Stratolaunch Launchers

8 responses to “Stratolaunch Launchers”

1. 

   jurvetson

   Feb 13, 2013 at 8:04 pm

   Here is the enormous (and currently empty) hangar:
   

   A sense of scale, relative to some giants of history (the center rocket is missing in this diagram – it’s just the plane):
   

   And here was the prior experiment in this launch concept, the Orbital L1011 Stargazer that was modified to lift their Pegasus rocket:
   

   and a historical action shot:
   

   The thinking behind these projects is that the "carrier aircraft provides flexibility to launch the rocket from anywhere rather than just a fixed pad. A high-altitude launch also allows the rocket to avoid flight in the densest part of the atmosphere where a larger launch vehicle, carrying more fuel, would be needed to overcome air friction and gravity." (wikipedia)

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2. 

   BWJones

   Feb 13, 2013 at 9:01 pm

   Truly fascinating. I’ll be in the Bay Area next week and would love to run down there to photograph things…

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3. 

   sbove

   Feb 13, 2013 at 10:41 pm

   Paul should attach those 747 fuselages to the EMP Rock & Roll Museum & convert them to on-site luxury hotels decorated like RollingStone Tour planes. 😉

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4. 

   Spaceaholic.com

   Feb 14, 2013 at 1:40 am

   The Dubai Airwing Hangar has eight sets of doors which are 26 metres high and span 570 meters

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5. 

   jurvetson

   Feb 14, 2013 at 4:07 am

   Everything’s bigger in Dubai. Thanks for the update!

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6. 

   brentdanley

   Feb 14, 2013 at 8:12 am

   Aren’t 747 engines available for purchase by themselves?

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7. 

   jurvetson

   Feb 14, 2013 at 4:43 pm

   I was wondering about the supply chain friction there… but in this case, I believe they were both used 747-400’s and the used price minus salvage value may be less than a special order of eight new engines (and he actually only flies six engines on the wing, so it’s a bit inefficient to buy eight unless he wants swappable spares… or plans to eventually build a second Stratolauncher… =)

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8. 

   bike-R

   Feb 16, 2013 at 4:17 pm

   plus buying engines on a plane with a repair/flight history is a heck of alot cheeper than going the new or salvage route, the FAA knows what he’s got there with all the paperwork on each………….plus the gear and other trinkets make the certification process easier

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