杏吧原创

Space tourism may be just one of the services Virgin Galactic ends up offering future customers. Last week it said its first tourist space vehicle could also be used to launch satellites and make super-fast intercity trips.

From next year, Virgin plans to run $200,000-a-time flights from a in New Mexico. The launch vehicle is WhiteKnightTwo, a four-engine jet aircraft. It has two fuselages joined by a wing that supports a rocket called SpaceShipTwo. At an altitude of 52,000 feet (16 kilometres), the rocket will separate, taking the tourists to an altitude of 140 kilometres for 5 minutes of weightlessness and spectacular views of the Earth.

So far Virgin Galactic has banked $30 million in bookings. But four years ago, when design began, the company had been unsure of demand, so it gave the vehicles extra capacity. 鈥淭his gave us a back-up business model,鈥� says company president Will Whitehorn.

Thanks to the central wing鈥檚 carbon composite backbone, WhiteKnightTwo will be 40 per cent stronger than it needs to be to support SpaceShipTwo. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be able to carry an unmanned rocket that can launch a 100-kilogram micro-satellite,鈥� Whitehorn says. Another option will be to design a vehicle with the fuel capacity to carry passengers in a rapid, sub-orbital flight to the far side of the world.

Tourists training for their space adventure will also be able to ride in one of the fuselages to get a brief taste of weightlessness as the jet enters a zero-gravity parabolic dive on the way back, Whitehorn says.