Mojave Aerospace Ventures (MAV) is a company founded by Paul Allen and Burt Rutan to handle the commercial spinoffs from the Tier One project. It owns the intellectual property arising from Tier One, and it is in turn owned by Paul Allen (the majority shareholder) and Burt Rutan. It has signed a deal with Virgin Galactic to develop the Virgin SpaceShip, a suborbital spacecraft, for space tourism. Virgin Group and Scaled have subsequently formed a joint venture, The Spaceship Company to manufacture the spacecraft. Paul Allen Paul G. Allen (born January 21, 1953) is an entrepreneur who first established himself by co-founding Microsoft Corporation with Bill Gates. ... Elbert L. Burt Rutan (born June 17, 1943) is an aircraft designer known for designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft. ... Tier One is Scaled Composites program of suborbital human spaceflight using the reusable spacecraft SpaceShipOne and its launcher White Knight. ... In law, particularly in common law jurisdictions, intellectual property or IP refers to a legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the expressed form of an idea, or to some other intangible subject matter. ... Virgin Galactic is a division of Richard Bransons Virgin Group, which plans to offer spaceflights to the paying public. ... Virgin Galactic is a company in Richard Bransons Virgin Group, which plans to offer spaceflights to the paying public. ... A sub-orbital spaceflight (or sub-orbital flight) is a spaceflight that does not involve putting a vehicle into orbit. ... Ariane 5 lifts off with the Rosetta space probe on March 2, 2004. ... Space tourism is the recent phenomenon of space travel by individuals for the purpose of personal pleasure. ... The Virgin Group is the group of companies using the Virgin brand of British celebrity business tycoon Sir Richard Branson. ... Scaled Composites (often abbreviated as Scaled) was founded in 1982 in Mojave, California by famous aircraft designer Burt Rutan out of what used to be the Rutan Aircraft Factory. ... The Spaceship Company is a spacecraft manufacturing company formed by Burt Rutan and Richard Branson, jointly owned by Virgin Group and Scaled Composites, which will own the techology created by Scaled for Virgin Galctics Virgin SpaceShip program. ...

Company

The structure of Mojave Aerospace Ventures appears to be the basis of the deal between Allen and Rutan for the funding of Tier One. The company owns all the intellectual property of the Tier One project, such as patents, and so controls commercial exploitation. Allen, the sole source of funding for Tier One, is the majority owner. Rutan, having developed the technology, owns a minority stake. This stands in contrast to the company more usually associated with Tier One, Scaled Composites, which is owned by Burt Rutan. MAV serves to separate Tier One spinoffs from Scaled Composites. Scaled Composites (often abbreviated as Scaled) was founded in 1982 in Mojave, California by famous aircraft designer Burt Rutan out of what used to be the Rutan Aircraft Factory. ...

When the Tier One program was announced, Scaled Composites initially expressed a hope that by about 2013 it would be possible for members of the public to experience a suborbital flight for about the price of a luxury cruise. 2013 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Virgin Galactic

On September 25, 2004 MAV agreed on a joint venture with Richard Branson's newly-formed company Virgin Galactic, to develop a suborbital spacecraft for the space tourism market. The initial plan is to build five Virgin SpaceShips, based on scaling up the SpaceShipOne design. These could start revenue flights in 2007-2008, with tickets initially costing around US$190,000 each, including three days of flight training. It is anticipated that the price would later drop. This deal could see the company profit by up to US$21million in the next few years, depending on how many spacecraft Virgin decides to build. September 25 is the 268th day of the year (269th in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sir Richard Branson during the announcement of the Virgin Express airline which would compete with Ryanair and EasyJet. ... Virgin Galactic is a division of Richard Bransons Virgin Group, which plans to offer spaceflights to the paying public. ... A sub-orbital spaceflight (or sub-orbital flight) is a spaceflight that does not involve putting a vehicle into orbit. ... Ariane 5 lifts off with the Rosetta space probe on March 2, 2004. ... Virgin Galactic is a company in Richard Bransons Virgin Group, which plans to offer spaceflights to the paying public. ... 2007 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... // Predicted events January-June January 15 - NASAs MESSENGER spacecraft makes the first of three flybys of Mercury. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...

External Links

Scaled Composites