Posted on 04/30/2021 12:01:46 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Named Roc, the twin-fuselage aircraft has a wingspan of 385 feet (117 meters). It was developed by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, who died just months before it flew for the first time in April 2019.
Allen intended to use it as a carrier aircraft for space launches, carrying satellite-laden rockets beneath the center of the wing and releasing them at high altitude.
The new owners initially plan to use it as a carrier aircraft for launches of reusable hypersonic flight research vehicles.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
Ping.
Flying over the Mojave almost makes you wish for a Nuclear Winter.
How similar is that to Virgin Galactic’s plane?
Oops. Should be “flyded.”
An aside: My son and I toured the Mojave Spaceport some years ago. There isn't a lot to see there, but we stopped into the break room and my son met an F18 Growler pilot and his backseat man. We got to walk all around the aircraft and sit in both seats. That was really cool!
Hmmm...
That must mean they are flying that thing over the Mars rover and helicopter landing site, which is only about 100-miles due east of the spaceport...
It’s TWO, TWO, TWO planes in one!
But wait, there's more!
Done flown.
Looking at the complexity of this aircraft, I wonder if it wouldn't have been better designed as two separate aircraft for development as well as maintenance. It could have a telescoping mid-section wing to widen or narrow the landing gear distance as needed. Rutan successfully developed and flew aircraft with off-center axes and different wing lengths.
I also wonder if the design wouldn't be better served with canards instead of tail wings.
Can I ask why this is even worth the time?
Are you looking to become an investor in their business venture?
The bending moment in the middle of the Stratolaunch's central wing is 800 million inch-pounds, same as an African bull elephant standing on the end of a diving board a mile long.
The wing spars weigh 60,000 lbs each, and there are four of them. The six engines weigh about 9500 lbs each. Which means absent those two components, the whole of the largest wingspan aircraft ever built, even with twin fuselages, weighs barely more than 200,000 lbs.
That is gossamer light.
This looks a bit like Virgin Galactica’s aircraft except for lack of the mid section fuselage. Hopefully no test pilot dies proving this thing like what happened back in 2014 with the Virgin Galactica plane out in the desert.
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