Virgin Galactic Pronta Ai Voli Commerciali, Anche Con L'italia

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Virgin Galactic Pronta Ai Voli Commerciali, Anche Con L'italia Virgin Galactic pronta ai voli commerciali, anche con l'Italia Lo SpaceShipTwo di Virgin Galactic, con l'aereo-madre WhiteKnightTwo, sono allo spazioporto commerciale del New Mexico, pronti al primo volo con passeggeri paganti. Virgin Galactic: l'aereo-razzo SpaceShipTwo agganciato alla pancia dell'aereo-madre WhiteKnightTwo, in avvicinamento allo spazioporto commerciale SpacePort America https://www.focus.it/scienza/spazio/virgin-galactic-pronta-ai-voli-commerciali Trasportato sottopancia dall'aereo-madre WhiteKnightTwo, il 13 febbraio l'aereo-razzo SpaceShipTwo di Virgin Galactic è arrivato allo SpacePort America, nel New Mexico: per gli esperti, il trasferimento dal Mojave Air and Space Port (California) suggerisce che si avvicina sempre di più il momento dei voli suborbitali per clienti paganti. Fino ad oggi Mojave è stata la base di appoggio dell'aereo razzo, da quando sono iniziati i test di volo della nuova versione, nel 2016, e sono ormai più di una decina i voli effettuati ad alta quota effettuati con successo. Il 5 aprile del 2018 la SpaceShipTwo si è staccata dall'aereo-madre e, acceso il motore, è arrivata a 25,7 chilometri di quota, superati il 29 maggio (34,9 km) e il 26 luglio dello stesso anno (52 km), con velocità che hanno toccato i 2,47 Mach, ossia 2,47 volte la velocità del suono (che è di circa 1.192 km/h a 0 °C). Il 13 dicembre 2018 l'aereo-razzo ha toccato gli 82,7 chilometri di quota, superando il confine tra l'atmosfera e lo spazio - che gli americani fissano a 80 chilometri di altezza sul livello del mare. IL PRIMO PASSEGGERO. L'ultimo volo di prova è stato effettuato il 22 febbraio 2019: lo SpaceShipTwo, pilotato da David Mackay e Michael Masucci, ha raggiunto 89,9 di quota a Mach 3,04 (circa 3.750 km/h). A bordo c'era anche l'istruttore capo di Virgin Galactic, Beth Moses, che è diventata così la prima persona a volare come "passeggero" a bordo dell'aereo razzo. Dopo un anno praticamente senza voli nello spazio, le cose potrebbero presto cambiare ora che lo spazioplano si trova nella base operativa di Spaceport America, da cui dovrebbero appunto partire i primi voli "turistici" e di clienti paganti con esperimenti di ricerca scientifica. Nel Mojave si continua invece a costruire nuovi aerei-razzo (sono in costruzione il terzo e il quarto) e motori. IN MOLTI CI CREDONO. Mentre SpaceShipTwo è quasi pronto al volo inaugurale, Virgin Galactic ha stretto diverse partnership per supportare le sue operazioni commerciali. Investimenti da 20 milioni di dollari da parte dell'organizzazione HorizonX Ventures di Boeing mirano ad "ampliare l'accesso commerciale allo spazio e a trasformare le tecnologie di viaggio globali". Virgin Galactic ha concluso accordi anche con Social Capital Hedosophia per creare Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., che al momento è la prima e unica compagnia commerciale al mondo di voli spaziali umani, quotata alla Borsa di New York. CON L'ITALIA. Virgin Galactic ha anche firmato un contratto con l'Aeronautica Militare Italiana per un volo di ricerca con equipaggio. A bordo potrebbe salire il cosmonauta italiano Walter Villadei ed è possibile che venga seguito da altri specialisti italiani che condurranno una serie di esperimenti. In quota, l'equipaggio lascerà i sedili solo dopo lo spegnimento del motore, per condurre in assenza di gravità gli esperimenti progettati dall'Aeronautica Militare Italiana, da Virgin Galactic e dal nostro CNR. I test includeranno la verifica di strumentazione medica per misurare gli effetti biologici della microgravità sul corpo umano e alcune prove per comprendere meglio la chimica di nuovi carburanti ecologici. .
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