RocketMotorTwo ( RM2 ) is a family of hybrid rocket engines developed for the Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane .
64-732: The first-generation engine was developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), from the late 2000s to May 2014. It was first ignited in flight during a SpaceShipTwo test launch in April 2013. This engine design was subsequently flown in only two additional flight tests during 2013 and January 2014. SNC was a subcontractor to Scaled Composites through May 2014 when their involvement in the program ended after Virgin Galactic elected to replace SNC's version of RocketMotorTwo powered by HTPB rubber fuel, with its own internally developed hybrid motor for SpaceShipTwo. The second-generation RocketMotorTwo engine
128-524: A Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-2) contract for resupply missions to the International Space Station between 2019 and 2024, guaranteeing a minimum of six launches. The corporation will use United Launch Alliance 's Vulcan Centaur rocket as the launch vehicle for Dream Chaser's cargo configuration starting in 2022. The corporation was the main contractor on RocketMotorTwo for Virgin Galactic 's SpaceShipTwo , and designed
192-432: A HLS proposal to NASA for HLS Appendix H, which was one of three proposals selected for further study, along with Blue Origin and SpaceX. NASA's Stephen Jurczyk identified the fuel drop tanks and low crew module as innovative strengths, but the propulsion system, identified by Scott Manley as SNC's Vortex engines, was a low-maturity risk. Overall, their technical rating and management rating were listed as "very good", making
256-461: A commercial space station. In February 2010, Sierra Nevada Corporation was awarded $ 20 million in seed money in phase 1 of NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program for the development of the Dream Chaser. Of the $ 50 million awarded in the phase 1 CCDev program, Dream Chaser's award represented the largest share of the funds. In August 2012, NASA announced new agreements with
320-460: A protest to the GAO against the selection, which was rejected. The Washington Post called the moves to preserve the program "straddling the fine line between faith and delusion, persistence and masochism". While the Dream Chaser was designed to carry passengers, they modified it for cargo and worked through Thanksgiving 2015 to meet a January 2016 bidding deadline. In January 2016, they were awarded
384-793: A report shared among the Department of Defense and Congress attempting to demonstrate that the Wuhan Institute of Virology shut down for several days in October, providing evidence for the COVID-19 lab leak theory . The report's evidence was based on patterns of cellphone location data around the WIV during the time period. Similar arguments had been labeled inconclusive by Western intelligence agencies after additional analysis based on satellite imagery. The report came under heavy criticism and
448-719: A result of the integration, technology and modifications, the MMA are providing advanced fire detection, location, and behavior monitoring capabilities. The aircraft feature a communications system that allows the aircrew to send collected information to all wildfire response personnel using the Colorado Wildfire Information Management System (CO-WIMS), a web-based collaborative information sharing tool that allows any firefighter immediate access to fire location, behavior, and other critical pieces of information. Colorado has also successfully employed
512-419: Is " ultrasonic ", but the older meaning sometimes still lives on, as in the word superheterodyne The tip of a bullwhip is generally seen as the first object designed to reach the speed of sound. This action results in its telltale "crack", which is actually just a sonic boom . The first human-made supersonic boom was likely caused by a piece of common cloth, leading to the whip's eventual development. It's
576-495: Is a modified version of the polybutadiene version, with different oxidizer valve arrangement. Most of the engine remains the same, but for changing the fuel cartridge from rubber to plastic fuel. Sierra Nevada Corporation Sierra Nevada Corporation (also styled SNC ) is an American aerospace , defense, electronics, engineering and manufacturing corporation that specializes in aircraft modification, integration and other space technologies . The corporation contracts with
640-665: Is a variant of the earlier SNC basic design. It experimented with using a polyamide plastic fuel and nitrous oxide oxidizer in 2014, but switched back to using its original hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) fuel and liquid nitrous oxide oxidizer in 2015. The second-generation engine is now made in-house by Virgin Galactic rather than by SNC. RocketMotorTwo is a hybrid rocket engine utilizing solid hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) fuel and liquid nitrous oxide oxidizer – sometimes referred to as an N 2 O / HTPB motor – providing 70,000 pounds-force (310 kN) of thrust. The design makes use of lessons learned during
704-428: Is crack formation faster than the speed of sound in a brittle material. The word supersonic comes from two Latin derived words ; 1) super : above and 2) sonus : sound, which together mean above sound, or faster than sound. At the beginning of the 20th century, the term "supersonic" was used as an adjective to describe sound whose frequency is above the range of normal human hearing. The modern term for this meaning
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#1732772812781768-444: Is more complex. The main key to having low supersonic drag is to properly shape the overall aircraft to be long and thin, and close to a "perfect" shape, the von Karman ogive or Sears-Haack body . This has led to almost every supersonic cruising aircraft looking very similar to every other, with a very long and slender fuselage and large delta wings, cf. SR-71 , Concorde , etc. Although not ideal for passenger aircraft, this shaping
832-516: The Las Vegas Sun noted SNC was "adept at targeting campaign contributions at elected officials who can help it", also noting its active Sierra Nevada PAC, which was created in July 2001. In 2004, then-Nevada house representative and Armed Services Committee member Jim Gibbons promoted SNC to receive a $ 4 million no-bid helicopter technology development contract. In the same timeframe, SNC
896-490: The COVID-19 pandemic and the vehicle was put up for sale. Most modern fighter aircraft are supersonic aircraft. No modern-day passenger aircraft are capable of supersonic speed, but there have been supersonic passenger aircraft , namely Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144 . Both of these passenger aircraft and some modern fighters are also capable of supercruise , a condition of sustained supersonic flight without
960-606: The Defense Department , NASA , and private spaceflight companies. The corporation is headquartered in Sparks, Nevada , and has 36 locations in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Turkey. As of October 2020, the corporation has participated in over 500 successful space missions, including 14 missions to Mars . In 2021, the corporation created the subsidiary, Sierra Space , to continue working on
1024-601: The European , German and Japanese space agencies . In September 2014, Sierra Nevada Corporation lost the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract to SpaceX and Boeing , which NASA chose as the two companies that will be funded to develop systems to transport U.S. crews to and from the space station. Boeing won $ 4.2 billion and SpaceX won $ 2.6 billion to complete and certify their spacecraft by 2017. NASA deemed
1088-587: The PMA Group and Indiana congressman and House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense member Pete Visclosky . SNC paid PMA Group $ 280,000 in 2006 for lobbying, and PMA was exposed in a large lobbying scandal. A grand jury summoned Visclosky for documents and later declined to charge him. He was also cleared by the House Ethics Committee , though Visclosky declined to be interviewed by the committee, and there were "troubling aspects" uncovered in
1152-594: The ThrustSSC . The vehicle, driven by Andy Green , holds the world land speed record, having achieved an average speed on its bi-directional run of 1,228 km/h (763 mph) in the Black Rock Desert on 15 October 1997. The Bloodhound LSR project planned an attempt on the record in 2020 at Hakskeenpan in South Africa with a combination jet and hybrid rocket propelled car. The aim was to break
1216-562: The Tupolev Tu-160 and Rockwell B-1 Lancer are also supersonic-capable. The aerodynamics of supersonic aircraft is simpler than subsonic aerodynamics because the airsheets at different points along the plane often cannot affect each other. Supersonic jets and rocket vehicles require several times greater thrust to push through the extra aerodynamic drag experienced within the transonic region (around Mach 0.85–1.2). At these speeds aerospace engineers can gently guide air around
1280-713: The Turkish Regional Jet project . First flights were anticipated in 2019, but the project was abandoned in 2017. SNC and 328 SSG would continue exploring revivals of the 328 and 328JET. In 2017, the corporation settled a Justice Department lawsuit that says that the Sierra Nevada Corporation had overcharged the U.S government on federal contracts between 2007 and 2011 which violated the False Claims Act . They settled without admitting liability, paying $ 14.9 million. In 2007,
1344-524: The fuselage of the aircraft without producing new shock waves , but any change in cross area farther down the vehicle leads to shock waves along the body. Designers use the Supersonic area rule and the Whitcomb area rule to minimize sudden changes in size. However, in practical applications, a supersonic aircraft must operate stably in both subsonic and supersonic profiles, hence aerodynamic design
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#17327728127811408-561: The rocket engine for Scaled Composites , including the one used for SpaceShipOne . In April 2013, SpaceShipTwo completed its first powered flight test using RocketMotorTwo. After losing the bid for NASA commercial crew, Sierra Nevada reduced the staff working on RocketMotorTwo in September 2014. In late November, the corporation announced the permanent closure of their Poway, California propulsion development facility as they intend to consolidate all propulsion activity in one location, at
1472-467: The speed of sound decreases somewhat with altitude, due to lower temperatures found there (typically up to 25 km). At even higher altitudes the temperature starts increasing, with the corresponding increase in the speed of sound. When an inflated balloon is burst, the torn pieces of latex contract at supersonic speed, which contributes to the sharp and loud popping noise. To date, only one land vehicle has officially travelled at supersonic speed,
1536-546: The wave motion travelling through the bullwhip that makes it capable of achieving supersonic speeds. Most modern firearm bullets are supersonic, with rifle projectiles often travelling at speeds approaching and in some cases well exceeding Mach 3 . Most spacecraft are supersonic at least during portions of their reentry, though the effects on the spacecraft are reduced by low air densities. During ascent, launch vehicles generally avoid going supersonic below 30 km (~98,400 feet) to reduce air drag. Note that
1600-685: The 24th and 25th ordered MEA, and are expected to be delivered early 2022. Operators: In 2015, Sierra Nevada Corporation acquired 328 Support Services GmbH (328 SSG) and with it the maintenance rights and type certificates for the Dornier 328 and Fairchild-Dornier 328JET . Later in 2015 an agreement was reached for the Turkish government to build the aircraft in Turkey as the T328 and TR328 and for Turkey to develop enlarged 60-70 seat "628" models, under
1664-789: The AFSOC planes in 2017. Beginning in 2013, the corporation partnered with Embraer to sell the Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano as a Light Attack/Armed Reconnaissance aircraft under the USAF's A-29 Super Tucano designation. Operators: Gorgon Stare is a remotely controlled, aircraft-based Wide-Area Persistent Surveillance (WAPS) system. Gorgon Stare includes the USAF's only operational day/night persistent wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) capability. The system has flown long-duration sorties daily in multiple theaters since March 2011, providing thousands of hours of direct combat support. In Spring 2014,
1728-648: The Dynetics proposal the highest-rated project. The corporation has concluded a successful two-year on-orbit research mission for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The mission utilized the Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) spacecraft in medium Earth orbit (MEO) and helped utilize research and technologies that could advance the potential future deployment of United States Department of Defense (DoD) spacecraft in
1792-549: The Sierra Nevada Corporation and two other companies to design and develop the next generation of U.S. human spaceflight capabilities, enabling a launch of astronauts from U.S. soil in the next five years. Advances made by these companies under newly signed Space Act Agreements through the agency's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative are intended to ultimately lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial customers. As part of this agreement, Sierra Nevada Corporation
1856-547: The U.S. Air Force deployed the latest generation of Gorgon Stare. The fully upgraded system simultaneously provides a four-fold increase in area coverage with a two-fold improvement in resolution compared to its predecessor. The system features two state-of-the-art imaging sensor turrets—an electro-optical (EO) sensor derived from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) ARGUS technology and an infrared (IR) sensor integrating
1920-526: The US Army's EMARSS platform. In December 2008, the corporation completed its acquisition of SpaceDev . It is now developing an orbital spacecraft called the Dream Chaser . In April 2021, the corporation announced it would create Sierra Space , an independent commercial space corporation. Sierra Space is developing the reusable Dream Chaser spaceplane and working with Blue Origin to create
1984-448: The aircraft in search-and-rescue and environmental assessment missions. In 2016, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) awarded SNC a $ 280 million firm-fixed-price contract to engineer and integrate 12 Multi-Role Enforcement Aircraft. In 2020, CBP Air and Marine Operations (AMO) issued a delivery order to SNC valued at roughly $ 47 million for the acquisition of two Multi-Role Enforcement Aircraft (MEA). These two aircraft are
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2048-431: The companies proposal less mature than SpaceX's or Boeing. In the selection statement, Bill Gerstenmaier , head of NASA's human exploration and operations directorate, explained the decision by stating that "a winged spacecraft is a more complex design and thus entails more developmental and certification challenges, and therefore may have more technical and schedule risk than expected", and "I consider SNC's design to be at
2112-420: The composite airframe of the Dream Chaser, which was used to conduct the first orbital launch in 2016. Internally the Dream Chaser program team is frequently referred to as the "Dream Team." The team includes well-known aerospace industry partners such as Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance , NASA centers and universities across the United States, small businesses such as Craig Technologies, as well as
2176-452: The death of one test pilot and a "serious shoulder injury" to the other test pilot, and a total loss of the vehicle. The accident investigation revealed that the "ship’s fuel tanks and its engine were recovered intact, indicating there was no explosion ... no signs of burn-through, no signs of being breached". While the US government National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is leading
2240-815: The demonstration mission. In July 2014, the corporations Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) business area located in Centennial, Colorado , won a competitive contract to provide and operate two multi-mission aircraft (MMA) for the State of Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC). Based on the Pilatus PC-12 , the DFPC aircraft are equipped with electro-optical sensors and communications equipment that allow firefighters to detect small fires before they grow into large incidents that severely affect Colorado's lives, property, and resources. As
2304-603: The development of the Dream Chaser spaceplane and Commercial Space Station with Blue Origin The organization is a multi-billion-dollar corporation with over 4,000 employees. Its main business is working with the US Department of Defense and NASA on contracts. The corporation was founded in 1963 by John Chisholm with a few employees working out of an airplane hangar in the Reno Stead Airport . The corporation
2368-541: The development of the SpaceShipOne hybrid rocket motor. As of March 2013, Sierra Nevada had performed over 300 hybrid rocket test firings. The company also developed the rocket engine for the first private spacecraft to reach space, SpaceShipOne , which won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004. Sierra Nevada is also developing a similar hybrid engine, the Dream Chaser rocket engine . On 26 July 2007, during
2432-547: The early vehicle subsystem testing phase, an explosion occurred during a propellant flow test by Scaled Composites at the Mojave Air and Space Port . The test included filling the oxidizer tank with 4,500 kg (9,900 lb) of nitrous oxide , followed by a 15-second cold flow injector test. The test did not ignite the engine and no solid rocket fuel was involved. Three Scaled employees were killed and three injured, two critically and one seriously, by flying shrapnel when
2496-887: The environment of space are profound to our nation and the DoD." In 2001, SNC was producing landing gear for the Predator drone . In 2009, the corporation converted the Polish PZL M28 Skytruck into the C-145A Skytruck for the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). One crashed beyond repair in Afghanistan in 2011. 11 were retired in 2015. In 2016, three were sent to Kenya, two to Costa Rica, two to Nepal, and two to Estonia. The corporation took over maintenance of
2560-460: The existing record, then make further attempts during which (the members of) the team hoped to reach speeds of up to 1,600 km/h (1,000 mph). The effort was originally run by Richard Noble who was the leader of the ThrustSSC project, however following funding issues in 2018, the team was bought by Ian Warhurst and renamed Bloodhound LSR. Later the project was indefinitely delayed due to
2624-531: The facilities at Orbital Technologies Corp. In October 2014, the United States Department of Defense awarded Sierra Nevada Corporation's Space Systems with a contract to develop and build a next-generation science and technology demonstration satellite, known as STPSat-5, for their Space Test Program . SNC Space Systems, working with Dynetics , participated in some early HLS design studies under NASA's HLS Appendix E program. They submitted
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2688-485: The first flight test of RocketMotorTwo. The test was a 16-second burn as planned, and was ignited at an altitude of 47,000 feet (14,000 m), shortly after Enterprise was released from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft and the pilots cross-checked data and verified stable control. The RM2 control system opened the main oxidizer valve and fired the igniters inside the fuel case. The burn was completed at an altitude of 55,000 feet (17,000 m), by which point Enterprise
2752-454: The first hot-fire test under the control of SpaceShipTwo's proprietary Rocket Motor Controller (RMC) was successfully conducted. Despite statements in early 2009 that flight testing of RocketMotorTwo was planned for later in 2009, no flight tests took place in 2009, 2010 or 2011, and only glide flight tests—with the engine installed in SS2—occurred in 2012. In July 2012, Virgin Galactic ,
2816-498: The first-generation rocket engine . The engineering and development work of the second-generation engine was done in-house, by Virgin Galactic. The work began on the new formulation for the hybrid engine in 2013, and by May 2014—when SNC's involvement with SS2 propulsion using the first-generation rocket motor was ended—the new engine formulation had already completed full-duration burns of over 60 seconds in ground tests on an engine test stand. Rather than use rubber-based HTPB in
2880-519: The harsh radiation environment of MEO. The three successful DSX physics-based research/experiment areas include: Wave Particle Interaction Experiment (WPIx), Space Weather Experiment (SWx), and Space Environmental Effects (SFx). Robert Johnston, the principal investigator on the science side of the DSX team, commented on the DSX mission: "We will be working the science from this mission for the remainder of our careers ... DSX's contributions in understanding
2944-436: The investigation, has released only "statements of fact", space journalist Irene Klotz has stated more explicitly that "[i]t wasn’t SpaceShipTwo’s hybrid rocket motor – which was flying ... with a new type of fuel – that caused the fatal crash." The NTSB final report attributed that the cause was 1) pilot error and 2) inadequate cockpit and procedure design that tended to make a certain high-stress situation more consequential for
3008-470: The largest IR arrays available. The Sierra Nevada Corporation Transport Telemedicine System is a capability that captures and communicates patient care and condition information beginning at the point of injury and continuing until arrival at a medical facility. In September 2014, at the inaugural Nevada Telemedicine Summit, SNC successfully demonstrated the capability to the U.S. Army Medical Material Agency . The Nevada Army National Guard MEDEVAC unit flew
3072-444: The lowest level of maturity, with significantly more technical work and critical design decisions to accomplish.... SNC's proposal also has more schedule uncertainty." Director Mark Sirangelo said the team was "devastated", and called it "like a death in the family", and Washington Post said the corporation "entered a realm particular to the world of government contracting: that of the big-time corporate loser". The corporation filed
3136-614: The nitrous oxide oxidizer spontaneously ignited and exploded (dissociation into N2 and O components, releasing energy). Scaled Composites performed a series of subscale rocket hot-firings between June 2005 and April 2009, before choosing a full-scale rocket motor design. News reports in early 2009 reported that the hot fire tests had been "completed" and that Spacedev (later acquired by Sierra Nevada Corporation ) had been contracted by Scaled Composites to assist Scaled in developing SS2. By December 2011, 21 full-scale hot-fire ground tests had been carried out on RocketMotorTwo. On 20 June 2012,
3200-636: The objects move faster than the speed at which sound propagates through the medium. In gases, sound travels longitudinally at different speeds, mostly depending on the molecular mass and temperature of the gas, and pressure has little effect. Since air temperature and composition varies significantly with altitude, the speed of sound, and Mach numbers for a steadily moving object may change. In water at room temperature supersonic speed means any speed greater than 1,440 m/s (4,724 ft/s). In solids, sound waves can be polarized longitudinally or transversely and have higher velocities. Supersonic fracture
3264-552: The owner of VSS Enterprise – the first SpaceShipTwo spaceplane built – announced that RocketMotorTwo was fully qualified for powered flight, and that the ground test program was substantially complete. SpaceShipTwo conducted its first gliding test flight with the engine fully installed in December 2012. Additional ground rocket tests continued into March 2013 as the company prepared for powered test flights. VSS Enterprise conducted its first powered flight on 29 April 2013, marking
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#17327728127813328-593: The pilot than it perhaps should have been. The HTPB hybrid rocket motor and its oxidizer valve system were produced in SNC's manufacturing facility in Poway, California in conjunction with Scaled Composites. In 2013, the Poway facility was reported to be "currently producing motors for both SpaceShipTwo and SNC’s own Dream Chaser orbital crew vehicle". SNC closed the Poway facility in late 2014. The polyamide hybrid rocket motor
3392-518: The probe. An email from SNC's Dave Klinger justified their requested contribution amounts to Visclosky, stating "He has been a good supporter of SNC. We have gotten over 10M in [earmarks]". Referring to the Klinger email, Steven V. Roberts and Cokie Roberts called the PMA/SNC relationship "a bribe by any other name". In 2020, SNC's Multi-Agency Collaboration Environment (MACE) group produced
3456-446: The report, the outlet reported, as were Congressional staffers quoted by The Daily Beast . Supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound ( Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level , this speed is approximately 343.2 m/s (1,126 ft/s; 768 mph; 667.1 kn; 1,236 km/h). Speeds greater than five times
3520-519: The solid portion of the hybrid rocket motor—which had experienced serious engine stability issues on firings longer than approximately 20 seconds with the first-generation engine—the Virgin Galactic-developed SS2 hybrid rocket engine would now use thermoplastic polyamide (i.e., nylon ) as the solid fuel component of the propellant. The plastic fuel was projected to have better performance (by several unspecified measures) and
3584-421: The speed of sound (Mach 5) are often referred to as hypersonic . Flights during which only some parts of the air surrounding an object, such as the ends of rotor blades, reach supersonic speeds are called transonic . This occurs typically somewhere between Mach 0.8 and Mach 1.2. Sounds are traveling vibrations in the form of pressure waves in an elastic medium. Objects move at supersonic speed when
3648-405: The use of an afterburner . Due to its ability to supercruise for several hours and the relatively high frequency of flight over several decades, Concorde spent more time flying supersonically than all other aircraft combined by a considerable margin. Since Concorde's final retirement flight on November 26, 2003, there are no supersonic passenger aircraft left in service. Some large bombers , such as
3712-491: Was supersonic , achieving Mach 1.2 (1,300 km/h; 790 mph). SNC stated after the test that "The rocket motor ignition went as planned, with the expected burn duration, [and] good engine performance." In May 2014, Virgin Galactic announced a change to the hybrid engine to be used in SpaceShipTwo, and took the development effort in-house, terminating the contract with Sierra Nevada and halting all development on
3776-825: Was acquired in 1994 by Fatih Ozmen and Eren Ozmen . Fatih Ozmen was one of the original employees hired by Chisholm in 1981. The corporation has since grown into a multi-billion-dollar corporation with over 4,000 employees. The companies main business is completing US Department of Defense and NASA contracts. In 2016, the corporation built a 130,000 square feet (12,000 m ) aircraft modification facility in Meridianville, Alabama , alongside Madison County Executive Airport . The corporation expanded, building an additional 60,800 square feet (5,650 m ) facility, which could hold seven Beechcraft Super King Air / C-12/MC-12S planes. The corporation began modifying commercial aircraft into military surveillance aircraft, such as
3840-426: Was awarded $ 212.5 million, ostensibly to continue the development and testing of its Dream Chaser spacecraft. The Dream Chaser is a revival of NASA's HL-20 Personnel Launch System lifting-body design. In July 2014, the corporation signed a letter of cooperation with Tuskegee University to collaborate on efforts related to SNC's Dream Chaser. In August 2014, Lockheed Martin and Sierra Nevada Corporation unveiled
3904-470: Was expected to allow SpaceShipTwo to make flights to a higher altitude. The second-generation engine design also required the modification to the SS2 airframe to fit additional tanks in the wings of SpaceShipTwo—one holding methane and the other containing helium —in order to ensure a proper burn of the new engine. Even though Virgin Galactic has run a number of ground tests on the new engine by May 2014, it
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#17327728127813968-410: Was making political consulting payments to Jim Gibbons' wife, Dawn Gibbons. Dawn was also paid by Jim's political campaign, and a nonprofit set up by the couple also paid Dawn money. These payments were exposed in 2007 by The Wall Street Journal , who also said a grand jury had convened for this and another corporation Gibbons had been entangled with. In 2009, SNC was tied to lobbying scandals from
4032-478: Was stated then that four additional ground tests of the polyamide-fueled engine were anticipated before the SpaceShipTwo flight tests could resume with the new-fuel rocket motor. On 31 October 2014, the new polyamide engine fuel formulation was used in flight for the first time in the powered test flight no. 4 (PF04) of SpaceShipTwo. At 10:12 am PDT, VSS Enterprise suffered a malfunction, and subsequently broke up in mid-flight. The inflight mishap resulted in
4096-482: Was the subject of a rebuttal in The Daily Beast , which pointed out that the shifting patterns in cell phone data were easily explained by observable road construction. The rebuttal also noted that the report relied on extremely small sample numbers (some as small as seven cell phones for an institute with hundreds of employees). Intelligence and health specialists interviewed by NBC were broadly skeptical of
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