Exciting news in the world of aviation was announced at the start of this week. Virgin Galactic is an aerospace and space travel company that manufactures advanced air and space vehicles. On August 3rd, Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company debuted the first stage design scope for its high-speed aircraft design, and announced a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Rolls Royce. This means Rolls Royce and Virgin Galactic are working together on this high-speed aircraft without making it an official marriage. The team also includes NASA as they signed a Space Act Agreement with Virgin Galactic to collaborate on high-speed technologies.
This new high-speed aircraft is designed to make high speed travel practical, sustainable, safe, and reliable. It will be able to take off and land like all other passenger aircraft and be expected to operate within the airport infrastructure. It will be a Mach 3 certified delta-wing aircraft capable of seating 9 to 19 people and cruising above 60,000 feet. To put it into perspective, Mach 3 is traveling at over 2,300 miles per hour. The aircraft’s cabin will include custom layouts for different customer needs such as Business or First Class seating.