$SPCE Интересная инфа с reddit. Извините что без перевода.
Howdy y'all,
Just got off the Spacefarers QA event, took some notes on stuff that I thought was interesting:
Test Flight Program Update:
Mike Moses spoke
The EMI issue came in part from an upgrade to the system for VSS Unity's Horizontal Stablizers
The problem has been identified, the fix has been built, and bench tested. It is currently being installed in VSS Unity "right now"
On track for the May test flight, said it will be "momentus"
Test Flight Program Timeline:
After the May flight, they will have an additional test flight shortly thereafter in which the cabin will be fully occupied
After the fully occupied flight, Branson will fly as a proof of concept for commercial service
After Branson's flight, ticket sales will reopen (to Spacefarers first). The price will go up to reflect demand, and the full future astronaut experience provided to passengers themselves, *and their families*
The following flight will be the flight with the Italian Air Force, which will serve as a proof of concept for the research/professional use market
After that flight, the test program will conclude, Unity and Eve will go offline for maintenance, and commercial service will begin
VSS Imagine
Biggest takeaway here is the value of the modular build system
Feather, fuselage, wings, oxidizer all built separately as individual pieces which allows for more rapid production, as well as the ability to replace parts
Pretty much all systems have improvements based on lessons learned from VSS Unity. Externally they are similar ships but internally VSS Imagine is lighter, and more efficient and will provide better performance
More broadly they see this as their first step into scaling the business significantly. The quote that stood out to me was that this wasn't about flying a few hundred people in one ship from one spaceport, it was about flying "many thousands of people in a fleet of ships from spaceports around the world"
Chief Pilot Dave McKay says that it will fly, and handle nearly identically to Unity. Minor changes in cockpit interface but that pilots will easily be able to fly both Imagine and Unity with no issues
Those were really the biggest points, but overall my takeaway was that they are incredibly confident on their fix for VSS Unity, and that they are *very* much so turning their entire operation into imminent commercial service. There were no ifs ands or buts, it was spoken as fact that Spacefarers will be able to buy tickets soon, Unity will fly in May.
I feel really good about the trajectory of the company and their progress after this call. And obviously VSS Imagine is unbelievably cool, so overall a good day.