From: jfindley@cinci.nospam.rr.com   
      
   In article ,   
   jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca says...   
   >   
   > So, Virgin Galactic did another flight.   
   >   
   > The engine exhaust looked very strange to me, then I looked up on   
   > Wikipedia, and apparently they burn plastic  with nitroux ocyde as   
   > oxydizer. Is that the case or did I misread of find reference to an   
   > older ship?   
      
   They've always used this propellant combination.  They had a fatal   
   nitrous oxide accident on the ground several years ago.   
      
   > From the point of view of the potential for this ship, apparently its   
   > max speed is 4000kmh, or mach 3 (sea level)max altitude of 110km. Is   
   > this straight up so its horizontal speed is 0 at apogee? Or does it   
   > reach apogee with a horizontal speed closer to 4000kmh?   
      
   I'm sure there is some horizontal component to its velocity, but only   
   Virgin Galactic knows the exact trajectory they fly.   
      
   > I undertsand it is nowhere hear to orbital speed. But am curious if this   
   > could have transpotation potential?   
      
   No.  It doesn't fly high enough, or fast enough, to have transportation   
   potential.  It's essentially a point design that allowed Spaceship One   
   to win the X-Prize.  This "operational" version keeps much of the same   
   design features as the original Spaceship One.  In fact, there is debate   
   over whether or not this thing actually reaches "space" and depends upon   
   the definition you use for the "boundary" of "space".   
      
   > In the end, for a suborbital London to Auckland NZ flight (halfway   
   > around the globe), would the speed needed at MECO be closer to the   
   > ~25,000kmh needed for LEO and thus, the craft needs heat shields etc?   
      
   That would be way outside the range of anything this barely suborbital   
   aircraft could achieve.  Also, read up about how this thing does   
   reentry.  It's essentially falling when it does so to minimize heating.   
   This destroys any possible range it would have when flying normally.   
      
   Jeff   
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