wrong choice of words.
     Reply
    norfizzle was starred norfizzle was unstarred
    Image of Lite: hates Illinois Nazis Lite: hates Illinois Nazis
    05/05/09

    @norfizzle: At the rate we're going, 10,000 will be "cheap in about 10 years.
     Reply
    Lite: hates Illinois Nazis was starred Lite: hates Illinois Nazis was unstarred
    Image of aerospaceman aerospaceman
    05/05/09

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's Boss Says Space Travel Will Never Be Cheap
    what is 'cheap' supposed to mean?
    Airline travel isn't cheap and yet many people do it, mainly because they have to.
    We will have extensive space travel when we actually need it, when there is a military or economic purpose to it. Governments and corporations lack foresight beyond five years, so by the time we really need to send tons of cargo and hundreds of people up there ASAP we will be completely unprepared for it, in typical human fashion.
     Reply
    aerospaceman was starred aerospaceman was unstarred
    Image of ripfire ripfire
    05/05/09

    @aerospaceman: Cheap is %2 of your annual salary.
     Reply
    ripfire was starred ripfire was unstarred
    Image of bosskev bosskev
    05/05/09

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's Boss Says Space Travel Will Never Be Cheap
    Oh, man! I feel for those poor planes. I'm wondering if a good aeronautical surgeon could separate them, let them lead normal flights?
     Reply
    bosskev was starred bosskev was unstarred
    Image of frigg frigg
    05/05/09

    @bosskev: The problem is they share a hydraulic system. If you separate them, one will no longer be operational. Which one flies, and which one hangs lifeless in some Godforsaken museum somewhere... that is a decision no aeronautical engineer should ever have to make.
     Reply
    frigg was starred frigg was unstarred
    Image of Skunky Skunky
    05/05/09

    @frigg: So they can't seperate and send everyone to the emergency bridge in case of a Borg ambush?
     Reply
    Skunky was starred Skunky was unstarred
    Image of frigg frigg
    05/05/09

    @Skunky: Sadly, this generation of spaceship cannot separate without grave consequences to the vessel left behind. Not sure we should be talking about it here... the Borg could already be among us, watching, and waiting.
     Reply
    frigg was starred frigg was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Bacon! OMG! Bacon!
    05/05/09

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's Boss Says Space Travel Will Never Be Cheap
    Expensive until they make the magic space elevator?
     Reply
    OMG! Bacon! was starred OMG! Bacon! was unstarred
    Image of aerospaceman aerospaceman
    05/05/09

    @phoenix27:
    technology is the new magic.
     Reply
    aerospaceman was starred aerospaceman was unstarred
    Image of Lite: hates Illinois Nazis Lite: hates Illinois Nazis
    05/05/09

    @aerospaceman: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
     Reply
    Lite: hates Illinois Nazis was starred Lite: hates Illinois Nazis was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    12/22/08

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo Flies For the First Time
    The project has been hampered by the strange flight paths that the plane must fly.


     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of P3nnst8r P3nnst8r
    12/22/08

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo Flies For the First Time
    Can't wait for the BlackKnightOne.
     Reply
    P3nnst8r was starred P3nnst8r was unstarred
    Image of frigg frigg
    12/22/08

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo Flies For the First Time
    That's what happens when they build planes next to nuclear reactors. First 2-headed fish, and now this.
     Reply
    frigg was starred frigg was unstarred
    Image of MadCrazy MadCrazy
    12/22/08

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo Flies For the First Time
    What happened to WhiteKnightOne?
     Reply
    MadCrazy was starred MadCrazy was unstarred
    Image of John Mahoney John Mahoney
    12/22/08

    @MadCrazy: Darpa has used it to test one of their spaceplanes, but it's too small to carry SpaceShipTwo. [en.wikipedia.org]
     Reply
    John Mahoney was starred John Mahoney was unstarred
    Image of Syrax Syrax
    12/22/08

    @MadCrazy: it's there, but two is better, right?
     Reply
    Syrax was starred Syrax was unstarred
    Image of Homerjay is utterly alone. Homerjay is utterly alone.
    12/22/08

    @MadCrazy: First rule of WhiteKnightOne. Don't talk about WhiteKnightOne.
     Reply
    Homerjay is utterly alone. was starred Homerjay is utterly alone. was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
    12/22/08

    @MadCrazy: WhiteKnightOne was presumed missing in Africa. WhiteKnightTwo was a LA police aircraft which was shot down, and given the appearance of WhiteKnightOne by it's philanthropist owner.
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid was starred GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    12/22/08

    @MadCrazy: It was taken by BlackRookOne
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
    12/22/08

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo Flies For the First Time
    They need twin pilots. I mean come on Branson. Couldn't swing the money to find identical twins? Sad.
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid was starred GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid was unstarred
    Image of SGTalon SGTalon
    12/18/08

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's Spaceport America Gets FAA Green Light
    Word is that the $200,000 that it costs to take a flight into space includes a week of training before you go. So a big facility like that is a good idea.


    Rutan's original idea was to have the spaceport in a place like Key West or the Bahamas or Fiji. Bring the whole family while you are in training they are on the beach.


    Because you KNOW that every wife on the planet is rolling her eyes at her hubby as soon as he mentions "space"

     Reply
    SGTalon was starred SGTalon was unstarred
    Image of snoop-blog snoop-blog
    12/18/08

    @SGTalon: Word!
     Reply
    snoop-blog was starred snoop-blog was unstarred
    Image of sir_pantsalot sir_pantsalot
    12/18/08

    @SGTalon: My wife rolls her eyes every time I mention one of those private submarines. She punches me for mentioning space travel.
     Reply
    sir_pantsalot was starred sir_pantsalot was unstarred
    Image of Jrsy Devil's Advocate® Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
    12/18/08

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's Spaceport America Gets FAA Green Light
    All this and your luggage will still get lost in a Black Hole somewhere...
     Reply
    Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was starred Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was unstarred
    Image of fsusmithc2 fsusmithc2
    12/18/08

    In reply to Virgin Galactic's Spaceport America Gets FAA Green Light
    Just imagine something like 50 years from now or so when we look back and say "remember how these guys started?" Good times. Too bad nobody can afford it.
     Reply
    fsusmithc2 was starred fsusmithc2 was unstarred
    Image of Jrsy Devil's Advocate® Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
    12/18/08

    @fsusmithc2: Looking back 50 years from now will probably be about the only thing I can afford....
     Reply
    Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was starred Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was unstarred
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