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Stratolaunch Rollout - World's Largest A/C

Everything that is sub-orbital or beyond.
 

Zak (netAirspace FAA) 01 Jun 17, 18:51Post
Step aside, An-225, here comes Stratolaunch:



Background info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratolaunch_Systems
http://www.stratolaunch.com/
Ideology: The mistaken belief that your beliefs are neither beliefs nor mistaken.
JLAmber (netAirspace ATC & Founding Member) 01 Jun 17, 19:19Post
Only dimensionally larger than the An-225. Max take-off weight is some 12 tonnes shy of the Mriya's record for heavy hauling. Still, should be interesting to see how what is essentially a home-build made from the remains of two old UA 744s performs.
A million great ideas...
ShanwickOceanic (netAirspace FAA) 01 Jun 17, 19:52Post
Still snowing here and then this thing. Checking to make sure it's June and not April.

Had to be Rutan, didn't it?
My friend and I applied for airline jobs in Australia, but they didn't Qantas.
JLAmber (netAirspace ATC & Founding Member) 01 Jun 17, 20:20Post
ShanwickOceanic wrote:Still snowing here and then this thing. Checking to make sure it's June and not April.


I have visions of it snapping in half and the two parts slowly spiraling down to earth like two massive sycamore seeds.
A million great ideas...
ShyFlyer (Founding Member) 01 Jun 17, 23:26Post
Apparently, flight crew will be in the right-side, "flight data systems" on the left. It looks challenging to taxi.
Make Orwell fiction again.
paul mcallister 02 Jun 17, 23:25Post
JLAmber wrote:
ShanwickOceanic wrote:Still snowing here and then this thing. Checking to make sure it's June and not April.


I have visions of it snapping in half and the two parts slowly spiraling down to earth like two massive sycamore seeds.


I was thinking exactly the same thing.
ORFflyer (Founding Member) 05 Jun 17, 11:39Post
paul mcallister wrote:
JLAmber wrote:
ShanwickOceanic wrote:Still snowing here and then this thing. Checking to make sure it's June and not April.


I have visions of it snapping in half and the two parts slowly spiraling down to earth like two massive sycamore seeds.


I was thinking exactly the same thing.

Thank makes three of us.... some heavy turbulence, and I don't see the two haves staying together.
Rack-em'. I'm getting a beer.
Brian Gore 24 Jun 17, 13:32Post
I don't mean to be a downer on this momentous rollout. But can someone explain the practical use of this aircraft for such a high dollar endeavor?
bhmbaglock 25 Jun 17, 01:26Post
Brian Gore wrote:I don't mean to be a downer on this momentous rollout. But can someone explain the practical use of this aircraft for such a high dollar endeavor?


The gist of it is that by using a jet to get past the majority of the atmosphere, you can make that portion of the journey(with the highest drag forces) without having to carry your own oxidizer. Expensive to build but in rocketry terms, a pretty much infinitely reusable stage or more realistically half stage.

There are alternatives, i.e. SpaceX uses superchilled RP-1 and LOX along with uprated engines to get more bang out of the same size rocket. Chilling the propellants significantly increases their density allowing the same size tanks to hold much more. Unfortunately, it isn't practical to combine the two methods as densified propellants must be loaded immediately prior to launch to achieve the maximum benefit and adding fueling equipment, chillers, etc. to the carrier aircraft would not be practical.
 

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