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When Virgin Galactic’s commercial space plane, SpaceShipTwo, crashed to Earthback in November 2014, killing co-pilot Michael Alsbury, it was a dark day for space exploration and all those budding space tourists who’d bought a ticket to fly to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere. But Virgin Galactic isn’t giving up: in the company’s biggest announcement since the tragedy, it’s unveiled VSS Unity – a spacecraft it says will open up access to space for everyone.
The replacement for SpaceShipTwo is very similar to its predecessor, with a wingspan of 12.8 metres (42 feet) and a length of 18.3 metres (60 feet). Importantly though, there have been crucial improvements to the feather locking system that aids the descent of the aircraft, as Ars Technica reports.
“During descent, the vehicle undergoes what’s called feathering, rotating the tail and wing assembly to provide more surface area and slow the craft,” astronomer Phil Plait explains over at Slate. Read more below…
Soucre http://www.sciencealert.com/virgin-galactic-unveils-its-new-spaceplane-vss-unity