Quote from: BeanEstimator on 12/13/2011 08:02 pmQuotePlans call for a first flight within five years.riiightttt....i assume that's first test flight. how many people/tourists/etc have we launched collectively thus far mr. rutan, mr. musk, and mr. branson?And just what do space tourists have to do with this?
QuotePlans call for a first flight within five years.riiightttt....i assume that's first test flight. how many people/tourists/etc have we launched collectively thus far mr. rutan, mr. musk, and mr. branson?
Plans call for a first flight within five years.
The Stratolaunch system will eventually have the capability of launching people into low earth orbit. But the company is taking a building block approach in development of the launch aircraft and booster, with initial efforts focused on unmanned payloads. Human flights will follow, after safety, reliability and operability are demonstrated.
So is Griffin going to get them to put an SRB on it?
Quote from: Zed_Noir on 12/13/2011 07:31 pmAs long as the total width of the landing gears fits on the runway, it should work. It's like an A3 Sky Warrior or an A5 Vigilante catapulting off a carrier.You do need margin for steering and landing inaccuracies, and you have to make sure there aren't things off the runway to clip.
As long as the total width of the landing gears fits on the runway, it should work. It's like an A3 Sky Warrior or an A5 Vigilante catapulting off a carrier.
Quote from: Jim on 12/13/2011 07:22 pmCan't use Spacex's holddown before launch PR spinCould they fire all 5 engines before the vehcile is released?
Can't use Spacex's holddown before launch PR spin
i prefer the other posters humorous response...but allow me to expand.this is, as they seem to be portraying it, a natural evolution of spaceshipone and spaceshiptwo. both of those have a distinctly "space tourist" angle to them, do they not?
this is in their statement: QuoteThe Stratolaunch system will eventually have the capability of launching people into low earth orbit. But the company is taking a building block approach in development of the launch aircraft and booster, with initial efforts focused on unmanned payloads. Human flights will follow, after safety, reliability and operability are demonstrated.people, whether they be "astronauts" or "space tourists" seem to be part of their equation.
What does air launch buy you again? A little bit of performance? But most of the delta v needed to get to orbit is horizontal so it doesn't help that much. You still need the same amount of ground support complexity plus now you have a huge airplane to maintain. I don't get it at all. This is just like one more launch site for F9. But launch sites already exists for Falcon 9. I'll read more into it when I get home.
If it were my money I would spend it on other projects, but Paul Allen is the billionaire.
Did they explicitly say the systems integration role falls to Stratolaunch? Who does Stratolaunch employ with credentials for that? Somebody with a long background handling big projects at e.g. LM or Boeing? Unless they want things done "the NASA way" it doesn't seem like a long career as a NASA bureaucrat counts!Did they say anything about contingencies on the runway, during initial climb out, during carrier flight, or at rocket separation/ignition?Dynetics is privately held but presumably Griffin knows the principals there well (given the Huntsville connection). The Dynetics prototyping facility is less than a year old, if it is even complete yet:Dynetics breaks ground on 226,500-square-foot prototyping facilityPublished: Monday, November 15, 2010http://blog.al.com/huntsville-times-business/2010/11/dynetics_breaks_ground_on_2265.htmlHas Dynetics been involved in projects like this attach/disconnect system in the past?
However, in general engines aren't allowed to overhang off pavement because of FOD concerns.
given that the booster's initial ground track would be over ocean, there would have to be a rescue ship pre-placed should the booster fail to light, since that Dragon's gonna make a splash-down not so very far away.
Quote from: BeanEstimator on 12/13/2011 08:18 pmi prefer the other posters humorous response...but allow me to expand.this is, as they seem to be portraying it, a natural evolution of spaceshipone and spaceshiptwo. both of those have a distinctly "space tourist" angle to them, do they not? Not really, the press conference was mainly about payloads of the Delta II class and any human launch would be more in the future.Quote from: BeanEstimator on 12/13/2011 08:18 pmthis is in their statement: QuoteThe Stratolaunch system will eventually have the capability of launching people into low earth orbit. But the company is taking a building block approach in development of the launch aircraft and booster, with initial efforts focused on unmanned payloads. Human flights will follow, after safety, reliability and operability are demonstrated.people, whether they be "astronauts" or "space tourists" seem to be part of their equation. So you have a problem with none of them actually having flown any humans to space to date, despite the obvious "eventually" part above?
Rutan, who has joined Stratolaunch Systems as a board member, said he was thrilled to be back working with Allen. “Paul and I pioneered private space travel with SpaceShipOne, which led to Virgin Galactic’s commercial suborbital SpaceShipTwo Program. Now, we will have the opportunity to extend that capability to orbit and beyond.
Of course the whole picture would look better if the spacecraft on the nose of the rocket looked more like a Dreamchaser!
From the press kit:"[...] Dynetics will provide program management and systems engineering and integration, as well as test and operations support to Stratolaunch; Dynetics will also build the mating and integration system hardware."
