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SCI FI MOVIE 'CURSE' MAY HAVE KILLED OFF AMERICAN AIRLINES' FUTURE

 By David Todd

 As American Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, it may well be suffering from the "sci-fi movie curse of the airlines".  As science fiction film makers have found, predicting the future is fraught with hazard as those companies that are strong now may not be so in the future.  This curse usually results in such airlines which do appear usually not having any future at all.     For example, American Airlines appeared in the well regarded eco-science fiction drama Silent Running (1972) which starred Bruce Dern, some very sweet robots, and a lot of trees.   Of the airline, robots and trees....now it looks as if only the trees will survive.

 American Airlines is not the only victim of this curse.  In Stanley Kubrick's 2001 - A Space Odyssey (1968) the Orion shuttle which carried space passengers to the rotating Earth station was seen in the livery colours of the then great, but now defunct, Pan American World Airways (PanAm).  Perhaps PanAm was asking for it when it even actually took bookings for flights to the Moon.   

 It was not just this film that got it wrong about PanAm.  The dystopian vision of what future cities will be like in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) had massive illuminated advertising hoardings with PanAm featuring prominently.  It was not just Pan Am that was apparently cursed, some of the other companies that featured in the film such as Atari and Cuisinart also suffered financial difficulties.

So which airline/spaceline will actually be around to fly you to the moon?   Obviously, given its plans for suborbital spaceflight Virgin Galactic has to be a contender.  But whichever airline does make it into this brave new future, we do hope it is not one of the low cost airlines.  Let's face it, none of us want to have to pay for our oxygen as a surcharge.

 

 PanAm will now never be an orbital spaceline despite this colour scheme on the Orion III Space Clipper. 

Sometimes, it's best to let things speak for themselves. Read on, friends (our highlights):

The First Vibrator in Space   
     
Los Angeles, CA - September 27, 2011 -- On October 8, 2011, online sex toy sales leader SexToy.com, will lead a team to launch the first adult sex toy vibrator into space. The space craft will be equipped with a still and video camera that will send images of its best selling vibrator back to Earth.
 
Through rigorous experimentation, the group has developed a way to send the vibrator into space. The toy will have to withstand temperatures of -75 degrees Fahrenheit and conditions 10 times over normal cosmic radiation. The vibrator will be fully exposed to the elements, reach an altitude of 100,000 feet (~20miles) above the Earth's atmosphere, which is three times the cruising altitude of a typical jet plane. The team hopes to retrieve the vibrator in fully functioning order.
 
SexToy Dave, CEO of CNV.com Inc., says of his inspiration behind the project, "I have always been into firsts and that is how I made my money. I was one of the first on the web selling sex toys, first to have an adult affiliate program, the first to make three appearances on Bravo's hit show Millionaire Matchmaker and now the first online adult business with a space program."
 
The sex toy will be carried into space by a partially solar-powered, partially helium-filled balloon 8 feet wide, armed with a 1080p HD video camera, a 10MP still camera, two consumer cell phones running tracking software, and an experimental GPS unit. The balloon and vibrating bullet will travel through Jet stream winds of up to 100 miles per hour for 1-3 hours and achieve a total distance of up to 100 miles. Sextoy.com will publish the photos on its new blog, "Chew On This" at www.sextoy.com/blog http://www.sextoy.com/blog

credit: Virgin Galactic / caption: could SpaceShipTwo use a liquid propulsion system?

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo could be a single stage to suborbit vehicle using liquid chemical propulsion according to independent research carried out by a company that has been contracted by the European Space Agency for suborbital and hypersonic transport studies

UK company Gas Dynamics has concluded, after its own internal study, using all the publicly available material it could obtain about SS2, that the spacecraft does not need its carrier aircraft WhiteKnight Two if it is fitted with a liquid chemical propulsion system

Spacevidcast.com has released this video and this article about Russia's MAKS aerospace system

credit: Dassault Aviation / caption: this is the VSH, Dassault's space tourism spin off from VEHRA 

French aerospace company Dassault Aviation's In the Air newsletter issue 14 has provided an update on its spaceflight related activities and teased us with the prospect of an imminent report outlining a possible future for the European suborbital vehicle VSH, or is that K:1000?

In its report "Suborbital Aviation: on the very edge of space" it says:

The study of suborbital vessels, both manned and unmanned, constitutes the natural extension of the activities of Dassault Aviation with regard to the aircraft of the future.
The suborbital activity began with the VEHRA (air-launched reusable hypersonic vehicle) project. This constituted an "evolution" of the X-38 experimental lifting body from NASA, for which Dassault Aviation had defined the shape. It comprises a family of vehicles that comes in three versions:
− 10 t demonstrator;
− 30 t vehicle for launching small (300 kg) satellites;
− heavy vehicle (200 t) for placing a 7 t payload in low orbit.

The newsletter goes on to say:

Air-launching from a commercial transport aircraft does away with the take-off constraints of classic launchers. In terms of flexibility, this type of launch requires a much more slim line ground infrastructure, and offers the possibility of aborting the mission and recovering the vehicles and their payloads in the majority of cases. The VEHRA project has generated repeat works (configuration, systems, propulsion, etc.) for the engineering division (DGT). Interns from the major engineering colleges have also been associated over the years with these futuristic vehicle projects.

For any US nationals or green card holders that are interested Virgin Galactic is advertising for a head of safety on the Virgin group website. The role also works for The Spaceship Company (TSC),  a Mojave based Virgin group, Scaled Composites joint venture that is the Boeing, shall we say, to Virgin Galactic's Virgin Atlantic. The head of safety will make public appearences as well

The advert says:

VG/TSC is seeking a first rate qualified Head of Safety to define and develop Virgin Galactic's operational safety approach, and to lead the establishment of the Galactic Group safety policies & framework.

and that the role will

• Be responsible for the risk management process at the core of the SMS, from hazard identification and analysis to development of mitigation approaches. Emphasis will be on integrating Scaled Composites / TSC's space launch system hazard analyses, VG LLC's operationally focused hazard analyses, and Spaceport America/NMSA's infrastructure and airspace analyses.

and that it will

• Develop, with the Chief Pilot and their team, emergency scenarios and appropriate action plans or mitigation approaches. These should include dress rehearsals and emergency / incident response plans in accordance with FAA and stakeholder requirements.

Virgin Galactic's commercial director Stephen Attenborough talks about the future of space tourism from an Irish science and engineering education organisation's event held in 2008 but the video was not posted until end of 2009. Go through to the extended portion of this blog post to see parts two and three

Congrats to the "Gupmyster" on his video of the WhiteKnight Two-SpaceShipTwo first captive carry flight take-off and landing. You could have earned yourself some cash if you'd sold it to us Gupmyster!

Watch this 22s video of Virgin Galactic's first SpaceShipTwo (SS2) captive carry flight on 22 March 2010 as the WhiteKnight Twi, SS2 vehicles pass over Mojave

credit: Flightglobal.com / caption: Virgin Galactic's first SpaceShipTwo, captive carry flight on 22 March 2010

Hyperbola will add more as details become available but it seems that at about 07:15h Pacific Daylight Time (14:15h GMT) today Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnight Two VMS Eve carrier aircraft took off from runway 26 at Mojave air and spaceport with SpaceShipTwo attached

credit: Flightglobal.com / caption: click on the images to see larger versions in the same browser window

Click through to the extended portion of this blog to see another photo, with more to be added over the next 24h and possibly video. Use of these images for anything other than personal viewing, not blogs or media outlets is prohibited

Blogs

• The Virgin Galactic programme in full

Galleries

• Virgin Galactic
• Richard Branson
• WhiteKinght Two arrives at Oshkosh 2009