Posted on 05/31/2017 10:21:51 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The colossal Stratolaunch carrier plane rolled out of its hangar at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, today (May 31) to undergo fueling tests. It's the first public look at the full craft which is designed to launch rockets into orbit from the sky since construction began.
"We're excited to announce that Stratolaunch aircraft has reached a major milestone in its journey toward providing convenient, reliable, and routine access to low-Earth orbit," Stratolaunch Systems Corp. CEO Jean Floyd said in a statement. "This marks the completion of the initial aircraft-construction phase and the beginning of the aircraft ground- and flight-testing phase.
The Stratolaunch carrier plane is designed to launch rockets into orbit from an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,100 meters). Initially, the plane will carry a single Pegasus XL rocket built by Orbital ATK, but the craft will eventually be able to carry up to three of those boosters simultaneously, Floyd said.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
thanks for the...actually explains a lot..will mean they are far cheaper and faster on launches but with a weight limitation i expect.
Awesome. Thank you very much for the helpful info.
A huge percentage of a rocket’s fuel is used just in overcoming its inertia and getting off the ground, and then more just to reach sub-sonic speed. So instead of useful payload the bulk of the rocket weight is the fuel needed to get the thing moving. Launching from a jet that’s already going that fast changes the economics quite a lot. This behemoth of a carrier plane just increases the scale of the kinds of payloads that are already being launched in this manner.
ping
Twin fuselages connected by a thin, single joiner? What could possibly go wrong?
I can just imagine conjoined twin A-10 Warthogs.....
“Twin fuselages connected by a thin, single joiner? What could possibly go wrong?”
exactly my thought. Good thing harmonic imbalances could never occur.
“There are a total of 28 tires on this plane. I would be concerned that one misalignment on one side of the plane would pull away from the other half and snap the middle wing structure.”
And hopefully the rudders and elevators are in total synch and not the least bit independent of one another.
Actually the opposite. It is financially feasible because it is a true reusable launch platform. The actual Rocket does not have to be built to carry all the Fuel needed to get it to that altitude.
The is closer to the original Space Shuttle Concept than what rolled out of NASA.
Remember when we launched an Anti Satellite Weapon from an F-15?
You had better contact the Engineers who built this Plane ASAP to let then in on such an obvious flawed design error.
I’m sure it never occurred to them.
LOL
Remember the Launch Ramp used in the Movie “When Worlds Collide”?
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