Henry Vanderbilt has posted the latest on the Space Access '010 conference, which will take place April 8-10 in Phoenix, Arizona. Includes confirmed speakers, registration, hotel, etc.

The new White House NASA space exploration policy looks as promising as anything we've seen come from those quarters for a long time. Passing responsibility for basic space access to the US commercial sector while refocusing NASA on developing the technology for future deep-space exploration has potential to radically reduce the costs of both basic access and deep exploration, vastly expanding our future exploration and development possibilities.

But it's a long way from a promising new policy to a successful program. First, the Congress gets to decide what will and will not actually get funded on a year-by-year basis. Then, NASA has to execute whatever program emerges from Congress, one year at a time. A lot can go wrong at every step of the way. We will be watching this process closely. Stay tuned for new Space Access Updates in the coming months.

We will also be discussing this new policy intensively at our next annual conference

Young aerospace students and professionals can apply for participation in the NGEC-3 | Next Generation Exploration Conference that will take place April 5-8 at NASA Ames, Moffet Field, California. Applicants

should have experience and/or a strong interest in business and commercial space, and be considered by their peers and mentors as a young professional or student "emerging leader".

Participants could influence policies at NASA:

The third Next Generation Exploration Conference (NGEC-3) will apply a business theory tool called an “Industry Structural Analysis” to characterize three emerging commercial space sectors: suborbital cargo transportation, suborbital crewed transportation, and orbital cargo transportation.

NGEC-3 is a collaboration between NASA and the FAA. The proceedings will be delivered to the NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation.

I've been asked to remind people about the upcoming SpeedUp "unconference":

Space Exploration Unconference Set For February 27-28, 2010
"SpaceUp" to be held at San Diego Air & Space Museum

San Diego, CA – All systems are go for the launch of SpaceUp, the world's first public unconference devoted to space exploration and development, on Saturday and Sunday, February 27 and 28, 2010, at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, 2001 Pan American Plaza in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA. Organized by the non-profit San Diego Space Society, registration is $75 per person, with details available at SpaceUp.org.

The Space Frontier Foundation announces that the NewSpace 2010 Conference is set for July 23-25 at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California: Save the Date: NewSpace 2010 Conference - SFF.

An announcement in the mail today:

Space Exploration Unconference Set for February 27-28, 2010
"SpaceUp" to be held at San Diego Air & Space Museum

San Diego, CA – All systems are go for the launch of SpaceUp, the world's first public unconference devoted to space exploration and development, on Saturday and Sunday, February 27 and 28, 2010, at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, 2001 Pan American Plaza in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA. Organized by the non-profit San Diego Space Society, registration is $75 per person, with details available at SpaceUp.org.

"We announced the SpaceUp concept late last year, and the space exploration community enthusiastically responded," says Chris Radcliff, San Diego Space Society board member and SpaceUp unconference chairman. "We've already received media sponsorship from Spacevidcast, community sponsorship from Google Lunar X PRIZE and, of course, the San Diego Air & Space Museum, which has an obvious local connection to outer space exploration. It's the perfect venue, with ideal partners, for this first-of-its-kind event."

Attendees already registered include entrepreneurs, engineers, educators and scientists from Masten Space Systems, The Scripps Reseach Institute, University of California – San Diego (UCSD), London's Kingston University and the Prelinger Archive, among others. Dozens of private space exploration advocates from throughout the world have also signed on. Both industry professionals and ardent outer-space enthusiasts are invited to participate, with attendance capped at 200 people to ensure meaningful interaction among all participants.

The unconference format, which has been popularized in the tech community via such events as BarCamp and FooCamp, offers a unique forum where participants decide the topics, the schedule, even the structure of the event. Everyone who attends the unconference is encouraged to give a talk, moderate a panel or start a discussion. SpaceUp applies this non-profit model to the space industry in a public forum for the first time.

Registration information is available on at SpaceUp.org. Additional information about the unconference is also available at that URL, and interested individuals can monitor the event's progress via the SpaceUp Twitter feed, www.twitter.com/spaceupconf, or the SpaceUp Facebook page, www.facebook.com/pages/SpaceUp/97724374485.

The latest info on the Space Access '010 Conference is available on the Space Access Society website. The meeting will take place at the Best Western Grace Inn in Phoenix Arizona, starting on Thursday afternoon April 8th and lasting through Saturday evening April 10th 2010,

This seems an appropriate video (via Instapundit):

John Croft of Flight Global attended the SS2 rollout and has posted a brief report: Virgin Galactic reveals VSS Enterprise - Flight Global.

Here he posts several videos that include extended clips of comments made by Burt Rutan and also by Governors Richardson (NM) and Schwarzenegger (CA): Virgin Galactic SS2 unveil: Scraps from the cutting room floor - As The Croft Flies. (Rob Coppinger shows one of Croft's videos in a larger format here: VIDEO: SpaceShipTwo emerges from hangar - Hyperbola.)

Space.com posts a video report on the SpaceShipTwo project: SpaceShipTwo: How Virgin Galactic Could Rule the Galaxy - Space.com.

The Las Cruces, New Mexico perspective on the rollout: Flights could be made from spaceport by 2011 - Las Cruces Sun-News (via spacetoday.net).

The British "trance group" Above & Beyond was brought in to DJ the event:
/-- Above & Beyond's Eyewitness Account of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Unveiling - West Coast Sound (via spacetoday.net)
/-- Above & Beyond provide soundtrack to Virgin Galactic's new Spaceship launch!! - Above & Beyond News

The music from the group's Buzz video accompanied the unveiling:

Update: Here's another nicely made video on the event: Gadling Goes Galactic.

The SpaceShipTwo rollout will be remembered for several reasons:


Misc. SS2 related items:
/-- Grounding innovation? - Jeff Scialabba/Ayn Rand Center
/-- Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo - Entrepreneur.com
/-- SpaceShipTwo Readied For Testing - Aviation Week

Rand Simberg writes about the SS2 rollout and also about competitors to Virgin Galactic: Virgin Galactic's Unveil Is Tip of the Iceberg for Private Spaceflight - Popular Mechanics.

Rand was less than impressed with the organization of the SS2 rollout ceremonies: The Virgin PR Fiasco - Transterrestrial Musings.

The 62 Mile Club blog points to photos made by Samuel Coniglio at the rollout:
/-- SpaceShipTwo Gallery
/-- Space Ship 2 rollout - Best - Flickr
/-- Space Ship 2 - The Rest of the photos - Flickr

Will Pomerantz gives a report from the event:


Update 1 : Here is another picture set and "a quick debrief with Will Pomerantz and Nicky Jordan about" the rollout event: Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Rollout: The X PRIZE Perspective - The Launch Pad.

Update 2: Comments and pictures from Dale Amon about the event:
/-- Mojave Journey: Part 1 - Samizdata.net
/-- In the beginning... - Samizdata.net - Dec.8.09

Rob Coppinger posts a new video from Virgin Galactic that includes scenes from the rollout ceremony: VIDEO: Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo unveil - Hyperbola.
===
Reviewing some blogger response to the SS2 debut: Saluting Richard Branson's SpaceShipTwo - The Atlantic Wire.

More photos:
/-- Virgin Galactic SS2 Photo Gallery - 62 Mile Club
/-- SpaceShipTwo rollout - a set on Flickr - Jeff Foust
/-- SpaceShipTwo slideshow - NewSpace Journal - Jeff Foust

A comparison of SS1 and SS2.

A couple of items related to the SS2 rollout:
/-- Richardson speaks out about commercial space again - Space Politics
/-- Rutan and Branson make a giant leap for space tourism - latimes.com

Update 1: A report from Irene Klotz: Party in the Desert, Part 1 - Discovery News.

Update 2: More picts: Exclusive SpaceShipTwo unveiling gallery - Boing Boing

The SpaceShipTwo rollout succeeded in getting lots of worldwide press attention. In today's spacetoday.net there are links to dozens of articles about the SS2 rollout. At last count, there were about 1300 entries in this Google News link collection about the event.

Sampling a few of them, I find that most report pretty much the same basic info. This New Scientist article, however is a bit different. The author was able to talk to Burt Rutan in his office as the winds were buffeting the party-goers outside: Burt Rutan: Behind the scenes at SpaceShipTwo roll-out.

Not surprisingly, Burt could have done without all the hoopla and would have preferred that

no one would have seen SpaceShipTwo until it was ready to take passengers into space. "It's just an unhelpful distraction and unwanted pressure," he says.

Burt reveals that the vehicle is actually still a few weeks from even a captive carry test:

"This is a research project, so we don't have timetables. I can't tell you how far off we are, but it's not complete yet," he says. "She wasn't even painted three days ago and she won't be flying in the next few weeks, that's for sure." However, Rutan adds that he's confident test flights will begin in 2010.

Update: Here is an article from Jonathan Amos: Spaceman: 'Safety first' is the mantra for SpaceShipTwo - BBC.

Some additional items:
/-- Saw The Rollout - Transterrestrial Musings
/-- Branson Rolls Out His Tourist Spaceship - WSJ.com
/-- Virgin Galactic unveils commercial SpaceShipTwo - Spaceflight Now
/-- Virgin Galactic's first space flight to be soundtracked by British DJs? - NME.COM

Update 1:
/-- No video yet but here are some pictures of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger participating in the event.
/-- CSF comments on the event: Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo - Commercial Spaceflight Federation.

Update 2: More articles:
/-- Spaceship debut causes chills - Cosmic Log/MSNBC - Alan Boyle gives an update on the rollout and subsequent party
/-- Virgin Galactic's Commercial Spaceliner Makes Public Debut - Space.com - Leonard David updates this article
/-- SpaceShipTwo rollout: initial impressions - NewSpace Journal
/-- SpaceShipTwo Christened - VSS Enterprise - Wired.com

More pictures:
/-- Gallery: The rollout of SpaceShipTwo - Spaceflight Now
/-- Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, First Commercial Spacecraft, Unveiled In CA - NPR
/-- A couple of pics - NewSpace Journal

The winds got too strong and they had to shorten the party but only after the rollout ceremonies were finished. Here's a video of the rollout:

Had to go out for awhile and missed the online reports on the rollout. Apparently there was a webcast here of Gov. Schwarzenegger remarks during the dedication of the SS2 Enterprise . A message says the video will be in the archiver there soon.

Some pictures of the event:
/-- twitpic.com/photos/jeff_foust
/-- www.yfrog.com/froggy.php?username=Pomerantz
/-- www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2009/12/pictures-spaceshiptwo-unveil-c.html
/-- twitpic.com/photos/spacemansam
/-- Images: SpaceShipTwo Rolls Out in the Mojave - Parabolic Arc

Rob Coppinger has posted one of the Virgin Galactic promotional videos: VIDEO: Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceShipTwo - Flight Global.

Lots of twitter postings during the rollout by the following:
/-- twitter.com/search?q=%23ss2
/-- twitter.com/b0yle
/-- twitter.com/jeff_foust
/-- twitter.com/Pomerantz
/-- twitter.com/ikluft
/-- twitter.com/RobertPearlman

Update: Jonathan Amos introduces the WK2/SS2 up close in a video in this report: Roll-out for Richard Branson's spaceliner - BBC

Galleries of WK2/SS2 pictures:
/-- Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceShipTwo - Inside Virgin Travel
/-- PICTURES: Virgin Galactic releases SpaceShipTwo images - Hyperbola
/-- Virgin Galactic unveils its latest thrill ride - Cutting Edge/CNET News

[ Update: All the pictures: Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo "Enterprise" - Hyperbola
]

Irene Klotz on SS2 and suborbital point-to-point space travel: Spaceships may speed consumer air travel - Discovery.com/msnbc.com

So the actual rollout ceremony won't happen till around 8:30 pm EST. In the meantime, you can enjoy pictures (and eventually videos) here. Haven't yet seen anything about a webcast from the event.

Some new articles:
/-- Spaceship goes on show - Cosmic Log/msnbc.com - Alan Boyle
/-- Commercial Spaceflight for the Rest of Us: Congratulations to Virgin Galactic - The Launch Pad - Peter Diamandis
/-- First Public Spaceship to be Unveiled Today - SPACE.com - Leonard David

Jeff Foust has opened a new blog that replaces his PersonalSpaceflight.info site : NewSpace Journal. He'll be posting from Mojave aboout the rollout.

Twitter sources from Mojave include:
/-- twitter.com/b0yle
/-- twitter.com/jeff_foust
/-- twitter.com/Pomerantz

Richard Branson and Burt Rutan with WhiteKnightTwo Eve and Enterprise in the background:

A press release from Virgin Galactic:

Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo, The World’S First Commercial Manned Spaceship
SpaceShipTwo (SS2) and its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) herald a new era in commercial space flight with daily space tourism flights set to commence from Spaceport America in New Mexico after test program and all required US government licensing completed.

Mojave Air and Spaceport, California
December 7, 2009

Virgin Founder, Sir Richard Branson and SpaceshipOne (SS1) designer, Burt Rutan, today reveal SS2 to the public for the first time since construction of the world’s first manned commercial spaceship began in 2007. SS2 has been designed to take many thousands of private astronauts into space after test programming and all required U.S. government licensing has been completed.

The unveiling represents another major milestone in Virgin Galactic’s quest to develop the World’s first commercial space line providing private sector access to space using an environmentally benign launch system for people, payload and science. The spaceship draws on the experience developed during the successful flights of SS1 in 2004, which won the Ansari X-Prize for completing the world’s first manned private space flights. The SS2 design will be refined and completed during an extensive test flying program to commence shortly, and it will be an entirely new vehicle capable of carrying up to 6 passenger astronauts and up to 2 pilot astronauts into space on a sub-orbital flight.

The unveil itself will take place at Mojave Air and Spaceport as darkness falls on the famous aviation and spaceflight location. Subject to certain U.S. regulatory requirements that will guide the unveiling, SS2 will be attached to her WK2 mothership which was last year unveiled and named EVE after Sir Richard Branson’s mother. In the future, WK2 will carry SS2 to above 50,000 feet (16 kilometres) before the spaceship is dropped and fires her rocket motor to launch into space from that altitude. In honour of a long tradition of using the word Enterprise in the naming of Royal Navy, US Navy, NASA vehicles and even science fiction spacecraft, Governor Schwarzenegger of California and Governor Richardson of New Mexico will today christen SS2 with the name Virgin Space Ship (VSS) ENTERPRISE. This represents not only an acknowledgement to that name’s honorable past but also looks to the future of the role of private enterprise in the development of the exploration, industrialisation and human habitation of space.

The emergence of new commercial space companies like Virgin Galactic will be an engine for employment, growth and the creation of a new technology and science base in the United States. Recent research has indicated that 12,500 jobs have already been created by the new space companies; the Virgin Galactic project alone is creating significant opportunities for employment in both the company itself and with suppliers in both California and New Mexico. Approximately 600 people are now working on activities relating to the project and it is estimated that this figure will rise to over 1,100 jobs during the peak of the construction phase at the space port and through the introduction of the commercial space vehicles into regular astronaut service.

Both WK2 and SS2 represent state of the art environmentally sensitive industrial development in their use of carbon composite materials technology, which has now been identified as a key future contributor to the increasingly urgent requirement by the commercial aviation sector for dramatically more fuel efficient aircraft. WK2 is powered by four Pratt and Whitney PW308A engines, which are amongst the most powerful. economic and efficient commercial jet engines available making it a mould breaker in carbon efficiency. SS2 will be powered by a unique hybrid rocket motor, which is currently under development.

The twin fuselage and central payload area configuration allow for easy access to WK2 and to the spaceship for passengers and crew; the design also aids operational efficiencies and turnaround times. The mothership has now also completed a year of rigorous and successful first phase flight testing prior to today’s attachment of SS2.

Commenting on the unveiling, Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Galactic said: “This is truly a momentous day. The team has created not only a world first but also a work of art. The unveil of SS2 takes the Virgin Galactic vision to the next level and continues to provide tangible evidence that this ambitious project is not only moving rapidly, but also making tremendous progress towards our goal of safe commercial operation”.

Burt Rutan, Founder of Scaled Composites added: “All of us at Scaled are tremendously excited by the capabilities of both the mothership and SS2. Today is the culmination of a dream that began many decades ago, was stimulated by Paul Allen’s funding of our X-Prize winning SS1 and then moved forward to commercial reality by Sir Richard and Virgin’s visionary investment in a new future for space transportation”.

SpaceShipTwo will be unveiled after darkness has fallen over the Mojave Desert to the sound of a space-themed anthem from Britain’s biggest DJs, Above & Beyond. Fittingly titled “Buzz” the track will sample Buzz Aldrin’s original moon landing dialogue. Following the naming by Governors Richardson and Schwarzenegger, the DJs will also perform an exclusive set at the celebration cocktail party which will follow and feature the first ever IceBar in the desert hosted by Absolut and the world famous Swedish IceHotel. All the guests will be protected from the desert cold by designer space jackets supplied by PUMA. Finally, to close off the celebrations, all the guests will have the opportunity to view the stunning night skies using specialist telescopes supplied by Ron Dantowitz of the Clay Observatory whose unique tracking cameras followed SS1 into space during the epic flights of 2004.

For further information go to www.virgingalactic.com

For downloadable images and graphics go to: www.virgingalactic.com/SS2Unveil

Still haven't seen an agenda for the SpaceShipTwo debut festivities today in Mojave. Appears that things start happening in the afternoon Mojave time though the on line press packet becomes available at 12:00 EST (17:00 GMT).

There may be a light show so that implies at least part of the event is in the late afternoon or evening: PICTURE: Virgin Galactic light show? - Hyperbola

Snow in the area may cause some headaches for those attending.

Some SS2 related items :
/-- Virgin Galactic to unveil commercial spaceship - AP/USATODAY.com - "Virgin Galactic spokeswoman Jackie McQuillan promised a 'theatrical unveil' followed by a cocktail party for paying passengers and other VIPs."
/-- Branson Collects $42 Million From Would-Be Astronauts (Update1) - Bloomberg.com - "Virgin Galactic added $4 million in deposits in the past nine months, CEO Will Whitehorn said in an interview."
/-- Virgin Galactic launch vehicle attractive to U.S. military - Spaceflight Now
/-- LauncherOne: Virgin Galactic’s Satellite launcher project - International Space Fellowship
/-- Public Space Travel: Reality or Mirage? - SPACE.com
/-- Branson to Introduce Tourist Spaceship in Mojave - DealBook Blog/NYTimes.com