Posted on 05/31/2017 3:25:11 PM PDT by PROCON
Six years after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen started up Stratolaunch Systems, the billionaire’s air-launch venture brought its humongous twin-fuselage airplane out in the open for the first time today.
“Stratolaunch came out of the hangar for fuel testing,” Allen said in a tweet that featured an aerial photo of the plane. More pictures were posted to Stratolaunch’s website.
Stratolaunch CEO Jean Floyd said the plane’s emergence from its hangar at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port was part of a “major milestone in its journey toward providing convenient, reliable and routine access to low Earth orbit.”
The plane is designed to carry up to three Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rockets at a time into the air, and then set them loose to launch payloads into orbit.
Today’s outing signaled that the aircraft’s initial construction phase is complete, and that it’s ready to start ground and flightline testing. Two tugs pulled the plane out onto the tarmac in front of the hangar’s roughly 400-foot-wide doors.
(Excerpt) Read more at geekwire.com ...
Quite an airplane(s).
Where do the payload (rockets) go?
Do I sense Burt Rutan’s hand in this somewhere?
Hangs from the center wing, between the fuselages.
UP!
One wonders if Paul Allen has long, curly, uncut fingernails, and obsession for banana ice cream, and the desire to watch “Ice Station Zebra” at least 150 times?
For those not getting the references, it is Howard Hughes...inventor/builder of the Spruce Goose, and enormous plane from just post-WW2.
No offense to anyone but it reminds me of those crazy huge airplanes the Germans built in WW2!
Stratolaunch Systems has released illustrations which show the payload rockets attached to the wing between the twin fuselages.
Then the tanks will be drained, and the aircraft will be returned to its hangar for weight and balance testing. Over the months ahead, the plane’s systems will undergo further checks in preparation for taxi tests, flight operations and airworthiness testing....
The plane, built in partnership with Mojave-based Scaled Composites, is mostly made of carbon composite. Key elements of the craft, including its six engines and eight sets of landing gear, were taken from Boeing 747 jets.
The Stratolaunch plane’s 385-foot wingspan makes it the world’s widest airplane.
Reusing parts from the 747 makes sense, but I am a bit surprised that they are using the 747 engines. I thought that they were not efficient enough for modern planes.
I wonder how strong the wing spars are?
I saw the Spruce Goose at the Evergreen Air and Space museum in McMinnville, OR awhile back.
Fuel efficiency would not be the main consideration for this kind of aircraft.
I see the wing breaking in two at launch of the rockets.
It would be more practical to build 3 aircraft launching 1 rocket instead of the one big one. Something bad happens and you lose all.
Not new, just biggerrer.
My first thought was twisting torque and that wing snapping in the center.
Reusing parts from the 747 makes sense, but I am a bit surprised that they are using the 747 engines. I thought that they were not efficient enough for modern planes.
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If they are the same as the 747-8 they would be very modern engines.
The launch would involve decoupling the rocket from the wing prior to ignition. The real problem would be a decoupling failure and then having to land with the thing still strapped on.
I guess someone could crawl out there and pop it loose;)
The plane is designed to carry up to three Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rockets at a time into the air, and then set them loose to launch payloads into orbit.
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There’s not much demand for Pegasus rockets. I have no idea why they would want to launch three at a time. Perhaps it seemed like a good idea six years ago.
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