Virgin Galactic has started ground testing its Delta Class spaceships and opened a new systems integration test facility in Southern California.
The system integration facility houses an Iron Bird testing platform to do initial tests of subsystems. Components are to be added during this year to increase the Iron Bird’s scope and effectiveness.
Virgin Galactic, which flew its first commercial flight in June, plans to initially operate a single flight per month and then expand its service using a fleet of air-launched, Delta spaceplanes that operate at a reduced cost. The first test flight of the Delta spaceplane is expected in 2025.
The company said that its production timeline for the Delta spacecraft fleet remains on track for a commercial service to launch in 2026.
Final assembly of the Delta ships will take place at Virgin Galactic’s Delta facility in Phoenix, Arizona. The Delta Class spaceships are being built to be capable of flying eight space missions per month with twelve times the monthly capacity of our original spaceship, VSS Unity.
Using the Iron Bird test rig will allow Virgin Galactic engineers to test and verify the operation of dozens of Delta’s subsystems – including avionics, feather actuation, pneumatics and hydraulics early in the development process.
Virgin Galactic Spaceline president Mike Moses said, “With this approach, we are moving from a prototype to a production model of developing spaceships – shaving years off the development timeline we saw with VSS Unity.
“The team has hit the ground running – with important testing already underway, supporting our ability to execute key Delta production milestones. The test data we’re gathering at this important stage of development will further refine testing and streamline manufacturing and validation over the course of the Delta program.”
A static test article for the Delta spaceship will also be used to stress major structural components to verify structural integrity data and determine the design and ultimate limit loads of the structure, which will both optimize the flight test program and support our overall turn time objectives.
