new worlds largest aircraft

[lucinator]

Paul Allen and Burt Rutan have come out with a monster. Designed to take a rocket up in the air for a air-launch, it will be if built, the worlds largest airplane by a good margin. With a wingspan of 385 feet and a empty weight of 1.2 million pounds it will have the largest wing span of any plane and be the heaviest plane to ever fly.

New Stratolaunch plane will take people into Earth’s orbit | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

 

[colay]

Burt Rutan never ceases to amaze..
anyone know how much it will cost to put a pound of cargo into earth orbit using Stratolauncher?

 

[SASWanabe]

the concept of a super heavy transport is nothing new.

the Beriev Be-2500 is still quite a bit larger than this beast. both will be "Interesting" if they ever fly.

 

[lucinator]

the concept of a super heavy transport is nothing new.

the Beriev Be-2500 is still quite a bit larger than this beast. both will be "Interesting" if they ever fly.

yeah but this one is already designed, also the stratolauncher has funding and plans to be built, so far the be-2500 is just a concept kinda like Boeing's pelican transport.

 

[StingrayOZ]

I would imagine military micro low orbit sats are going to get cheaper and more common with platforms like this.

I would imagine it would pave the way for a larger spaceship 3, carrying humans. Possibly into LEO.

 

[lucinator]

I would imagine military micro low orbit sats are going to get cheaper and more common with platforms like this.

I would imagine it would pave the way for a larger spaceship 3, carrying humans. Possibly into LEO.

SpaceShipThree revealed? - Hyperbola

already in the planning books

 

[milsurplus]

already in the planning books

Or is the Stratolaunch craft a replacement for SpaceShipThree? It looks like it's going to be for suborbital travel, which is what SpaceShipThree appears to be intended for.

 

[lucinator]

Or is the Stratolaunch craft a replacement for SpaceShipThree? It looks like it's going to be for suborbital travel, which is what SpaceShipThree appears to be intended for.

no the stratolaunch is a carrier aircraft, more akin to the white knight series, my bet is that if Scaled composites builds a space ship three then this will be the craft used to launch it.

 

[ngatimozart]

no the stratolaunch is a carrier aircraft, more akin to the white knight series, my bet is that if Scaled composites builds a space ship three then this will be the craft used to launch it.

I wonder if an upgraded SS3 could be used for crew changes at the ISS. If that is the case then would be a nice little earner to help fund the other developments they have. Bert Rutan is one intelligent and talented individual who thinks outside the square. On another note regarding the Be 2250, I wouldn't be quick to discount that idea. The Russians are the only ones who had an operational ground effects craft, the Ekranoplan that was capable of operating anywhere between 0 - 10,000ft AGL and at a max speed of about 225 -230 knots. So the Be 2250 might just appear one day.

 

[lucinator]

I wonder if an upgraded SS3 could be used for crew changes at the ISS. If that is the case then would be a nice little earner to help fund the other developments they have. Bert Rutan is one intelligent and talented individual who thinks outside the square. On another note regarding the Be 2250, I wouldn't be quick to discount that idea. The Russians are the only ones who had an operational ground effects craft, the Ekranoplan that was capable of operating anywhere between 0 - 10,000ft AGL and at a max speed of about 225 -230 knots. So the Be 2250 might just appear one day.

yeah but their large ekranoplanes could not get above half of their wingspan off the ground, so the plane is limited to relatively flat land and calm water.

 

[StevoJH]

The Russians are the only ones who had an operational ground effects craft, the Ekranoplan that was capable of operating anywhere between 0 - 10,000ft AGL and at a max speed of about 225 -230 knots. So the Be 2250 might just appear one day.

More like about 0-5m AGL.

I don't think i'd like the idea of being on one of those over land, unless possibly over specially designated and cleared routes, the land tends to go up and down with sudden changes in direction.

 

[Masquerader]

The Stratolaunch made its first flight on April 13, 2019. Since then, it has become the first plane in history with a wingspan exceeding 300 feet to fly multiple times (unlike the Hughes H-4 "Spruce Goose", which flew only once), and it is now being used as a mothership for the Talon-A hypersonic spaceplane.

Stratolaunch becomes world’s largest aircraft to fly

The world's largest aircraft, the Stratolaunch air-launcher vehicle built by Scaled Composites, has undertaken its first flight today from Mojave in California.

www.flightglobal.com

Stratolaunch plane flies again as company prepares for hypersonic tests

Stratolaunch flew its giant aircraft Jan. 16 for just the third time as company executives promise a higher rate of flight activities this year, including the first flight of a hypersonic test vehi…

spacenews.com

Stratolaunch Completes Second Captive Carry Flight with TA-0 Test Vehicle

/PRNewswire/ -- Stratolaunch, LLC announces the completion of its second captive carry flight with the Talon-A separation test vehicle, TA-0. It was the ninth...

www.prnewswire.com

Watch as World’s Largest Plane Releases Hypersonic Vehicle for Its First Powered Test Flight

The test vehicle reached supersonic speeds approaching Mach 5 before landing in the Pacific.

gizmodo.com