QuoteWeekend aircraft testing continues as we wrap up a full day of fueling operations and engine runs. All engines successfully tested to max power settings.
Weekend aircraft testing continues as we wrap up a full day of fueling operations and engine runs. All engines successfully tested to max power settings.
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 08/12/2018 03:12 amQuoteWeekend aircraft testing continues as we wrap up a full day of fueling operations and engine runs. All engines successfully tested to max power settings.They way they're going they'll be exceeding engine TTO soon.. and desert sand can't be a good thing at max thrust. Most likely they have a completely different set of engines for flight test, but I do wish they'd TAKE OFF ALREADY!
Quote from: CameronD on 08/12/2018 11:51 pmQuote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 08/12/2018 03:12 amQuoteWeekend aircraft testing continues as we wrap up a full day of fueling operations and engine runs. All engines successfully tested to max power settings.They way they're going they'll be exceeding engine TTO soon.. and desert sand can't be a good thing at max thrust. Most likely they have a completely different set of engines for flight test, but I do wish they'd TAKE OFF ALREADY! Half the reason they bought 2 747s was for the engines. This is a budget project. They're probably spending less than 1/10 what Boeing would on an aircraft this class.
The Stratolaunch aircraft is back in the hanger tonight. We didn’t make it to the main runway for taxi testing this weekend. Successfully completed fueling ops, engine runs, and communications testing. We’ll be outside again very soon.
Quote from: Nomadd on 08/13/2018 12:11 am Half the reason they bought 2 747s was for the engines. This is a budget project. They're probably spending less than 1/10 what Boeing would on an aircraft this class.because they dont have to get certificated
Half the reason they bought 2 747s was for the engines. This is a budget project. They're probably spending less than 1/10 what Boeing would on an aircraft this class.
Quote from: TripleSeven on 08/13/2018 12:45 amQuote from: Nomadd on 08/13/2018 12:11 am Half the reason they bought 2 747s was for the engines. This is a budget project. They're probably spending less than 1/10 what Boeing would on an aircraft this class.because they dont have to get certificatedThe World's Largest Experimental Aircraft.. is there a Guinness Book of Records entry for that?!?
Quote from: Nomadd on 08/13/2018 12:11 amQuote from: CameronD on 08/12/2018 11:51 pmQuote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 08/12/2018 03:12 amQuoteWeekend aircraft testing continues as we wrap up a full day of fueling operations and engine runs. All engines successfully tested to max power settings.They way they're going they'll be exceeding engine TTO soon.. and desert sand can't be a good thing at max thrust. Most likely they have a completely different set of engines for flight test, but I do wish they'd TAKE OFF ALREADY! Half the reason they bought 2 747s was for the engines. This is a budget project. They're probably spending less than 1/10 what Boeing would on an aircraft this class.because they dont have to get certificated
Stratolaunch has confirmed what most people have long speculated: it’s developing its own launch vehicles for its air-launch system, including a reusable space plane that could eventually carry people.
Long in-depth Wired piece about the background of Stratolaunch.https://www.wired.com/story/stratolaunch-airplane-burt-rutan-paul-allen/
Sharing their road map publicly for the first time, Thornburg and Floyd laid out their plans for Stratolaunch: Its first custom rocket ship will be considerably bigger than the Pegasus, able to transport multiple satellites or other payloads. This medium-size rocket is nicknamed Kraken, after the legendary Icelandic sea monster. Floyd says customers will be able to use it to get satellites into low Earth orbit for less than $30 million, a competitive price and about half of what SpaceX charges for a launch of its Falcon 9 rocket. Floyd estimates that Kraken will be operational in 2022.
THE NEXT STEPS are more ambitious. In a project codenamed Black Ice, Stratolaunch is designing reusable space planes that will take off from the big airplane and go into orbit. The first one will be programmed to open its bay doors once in orbit and release its payload, perhaps even a fleet of satellites, into space. And then it will return to Earth. The idea is not all that different from the original space shuttle, which was a reusable vehicle that could also steer itself down from orbit to land on a runway. It can “come back and land at Mojave where the plane is waiting, the fuel system is waiting,” Floyd says. “You roll up underneath the plane, you refuel, you put the next payload in, and you go again.” Finally, Stratolaunch aims to build a second version of Black Ice that can carry astronauts. That ship won’t be flying for at least a decade.
Single core AND tri-core? No, no, no. With the constrained launch mass of an air launch vehicle, I really, really doubt the benefits of such a configuration vs simply building one larger two stage vehicle. Much better to minimize development costs with one vehicle and aim for more consistent production.
Ground clearance might be a more limiting factor than mass and the booster would allow a larger payload without increasing the first stage diameter vertically or it's length.Though that could simply be a ground launched version.
6 tons to LEO? Should be enough to throw a light all-electric comsat (Boeing 702SP etc) to GTO, assuming a decent upper stage, right? Otherwise I don't see where the market comes from in just LEO.
