Stratolaunch: General Company and Development Updates and Discussions

[JohnFornaro]

Looks expensive, why not make the first solid stage longer and get rid of the mammoth plane?

Because they're optimizing for something other than $/kg delivered to orbit. Exactly what they are optimizing for is worth speculation. My guess is that they want what would have been called "operational responsiveness" had that term not lost favor.

Huh?  I was under the impression that part of their goal is certainly reducing $/kg costs.  By reducing the launch price just a small amount, they would show a greater profit.

It is clear that "operational responsiveness" is a big part of their business plan.  They hope to insert to orbit from any longitude or latitude or time.  That would be an incentive to raise prices for customers who really need their payloads delivered anywhere on time.  With reduced launch costs and flyback capability, hey; higher profit.

[JohnFornaro]

What are the commercial applications of "operational responsiveness"?

Other than the commerce in selling services to the government? i'm guessing the big one is contingency replenishment of satellite constellations. If several of your orbital planes were operating on sats with short remaining life expectancies, but you didn't know which would fail first, having a warm spare on the ground and a launcher that could put it into any of your orbital planes might be cost effective compared with launching an on-orbit hot spare into each of those planes.

Certainly selling launch services to the government would not be limited to military launch services alone as some might hold.  For example, the government might be interested in weather services.  Outside of government, the commercial communications sector might very well use "contingency replenishment" services.

"Anywhere, anytime" has got to be a good marketing slogan.

[JohnFornaro]

...If I had lots of money, I'd do the same thing.

Not me.

[simonbp]

If you have to squint and invent explanations for something that seems illogical, maybe you should just accept that there's a different kind of logic at play.

My guess all along has been that Allen has some other vehicle (probably manned) that he wants to launch from the plane, but that will take a long time to develop. So, in the meantime, they fly relatively cheap rockets to gain experience and maybe make a bit of cash. But it's all just a seatwarmer for something else.

[Blackstar]

Here is their flyer.

You will be pleased to see that it answers none of your questions.

[yg1968]

Thanks! It actually does answer a few questions. It says that the rocket has both liquid and solid stages. It mentions that the design is meant to eventually evolve to crewed flights. Lifting capacity of 10,000 pounds to LEO is lower than expected. It used to be 13,500 pounds before (under SpaceX's proposal).

Is it possible to build a capsule that is that light (less than 10,000 pounds)?

Edit: it seems that Gemini was less than 10,000 pounds. So I imagine that it is possible.
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/gemini.htm

[strangequark]

Thanks! It actually does answer a few questions. It says that the rocket has both liquid and solid stages. It mentions that the design is meant to eventually evolve to crewed flights. Lifting capacity of 10,000 pounds to LEO is lower than expected. It used to be 13,500 pounds before (under SpaceX's proposal).

Is it possible to build a capsule that is that light (less than 10,000 pounds)?

Edit: it seems that Gemini was less than 10,000 pounds. So I imagine that it is possible.
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/gemini.htm

13,500 lb is still "10,000 pound class". I have no clue what they're actually looking to hit, but just saying that the flyer doesn't rule that payload out.

[Danderman]

Is it possible to build a capsule that is that light (less than 10,000 pounds)?

Zond had a mass of about 5.5 tons.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Thanks! It actually does answer a few questions.

Yes, many thanks Blackstar. The carrier aircraft payload of 500,000 lbs also roughly aligns with the concept in Rutan's 2007 presentation. I wonder whether Scaled were working on Stratolaunch then (ie with Allen already on-board), or came up with a concept that then convinced Allen to fund it?

I note that the CLA in the 2008 paper appears to be rocket assisted (based on the nozzles at the back of the twin hulls). That presumably accounts for its higher payload.

[simonbp]

It mentions that the design is meant to eventually evolve to crewed flights.

To be precise, it says "design evolution for crewed payloads" which could mean literally anything. It probably means, though, that this particular system isn't really intended for "crewed payloads", but rather to be "EELV-compliant".

[sdsds]

Here is their flyer.

It seems to make no mention of Dynetics. Is there any indication they are still involved?

[yg1968]

It mentions that the design is meant to eventually evolve to crewed flights.

To be precise, it says "design evolution for crewed payloads" which could mean literally anything. It probably means, though, that this particular system isn't really intended for "crewed payloads", but rather to be "EELV-compliant".

It probably means that they are not working on a capsule right now. I don't see Orbital funding the development of a capsule with their own money (at least not in the short term).

[KSC Sage]

Here is their flyer.

It seems to make no mention of Dynetics. Is there any indication they are still involved?

Dynetics is no longer involved.

[yg1968]

Thanks! It actually does answer a few questions. It says that the rocket has both liquid and solid stages. It mentions that the design is meant to eventually evolve to crewed flights. Lifting capacity of 10,000 pounds to LEO is lower than expected. It used to be 13,500 pounds before (under SpaceX's proposal).

The flyer says that the rocket has solids and liquids. From the images in the flyer and of the model, does it look like a solid first stage and a liquid (LH2?) second stage?

[Rangers75]

If you're a L2 member, get on there right now. Amazing new HD video showing a mission with the orbital rocket!

[RocketmanUS]

Thanks! It actually does answer a few questions. It says that the rocket has both liquid and solid stages. It mentions that the design is meant to eventually evolve to crewed flights. Lifting capacity of 10,000 pounds to LEO is lower than expected. It used to be 13,500 pounds before (under SpaceX's proposal).

Is it possible to build a capsule that is that light (less than 10,000 pounds)?

Edit: it seems that Gemini was less than 10,000 pounds. So I imagine that it is possible.
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/gemini.htm

t/Space CXV concept.
However I don't know if it could be launch with crew on this plane do to it's configuration.

Look up the video of their CXV concept.

It would be cool if the CXV was brought back.

[HMXHMX]

Thanks! It actually does answer a few questions. It says that the rocket has both liquid and solid stages. It mentions that the design is meant to eventually evolve to crewed flights. Lifting capacity of 10,000 pounds to LEO is lower than expected. It used to be 13,500 pounds before (under SpaceX's proposal).

Is it possible to build a capsule that is that light (less than 10,000 pounds)?

Edit: it seems that Gemini was less than 10,000 pounds. So I imagine that it is possible.
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/gemini.htm

t/Space CXV concept.
However I don't know if it could be launch with crew on this plane do to it's configuration.

Look up the video of their CXV concept.

It would be cool if the CXV was brought back.

A little background.  In 2004, Burt showed me his design for the plane that, though various permutations, became Stratolaunch.

He didn't want to make it public at the time, so I conceptualized a carrier aircraft (which is shown in the t/Space CXV video) that was similar but smaller.  So yes, the CXV launch system originated with the aircraft that has evolved into Stratolaunch.

[RocketmanUS]

Thanks! It actually does answer a few questions. It says that the rocket has both liquid and solid stages. It mentions that the design is meant to eventually evolve to crewed flights. Lifting capacity of 10,000 pounds to LEO is lower than expected. It used to be 13,500 pounds before (under SpaceX's proposal).

Is it possible to build a capsule that is that light (less than 10,000 pounds)?

Edit: it seems that Gemini was less than 10,000 pounds. So I imagine that it is possible.
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/gemini.htm

t/Space CXV concept.
However I don't know if it could be launch with crew on this plane do to it's configuration.

Look up the video of their CXV concept.

It would be cool if the CXV was brought back.

A little background.  In 2004, Burt showed me his design for the plane that, though various permutations, became Stratolaunch.

He didn't want to make it public at the time, so I conceptualized a carrier aircraft (which is shown in the t/Space CXV video) that was similar but smaller.  So yes, the CXV launch system originated with the aircraft that has evolved into Stratolaunch.

So with this air craft the crew would still enter the capsule inflight?

[FutureSpaceTourist]

In 2004, Burt showed me his design for the plane that, though various permutations, became Stratolaunch.

Thanks for the extra background. Would I be correct in assuming that one of the permutations was the custom launch aircraft from the 2008 AIAA air launch paper?

[HMXHMX]

In 2004, Burt showed me his design for the plane that, though various permutations, became Stratolaunch.

Thanks for the extra background. Would I be correct in assuming that one of the permutations was the custom launch aircraft from the 2008 AIAA air launch paper?

Yes.