在未來(lái)的一、兩年內(nèi)，全球能夠前往太空旅行的人數(shù)將會(huì)增加一倍，這是致力于實(shí)現(xiàn)人類(lèi)太空旅行夢(mèng)想的維珍銀河公司(Virgin Galactic)特殊計(jì)劃副總裁William Pomerantz所預(yù)期的新時(shí)代。 大約就在2014年，Virgin集團(tuán)主席Richard Branson及其兩名子女將參與 SpaceShip Two 宇宙飛船的首次商用太空飛行——在Virgin Galatic公司火箭的推進(jìn)后，帶領(lǐng)八名乘客在地球上空100公里處進(jìn)行半個(gè)小時(shí)的飛行體驗(yàn)。 這次的首航將會(huì)在電視上全程直播，“所以它必須是安全且充滿樂(lè)趣的，”P(pán)omerantz說(shuō)，“如果讓Richard Branson先生感到無(wú)聊或是看起來(lái)不舒服，這對(duì)我們的業(yè)務(wù)可就不妙了，”他在參與一項(xiàng)由美商國(guó)家儀器公司(NI)主辦的講座上打趣的說(shuō)。 當(dāng)這一刻來(lái)臨時(shí)，可望象征航空商用化的另一個(gè)里程碑。截至目前為止，全球已經(jīng)有542人到過(guò)太空了。Virgin公司已經(jīng)售出660張?zhí)章眯袡C(jī)票，每個(gè)人只要準(zhǔn)備好25萬(wàn)美元，即可實(shí)現(xiàn)太空旅行的夢(mèng)想——體驗(yàn)為期三天累計(jì)2個(gè)小時(shí)的飛行，包括漂浮在微重力的太空中約四分鐘。 “我從小愛(ài)看NASA航天員飛行，認(rèn)為在此時(shí)以前應(yīng)該會(huì)有比542更多千萬(wàn)倍的人到過(guò)太空了…但當(dāng)一切都得客制以及每年只發(fā)射一次的情況下，這個(gè)理想是很難實(shí)現(xiàn)的，”P(pán)omerantz說(shuō)。 “NASA已經(jīng)展現(xiàn)了了不起的壯舉，但他們卻未能經(jīng)常進(jìn)行... 部分原因在于失敗的代價(jià)是必須展開(kāi)深入的國(guó)會(huì)調(diào)查以及長(zhǎng)達(dá)十年的檢查過(guò)程，”他補(bǔ)充說(shuō)。

看來(lái)就像兩架飛機(jī)融合在一起的SpaceStation Two將SpaceShip Two宇宙飛船帶到50,000英呎高空中。
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本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 本文下一頁(yè)：Virgin希望能在兩年內(nèi)將660名旅客送入太空

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{pagination} Virgin希望能在兩年內(nèi)將已購(gòu)票的660名旅客送入太空，同時(shí)目前也已經(jīng)為現(xiàn)有的 SpaceStation Two宇宙飛船母機(jī)設(shè)計(jì)展開(kāi)后續(xù)事宜了。這項(xiàng)工程是Virgin Galactic公司與Burt Rutan及其設(shè)計(jì)SpaceStation One的公司Scaled Composites共同開(kāi)發(fā)的。SpaceStation One 曾經(jīng)贏得首次商用太空飛行的Ansari XPrize大獎(jiǎng)。 新版的 SpaceStation Two 母機(jī)已經(jīng)在18個(gè)月以前完成了，目前正進(jìn)行試飛。它看起來(lái)就像兩架飛機(jī)融在一起，各有各的機(jī)艙，而兩機(jī)艙之間還可像是第三機(jī)艙一樣容納SpaceShip Two宇宙飛船。它將從新墨西哥州的Virgin公司地面站起飛，然后爬升到50,000英呎的太空中。 接著宇宙飛船會(huì)在三秒內(nèi)迅速脫離母機(jī)，發(fā)動(dòng)火箭引擎達(dá)到6G加速至約3.5倍的速度航向太空。一旦達(dá)到峰值高度后，飛行員將會(huì)關(guān)閉火箭，停下來(lái)展開(kāi)六分鐘的觀光。然后重新點(diǎn)燃火箭，推動(dòng)宇宙飛船返回地球上的新墨西哥地面站。 “為了讓宇宙飛船尾端兩側(cè)機(jī)翼采用相同的機(jī)制啟動(dòng)已為我們帶來(lái)許多挑戰(zhàn)了，”P(pán)omerantz說(shuō)，“更聰明的工程解決方案是確保在膠囊或飛行模式時(shí)乘客都在正確的方向，才能在短時(shí)間內(nèi)承受住重力而體驗(yàn)到飛行的樂(lè)趣，就像搭乘跑車(chē)而不會(huì)感到危險(xiǎn)一樣?！? 此外，法規(guī)也要求必須對(duì)乘客加以訓(xùn)練，如離心力的模擬?！坝捎谶@是首次展開(kāi)人類(lèi)太空旅行，美國(guó)聯(lián)航空總署(FAA)要求我們要教育乘客，并告訴他們潛在的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)以及如何減輕不適與避免危險(xiǎn)?！? 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 編譯：Susan Hong 參考英文原文：Space Flight Revs Up in 2014，by Rick Merritt, SiliconValley Bureau Chief

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{pagination} Space Flight Revs Up in 2014 Rick Merritt, SiliconValley Bureau Chief SAN JOSE, Calif. — Within a year or two, the number of humans who have been to space may double, says William Pomerantz of Virgin Galactic, the company who hopes to make that happen. Sometime in 2014, entrepreneur Richard Branson and his two children aim to be on the first commercial flight of SpaceShip Two, Virgin Galatic's rocket for propelling eight people 100 kilometers above the Earth. The flight will be broadcast on live TV, "so it has to be safe and fun," said Pomerantz, who is vice president of special projects for the company. "If Sir Richard is bored or looks uncomfortable, that’s not good for business," he quipped in a talk here hosted by National Instruments. SpaceShip Two is carried to 50,000 feet on what looks like two planes fused together. The moment may mark another milestone in the commercialization of space. To date, 542 people have been in space. Virgin has sold 660 tickets at $250,000 each, for its three-day experience which culminates in a two-hour flight, about four minutes of it floating in microgravity. "I grew up watching NASA astronauts fly, so I would have thought there would have been multiple zeros at the end of this [542] number by now…[but] it's hard when everything is custom and a launch only happens once a year," said Pomerantz. "NASA did amazing things, but they didn’t do them very often…[in part because] the cost of failure was a congressional investigation and a decade long review," he added. Virgin hopes to get its 660 ticket holders into space within two years, and is already working on follow ups to the current SpaceStation Two design. It was created in collaboration with Burt Rutan and his company Scaled Composites that designed SpaceStation One, the winner of the Ansari XPrize for the first commercial space flight in a reusable vehicle. The new version, finished 18 months ago, is now doing test flights. It looks like two planes, each with its own cabin, holding the rocket like a third cabin between them. It takes off from a Virgin site in New Mexico and climbs to 50,000 feet. The plane then releases the space vehicle which plummets for about three seconds before it engages its rocket for a 6G acceleration to about 3.5 times the speed of sound out and up into space. Once it reaches peak altitude, pilots shut off the rocket. It descends as a capsule for several seconds. Then wings deploy, the rocket reignites and propels the vehicle to a landing back at the New Mexico facility. "We've take a lot of pains to see both wings are actuated by the same mechanism, it's fairly redundant and surprisingly low tech," he said. "Scaled Composites is willing to go low tech" to be practical, "they are not in to technology for technology's sake," he added. "Clever engineering solutions make sure passengers are in the right orientation [when in capsule or airplane mode]" so they generally are facing the G forces that "won't last long and should feel fun, like spots car ride and not a risk to you," he said. Long term "Sir Richard's ultimate interest is not going straight up and down but going from say, San Jose to London in 45 minutes -- that’s a much harder problem to solve, but we are learning about it in bite-size fashion," he said. So are regulators. "Since we are doing this for the first time, the FAA requires us to educate customers and tell them risks and how we mitigate them," he said.