Typical. Soon as I'm out of the country, stuff just goes berserk :p I'm posting this very quickly from a Tokyo hotel room with my body clock shot to hell, so don't expect it to make much sense!

(Source: RLV News)

The development of commercial orbital systems for crew launch under the NASA CCDev2 programme just got a lot more... complicated. There are reports that Virgin Galactic is teaming with *both* Orbital Sciences (on a new four-person lifting body design) and Sierra Nevada Corporation on their Dream Chaser spaceplane (something which I've raised as a possible collaboration before).

From Space News:

Dulles, Va.-based Orbital is teaming with Virgin Galactic of New Mexico on the Commercial Crew Development 2 (CCDev 2) project. Virgin Galactic will market commercial rides on the spacecraft, conduct drop tests of the orbital space vehicle using its WhiteKnightTwo aircraft and offer transport services for the space vehicle, industry sources said. Although Orbital expects to launch and land the spacecraft at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., in the event of an abort, WhiteKnightTwo would be used to ferry the spaceship between its landing location and the Cape.

Virgin is also expected to announce this week a separate CCDev 2 bid led by Sierra Nevada Corp., the big winner in NASA’s first round of Commercial Crew Development awards earlier this year. The Sparks, Nev.-based firm garnered $20 million in CCDev 1 funds to mature its Dream Chaser orbital spacecraft, a six-passenger lifting-body vehicle based on NASA’s HL-20 concept from the early 1990s that the company has been working on for several years.

Other links:

• The Race Heats Up -- Transterrestrial Musings
• Spaceship teams seek more funding -- Cosmic Log

Rocketeer comments: Wow. So, we now have two Virgin Galactic-sponsored manned orbital projects, and an MOU with Bigelow Aerospace. Y'know, I think the UK could actually start to go places ;-)

UPDATE:

A couple more links:

• Orbital/Virgin Galactic's CCDev2 bid -- NASASpaceflight.com
• Orbital and Virgin Galactic team up -- NASA Watch

Fox News reports on Virgin's ambitions beyond the suborbital passenger business, starting with orbital missions for NASA to the International Space Station, and moving forward:

"We'll start with suborbital flights into space, we're then dreaming about trying to move on to orbital, and dreaming about, you know, looking at maybe having hotels in space one day, dreaming about maybe having intercontinental flights," Branson said in a recent Virgin Galactic video. "And if you don't dream you don't achieve anything. We try to inspire our engineers and technicians to make dreams become realities."

• Virgin Galactic's Spaceplanes Could Replace Space Shuttle -- FoxNews.com

Rocketeer comments: It's possible that VG could collaborate with one of the existing contenders for NASA crew resupply. The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft has been mooted as a platform for drop tests of the Sierra Nevada Corporation 'Dream Chaser' orbital spaceplane.

(Source: RLVNews)

More discussion of Virgin Galactic's plans to bid for NASA Commercial Crew Development funding in an article in Aviation Week:

“There’s about four companies that are seriously looking at [CCDev Phase 2],” Branson said in an interview with AVIATION WEEK. “Two of those companies we’re in discussions with about teaming up with. ... Over the next month, we’re going to make a decision as to whether to team up with one of those two companies or go it alone, but we plan to be in orbital travel within the next few years.”

• Virgin Galactic eyes NASA Commercial Crew Program -- Aviation Week

Since Space Adventures has already linked up with Boeing for passenger launch on the CST-100 capsule, there is speculation that Virgin is talking to SpaceX, and to Sierra Nevada Corporation (builders of the Dreamchaser spaceplane). Virgin may also be looking at resuscitating the airlaunched concept designed by Scaled Composites for T/Space.

Dream Chaser suborbital spaceplane. Benson Space Inc.