Virgin Galactic has signed a new contract with the Italian Air Force for a research flight onboard the company’s SpaceShipTwo system during which Italian researchers will actively conduct experiments while they are in space.
The contract marks the first time a government department has funded a human-tended research flight on a commercial space vehicle. The mission, set to take place as early as 2020, will fly three Italian payload specialists and a rack of research payloads. The Italian Air Force payload specialists and Virgin Galactic’s payload team are working with the Italian National Research Center (CNR) on the design of the experimental payloads.
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo system is designed to fly both humans and payloads to space for tourism and research purposes. The company offers an end-to-end solution for payload flights that includes the use of SpaceShipTwo and its carrier aircraft VMS Eve, along with the hardware, processes, and facilities needed for a successful campaign. Virgin Galactic’s platform offers routine, reliable, responsive, and affordable access to the upper atmosphere and space that can accommodate a large volume and mass for research payloads. The company has already flown payloads to space through the NASA Flight Opportunities Program.
Human-tended research onboard SpaceShipTwo allows a dynamic approach to space-based science with researchers able to actively engage with their experiments, responding to developments in real time, optimizing the effectiveness of the research. Experimentation with humans-in-the-loop may also improve reliability by removing the unneeded complexity of building in automation. Virgin Galactic will be able to provide these benefits to the research community at levels of repeatability, affordability and quality of micro-gravity which have been historically unavailable in human spaceflight.
During the spaceflight, following shutdown of the rocket motor, researchers will unclip from their seats and undertake the actions necessary to complete each experiment during several minutes of zero gravity. The company will provide training and preparation for the researchers so that they are fully equipped to carry out their job as mission specialists on this flight and provide onsite pre-flight support for each of the payload experiments.
The payload will include medical instrumentation that will measure the biological effects of the transitional phase from gravity to micro gravity on the human body. Other testing equipment may be used to help develop a new understanding of the chemistry of green fuels.
