Skyline of Richmond, Virginia

A jet engine for White Knight 2

07.11.07

Pratt & Whitney Canada announced today that Virgin Galactic has picked its PW308 engine for use on the White Knight 2 aircraft that will be the carrier aircraft for SpaceShipTwo. The engine, which generated up to 30,700 newtons (6,900 pounds) of thrust, has been used on a number of bizjets; the press release doesn’t indicate how many such engines WK2 will use. The release does state that P&WC will work with Virgin on the potential use of “advanced biofuels” to reduce engine emissions, reducing the system’s overall carbon footprint by up to 50 percent.