Projects scientists at the Southwest Research Institute and the University of Colorado Boulder expected to conduct aboard that crashed Friday morning are in limbo — at least until an investigation of the accident is complete.
The crash of SpaceShipTwo, which killed one pilot and injured another, shocked an aerospace community already reeling from Tuesday’s launch explosion of an Orbital Sciences-built .
Yet, those in Colorado’s aerospace and science communities with ties to Virgin Galactic’s experimental craft said they are resolved to move forward, unfettered by fear.
“Every form of transportation has accidents. Spaceflight is no different, except that it’s younger,” said Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute’s space division, headquartered in Boulder. “Virgin Galactic had a tragedy, but we have to take the long view. I stand with the pioneers of spaceflight for all mankind. That’s why we do this.”
SwRI is the science headquarters for , currently headed to Pluto. Stern, the mission’s principal investigator, is also one of a team of Boulder scientists who inked a to fly, along with several experiments, aboard three high-altitude flights on SpaceShipTwo.
Stern acknowledged the risk of being one of the first scientists slated to take a commercial flight into space. But he compares the commercial space program to any emerging transportation industry — there will be accidents. As a scientist and former fighter pilot, however, he is confident in the testing process.
“We regret when tragedies happen … but that’s why you have a test phase. You’d like a perfectly spotless test phase, but history has shown that is an unrealistic expectation,” he said. “We take risks all the time to make a better world. This is one of those times.”
SpaceShipTwo is a class of space plane designed for space tourism.
Virgin Galactic was one of four U.S. companies . sends experiments to space or near-space aboard commercial vehicles — a crucial performance step before any technology is considered for NASA development.
SpaceShipTwo’s first Flight Opportunities voyage was slated to carry payloads from eight scientific and research organizations — including one from CU’s — to space on a yet-unannounced date this fall, according to NASA’s website.
The university’s experiment will test how a pump with no moving parts, designed by California-based , will react in both the rocket boost and microgravity phases of spaceflight.
The pump has the potential to reduce the weight and complexity of rocket fuel systems, said CU Boulder’s Ryan Starkey, the mission’s primary investigator. He was unsure what the impact of Friday’s crash will be on the mission.
“We’ve been waiting patiently for Virgin Galactic to fly, and we’re perfectly happy to wait longer,” said Starkey. “This is a setback for the commercial space community as a whole. We want to see success and hope they recover soon.”
While NASA’s official statement said it would be premature to speculate on any impact to Flight Opportunities, program project engineer Paul De Leon shed some dim light on what the next steps are.
“We know there will be investigation, and we’ll wait for the results of the investigation and then, based on that, we’ll see about moving forward,” he said.
National Transportation Safety Board representatives will arrive at the crash site in the Mojave Desert early Saturday to begin an investigation that’s expected to last several days.
One focus of the investigation will be on SpaceShipTwo’s rocket motor, produced by Mojave, Calif.-based Scaled Composites. Virgin Galactic for the spacecraft’s engine, ending its relationship with Louisville-based Sierra Nevada Space Systems.
Space Systems, as a subcontractor to Scaled Composites, created components used in SpaceShipTwo’s three previous successful test flights.
This was SpaceShipTwo’s fourth flight.
“SNC had no involvement in the build or qualification testing of the motor used in this flight, nor in the integration of this motor to SS2,” a company statement said. “Advancing space transportation is a difficult and often challenging journey. SNC, as a member of the greater space community, is standing by to assist Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites during this difficult time, if requested.”
Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said the company will move forward.
“Space is hard and today was a tough day,” he said. “We believe we owe it to the folks who were flying these vehicles, as well as the folks who’ve been working so hard on them to understand this and move forward, which is what we’ll do.”
Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@denverpost.com or twitter.com/LauraKeeney
