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 ...
Space
It does look like one of Rutan’s! It looks somewhat like the Voyager that was first to fly around the world without stopping or refueling.
Wiki says they’re from a 747-400. Not bad but not the most modern either. After reading the Wiki on this project, I’d say it’s doomed to failure.
Aviation Ping
Nothing a few JATO bottles wouldn't fix:
He's quite a fan of aviation. At Paine Field in Everett WA (also a Boeing factory site), Allen has a WW2 war birds collection.
His intent was to show how flight technology changed during WW2. There are fully restored and flight capable aircraft from all the major countries involved in WW2.
He is now including armored vehicles as well, from all the combatants.
Quit drooling, Howard Hughes.
I don’t understand the duplicate cockpits design unless it is to be flown by consensus rather than a pilot. I don’t understand the single connection at the wings to the twin fuselages. I don’t understand the individual tail structures other than a structure between them would cause a drag, but something should in my mind be there to stabilize the vertical stabilizers, and support the wing connections at the fuselages other than many a wish, and prayer.
Me too. I’m not an engineer, but that looks really fragile.
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Question is why two fuselages? I mean, make one large one with six engines if you want to haul a thousand people at one time.
Between this article and what wiki provides, I figure it gets around 28 gallons per mile. About 18 refueling stops to make it around the world. Fill her up!
The 747s have received multiple engine upgrades over time, they are probably using the latest and best versions.
Into obit
Did he ever finish the purported Howard Hughes’s ME262? I think Allen is the guy who bought it.
The wing area between the 2 fuselages is where the payload is carried.
It is from Scaled Composites.
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