It makes me a little suspicious when a cutting-edge project releases slick graphics of its plans.
In this case, my suspicions specifically concern Virgin Galactic appearing to put the cart before the horse. Wouldn’t it be more prudent to focus on getting the WK2/SS2 fleet operational and generating a revenue stream before spending millions of dollars on a grandiose facility? As much confidence as I have in Virgin Galactic itself getting off the ground, I look at this design and can’t help but imagine it five years from now, a half-finished white elephant for sale at pennies on the dollar.
I’m not especially impressed with the design, either. It’s okay, I guess, but I’m not a fan of “modern architecture” like this. It looks to me like a giant seabottom creature tragically marooned in the desert rather than Tomorrow’s Spaceport Of The Future™ — function shoehorned into someone’s brainchild form, a form which could have been recycled from a losing proposal for a bank or public library or exclusive cosmetic surgery clinic or any number of non-space-related facilities.
ADDENDUM: I guess my mind’s not in the gutter where it belongs…I saw a manta ray, where Ann Althouse saw something entirely different.
Then there’s this: “it looks more like a Klingon toilet seat”. So there is a space-specific theme to the design, after all!
Virgin is all about the promotional side of things. I’d imagine they’re leaving the technical stuff to Scaled… Kudos to them for executing a business plan that includes -ahem- sexing up the space business they intend to exploit. It can only be a positive for the industry.
I have confidence in Virgin Galactic/Scaled to get their business off the ground…Branson is clearly good at launching new businesses, and Scaled can surely handle the technical side.
I just get suspicious when I see grandiose designs and slick artist’s conceptions before visible signs of progress/success. Had these plans come out after, say, the first SS2 flight, I wouldn’t be concerned. Unfortunately, they released the plans early, and right after the unserious “$3 Billion Space Hotel” PR flurry.