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Virgin Galactic to conduct first powered spaceship tests in 3 years
Virgin Galactic is determined to put its private space travel plans back on track following its tragic 2014 crash. Richard Branson tells Bloomberg that the company is about to resume powered test flights for the first time in close to 3 years, ending a series of glide-only tests that began in December. The company will fly in the atmosphere every 3 weeks, and plans to return to space (or at least, the edge of space) by November or December.
Virgin Atlantic turned industrial waste into greener jet fuel
Illinois-based LanzaTech and Virgin Atlantic have been working on an alternative fuel source for Sir Richard Branson's flagship airline since 2011. This week, the two companies announced a breakthrough that could drastically reduce the airline industry's carbon emissions. LanzaTech has produced 1,500 US gallons of jet fuel derived from the industrial gases given off by steel mills.
Virgin Galactic tests new thrusters, further disregards gravity (video)
Last year, Sir Richard Branson promised Virgin Galactic's first commercial mission would rip through the atmosphere in 2014. That goal has edged ever closer with SpaceShipTwo's latest trip beyond the sound barrier, where it shot past previous records and hit an altitude of 71,000 feet. This recent dry-run was the maiden voyage for a set of newly designed thrusters (used to keep the vessel on-course in space), and a new coating for the tail section that reflects heat from the rocket engine. As the company tells it, the purpose of this flight was to gather more transonic and supersonic data -- it isn't certain how many more test flights are needed, though. Given that Branson and his kids will be Galactic's first passengers, however, we've a hunch he'll keep tinkering 'til everything's just right.
The Today Show will televise Virgin Galactic's first commercial space flight
If you can't quite afford the fare to space, at least you'll be watch the future of non-terrestrial tourism on your TV. NBC has won the rights to televise Virgin Galactic's first flight, and plan to make it into a three-hour Today Show special. When Sir Branson and his two children travel beyond the atmosphere next year, the build-up will be covered across the entire TV network, including CNBC, MSNBC, The Weather Channel and (of course) The SyFy channel.
The Daily Roundup for 05.02.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Virgin Media begins pushing its UK broadband to 120Mbps, much to Usain's delight
If you're one of Virgin Media's top-tier internet customers, you may soon see your service getting a little speedier. The Branson-backed company is boosting its top speed from 100Mbps to 120Mbps, thanks to a £110 million ($169 million) infrastructure investment. The majority of the network -- around 60 percent -- has yet to be supercharged, but you can use the coverage checker linked below to see if you're in-line for an early Christmas present from Sir Richard.
Virgin Mobile to carry iPhone from today, Sir Richard does his best Fonz impression
Virgin Mobile is offering the iPhone to its prepaid customers as of today. The Sprint-owned subsidiary is using the event to kickstart a new retail strategy that will see the company open branded retail stores in Chicago -- with a nationwide rollout dependent upon its success. Since all carriers have to make a minimum commitment to Apple in order to receive the handset, it's interesting to see that Virgin's allocation forms part of Sprint's $15.5 billion gamble on the handset that's still yet to pay off. The handset will set users back $650 for a 16GB iPhone 4S, while plans begin at $30 for 300 voice minutes, unlimited messages and data, but only if they commit to automatic monthly payments.
FAA grants Virgin Galactic permit for powered tests, becomes Sir Richard's BFF
Virgin Galactic is one step closer to relieving WhiteKnightTwo of its babysitting gig. The FAA has given the Branson bunch permission to switch on SpaceShipTwo's rocket-powered motors mid-flight. The upcoming trials could open up the doors to getting at least 500 lucky people total ballers out of the desert and into the weightless environment of suborbital space. Current regulations call for more testing than back in 2004 when SpaceShipOne first achieved manned spaceflight, but they're worthwhile if past problems are prevented. What do you think will come first: frequent space-flyer miles, or Virgin Pure T6s and T7s in every home?
Virgin Pure water purifiers launch offensive against tap and bottled water in the UK
English entrepreneur and chairman of The Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson thinks that your tap water is dirty. So much so, in fact, that he's partnered up with Strauss Water to get one of his new purifiers into your home and onto your countertop. The colorful Virgin Pure T6 (£299, $466) can dispense 1.3 liters of chilled H2O per minute, or 1.4 liters of hot water that's stored internally. The T7 (£379, or $591) delivers a bit more swagger to your crib with its minimalist, tapered design that offers 50 percent faster cold water flow. It even gets a small power bump to heat your hot water more quickly than its less-expensive sibling. It all sounds well and good, but we'll really be impressed when Virgin crams one of these into its seatbacks in first class.
Virgin Media suffers three hour outage days after announcing super-fast broadband
Less than a week after announcing it would double customers broadband speeds nationwide, Virgin Media suffered a nationwide blackout that sent the network dark for most of Tuesday evening. At 5:00, the service dropped after router hardware decided it couldn't go on streaming the same episode of The Jeremy Kyle Show to the nation. The company admitted to the fault and service was restored by 8:00pm. Had it been smarter, it could have gotten away with passing the whole thing off as a SOPA protest, but we admire Virgin's honesty -- even if it did lead to the brilliant comment on Twitter pictured above.
Richard Branson launches Virgin Oceanic to explore the ocean's depths
Sir Richard Branson may have already branded his Necker Nymph aero submarine with the "Virgin Oceanic" moniker, but he's now finally taken things to the next logical (and ambitious) step. He's just announced a new, full-fledged venture of the same name, which promises to do to nothing short of dive to the deepest part of each of the Earth's five oceans -- all within the next two years, no less. That will be done with the one-manned sub pictured above, which was designed by Graham Hawkes and will be piloted by Chris Welsh on its first dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench later this year -- those two are Branson's partners in the venture, and Branson himself is set to pilot the sub on its second mission to the Puerto Rico Trench. Not surprisingly, one of the team's goals is to set a few world records, but they're also planning to conduct some scientific research along the way, and are already musing about future vehicles that could collect samples and allow for more extensive research. Head on past the break for a teaser video, although we're told it should not be assumed to reflect an actual mission.
The Engadget Interview: Sir Richard Branson on Project and the iPad
So we were lucky enough to sit down with Sir Richard Branson at this morning's launch of his iPad-only Project magazine, and just like the last time we hung out, our conversation was both entertaining and illuminating. The highlight? In addition to telling us that Project would eventually hit both Android tablets and other devices "in time," Sir Richard was totally candid in saying that he had "no f**king idea why" Project was only on the iPad and not on the web -- although he did say Project was a "proper magazine" and not "just thrown together for the web." (Ouch.) Sir Richard was also excited about the possibilities for advertising, saying that the new medium can "bring advertising alive." We've definitely got our doubts about limiting content to one platform without any robust sharing options -- and we obviously think it's possible to do high-quality content on the web -- but there's no doubt that Sir Richard is an extremely charming pitchman, so make sure to check out the whole interview.
Virgin officially announces Project magazine for iPad (and iPhone soon)
We're here at Virgin's press event for Project magazine, which Sir Richard Branson just called the "first all-digital magazine." It's launching on iPad first, then on the iPhone, but we also snuck a peek at the app last night and noticed a line about Android tablet support coming soon. Branson says the content will change constantly -- there'll even be comments, and sharing features are said to be "coming soon." Mapping features will be introduced in the iPhone version, which the Project editor-in-chief describes only as "all the coolest places in the world mapped by our users." Pricing for the iPad version is set at $2.99 per month, with the app updating throughout the period with new content and features. When asked about Rupert Murdoch's The Daily, Branson responded that "this is not a battle, not a war, but the future of publishing," while his chief editor had this to say: "We're not similar ... they're a daily newspaper, we're a monthly style magazine ... we wish them nothing but luck."
WhiteKnightTwo scheduled to rollout in July, fly in September
While much of the attention surrounding Virgin Galactic's race to space tourism has surrounded its SpaceShipTwo, word has come that carrier ship WhiteKnightTwo will rollout in late July, and after some ground tests, take to the skies by September. With this rollout come some new details about the composite, twin-boom mothership, which Virgin Galactic is selling as an "open architecture" that they are clearly open to pimping for other applications. Says Prez Will Whitehorn, "WhiteKnightTwo is the world's most advanced payload carrier. It has the best fuel efficiency of any aircraft ever built in history. It is the world's first 100% carbon composite aircraft." They are even looking into using WhiteKnightTwo as a forest fire water bomber with its payload capacity. Nonetheless, we care because the giant ship that will carry rich people to space at $200,000 a pop is going to be flying by September. Press passes please?
SpaceShipTwo, White Knight Two designs unveiled: aren't they cute?
As expected, Sir Richard Branson has just unveiled the final designs of SpaceShipTwo and White Knight Two, Virgin Galactic's planned commercial "spaceliner" and its corresponding carrier plane. At today's American Museum of Natural History launch event, Branson once again reiterated his lofty expectations for space tech in general and the six-passenger vehicle in particular, promising to promote privatization and more widespread research by offering outside organizations access to its launch system schematics. So far, Virgin has reportedly signed up 200 committed passengers willing to pay $200,000 for a 2010-or-later suborbital flight, but for now, all they can do is look at the pretty pictures in the gallery below.%Gallery-14508%
Engadget interviews Sir Richard Branson!
Our own Paul Miller found himself jet-setting on Virgin America's inaugural flight with none other than Sir Richard Branson -- that's right, he's a knight and he could probably kick our asses -- of Virgin Group fame. Naturally, the topic of Virgin Mobile came up in the discussion. What does Sir Richard think of his little MVNO project here in the States? Read on to find out!
The Engadget Interview: Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Group
Yesterday we sat down with Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Group, in the first class cabin of Air Colbert on the inaugural flight of Virgin America. Richard's day started with a rush through NY rain to make the plane that morning, and was losing his voice on top of it, but he was nice enough to spend a some minutes with us chatting up a few of his myriad of companies. We requested to speak to him about Virgin Galactic, but he isn't allowed to comment on the current situation due to an ongoing investigation into the explosion at Scaled Composites.Thank you for talking with us today. Congratulations on the flight!Thank you very much.How are you liking it?[Laughs] Well, I'm biased. And we've spent years and years trying to get this Virgin born and off the ground, and so many people have put so much time and effort and sweat and toil into it. Our competitors have tried to smother it at birth and make sure it never happened, but now it's finally happened. It's the perfect birth, I can't think of anything I'd change. She's a beautiful baby, has got beautiful eyes, and I'm very very proud of her, very proud of what everyone's done to get this.It's definitely been a well publicized fight to make this happen, what made it worth three and a half years to launch Virgin America?I think anybody who's traveled on the legacy carriers in America will know why people have to fight to try to compete with them. The quality of their service is almost non-existent. I wouldn't say that's particularly the fault of their crews, it's the tools that those crews have been given by their masters, or they haven't been given any tools, and the end result has been... If you look at any poll of the best airlines in the world, I've never seen an American carrier come anywhere but very very near the bottom. So, in a situation like that, it's right for Virgin to come in and shake up that industry. The very fact that we come in and we offer that equality will mean that will lift those legacy carriers, it'll be actually good for them. They'll have to compete back, and I'm sure they will. But, you know, it's up to our team that we always remain one step ahead.
