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Mojave Aerospace Ventures (MAV) is a company founded byPaul Allen andBurt Rutan to handle the commercial spinoffs from theTier One project. It owns theintellectual property arising from Tier One, and it is in turn owned by Allen (the majority shareholder) and Rutan'sScaled Composites. In 2004, it signed a deal[1] withVirgin Galactic to develop the Virgin SpaceShip, asuborbitalspacecraft, forspace tourism.Virgin Group and Scaled Composites have subsequently formed a joint venture,The Spaceship Company, to manufacture the spacecraft.
The structure of Mojave Aerospace Ventures appears to be the basis of the deal between Allen and Rutan for the funding ofTier 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.[citation needed] This stands in contrast to the company more usually associated with Tier One,Scaled Composites, which, as of 2007, is owned byNorthrop Grumman.[2]MAV serves to separate[clarification needed] Tier One spinoffs from Scaled.[citation needed] Mojave Aerospace Ventures is part of Allen'sVulcan Aerospace.[3]
On September 25, 2004, MAV agreed on a joint venture withRichard Branson's newly formed companyVirgin Galactic, to develop asuborbitalspacecraft for the space tourism market. The initial plan is to build fiveVirgin SpaceShips, based on scaling up theTier OneSpaceShipOne (SS1) design, withWhite Knight One (WK1) similarly evolved.[citation needed] The spacecraft would be manufactured byThe Spaceship Company.[citation needed]
The designs for theTier 1b customer suborbital spaceflight vehicles are referred to asSpaceShipTwo (SS2) and its carrier aircraft isWhite Knight Two (WK2). The system, a suborbital space tourist system.[4][5]
A further development of the technology,Tier Two andSpaceShipThree (SS3) was mooted. Either as, initially an orbital system,[6] or, later, suborbital transcontinental/transoceanic transport. SS3 would eventually become into a further development of Tier 1b.
A further application of the Tier One technology is for Allen'sStratolaunch Systems underVulcan Aerospace with its Stratolaunch carrier aircraftRoc.[3]
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