Author Topic: Stratolaunch: General Company and Development Updates and Discussions  (Read 1020733 times)

Offline kevin-rf

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6 747 engines?

Or you could say 6 787 engines, Or 6 General Electric Genx, Or 6 Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines. Saying 747 is just trying to puff it up and make it look bigger.

So will the 5 Merlin's be Vac optimized?
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It's your med's!

Offline apace

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At the end, only a new rocket (in the delta-ii, taurus ii range) more on the market place... but good for SpaceX to get one customer more which pays for R&D.
« Last Edit: 12/13/2011 05:46 pm by apace »

Offline Robotbeat

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Weird.
Chris  Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

To the maximum extent practicable, the Federal Government shall plan missions to accommodate the space transportation services capabilities of United States commercial providers. US law http://goo.gl/YZYNt0

Offline M_Puckett

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That's a 115m wingspan, gross weight of 545tonnes, needs a 3650m landing strip, and will carry an 223tonnes Falcon 9. Uses the Mojave Air and Space Port. And I still can't believe they have Mike Griffin on the board!

Seems like an ambitious project, I wish them good luck, but I wonder if it is really better than a ground launch.

Well it does get Elon his reusable first stage ...

I am not sure, those are stubby wings.  Reminds me of the OS Taurus.

Offline Robotbeat

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What imcub meant is that the AIRPLANE is sort of a "first stage." ;)

I don't want to jinx it, but I thought "Spruce Goose" when I first saw it!

This plays to some of SpaceX's strengths... They know a lot about rocket manufacture, very little experience with launch operations (and they seem to want to get away from gov't launch sites).
« Last Edit: 12/13/2011 05:50 pm by Robotbeat »
Chris  Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

To the maximum extent practicable, the Federal Government shall plan missions to accommodate the space transportation services capabilities of United States commercial providers. US law http://goo.gl/YZYNt0

Offline Jason1701

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Is there still a press conference at 11 PST?

I don't see any schedules on their site.
« Last Edit: 12/13/2011 05:49 pm by Jason1701 »

Offline DaveS

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I am not sure, those are stubby wings.  Reminds me of the OS Taurus.
Don't you mean Pegasus? Taurus and Minotaur are ground-launched while Pegasus is airlaunched by a L-1011 Tristar.
« Last Edit: 12/13/2011 05:53 pm by DaveS »
"For Sardines, space is no problem!"
-1996 Astronaut class slogan

"We're rolling in the wrong direction but for the right reasons"
-USA engineer about the rollback of Discovery prior to the STS-114 Return To Flight mission

Offline david1971

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Two interesting notes from the FAQ:
Q. When do you see the maiden flight of new launch aircraft taking place?
A. We are still in the planning stages but we expect to conduct flight testing beginning in 2016. The first flight will occur once
we are satisfied the system is ready.

and

Q. How many jobs will this program create?
A. There are already over 100 people assigned to this effort and we will see a significant ramp-up as we move deeper into the
engineering phase then start manufacturing and eventually operations. These jobs will first be located in Alabama, California and
Florida. We are proud that the headquarters for this effort are located in the Rocket City – Huntsville, Alabama.
I flew on SOFIA four times.

Offline stockman

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looks like a pegasus on steroids... not terribly revolutionary but I guess its a potential step in the right direction... baby step - certainly not anything ground breaking or far reaching... sigh...
One Percent for Space!!!

Offline corrodedNut

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Yeah, doesn't Scaled make those for Orbital?

Offline Zed_Noir

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Wonder what flavor of Merlin is on the Stratolaunch rocket. An uprated Merlin 1-D with more powerful turbo-pump and bigger exhaust nozzle perhaps.  Anyone care to estimate the thrust  and ISP for this Merlin variant. Really don't think the ground launched Merlin engine is optimized for air-launch at 30k feet.

Offline Space Junkie

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I have to admit I'm slightly disappointed. It's a neat concept, but I had hoped the announcement would involve a new payload. We don't need more launch systems. We need more customers for our current launchers.

Offline M_Puckett

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I am not sure, those are stubby wings.  Reminds me of the OS Taurus.
Don't you mean Pegasus? Taurus and Minotaur are ground-launched while Pegasus is airlaunched by a L-1011 Tristar.

You are right, that is what I meant.

Offline mrhuggy

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Is there still a press conference at 11 PST?

I don't see any schedules on their site.

Yes they are playing rocket man.

It seems spaceX has found a solution to there 3rd launch site and the avaian (aviation) mass transport.

Online jabe

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merge this with the other thread in live section?

Offline DaveS

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Yeah, doesn't Scaled make those for Orbital?
No.
"For Sardines, space is no problem!"
-1996 Astronaut class slogan

"We're rolling in the wrong direction but for the right reasons"
-USA engineer about the rollback of Discovery prior to the STS-114 Return To Flight mission

Offline M_Puckett

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What imcub meant is that the AIRPLANE is sort of a "first stage." ;)

I don't want to jinx it, but I thought "Spruce Goose" when I first saw it!

This plays to some of SpaceX's strengths... They know a lot about rocket manufacture, very little experience with launch operations (and they seem to want to get away from gov't launch sites).

More like the fabled Spruce Moose that can carry passengers from the Belgian Congo to Idlewilde in a mere 17 minutes!

Offline kirghizstan

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looks like 2 spruce geese(?) attached to each other

Offline Lurker Steve

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6 747 engines?

Or you could say 6 787 engines, Or 6 General Electric Genx, Or 6 Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines. Saying 747 is just trying to puff it up and make it look bigger.

So will the 5 Merlin's be Vac optimized?

Maybe they are going to the find a few retired 747s in the desert, and salvage the engines.

Does this thing only launch a Dragon or a fairing that happens to be the same diameter as the core stage ? Kind of restricts the number of available payloads, right ?

Offline mr. mark

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A competitor with SKYLON except jet "first stage" launch platform does not need to go orbital only the payload. A great idea and the fact that the jet does not need to have a reentry profile is a big plus.

 

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