Posted on 04/13/2019 8:58:19 AM PDT by BenLurkin
[I]n the desert north of Los Angeles, a gigantic, six-engined megajet with the wingspan of an American football field flew Saturday morning for the first time.
Stratolaunch Systems, the company founded in 2011 ... conducted the first test flight of the world's largest plane.
Stratolaunch aircraft is a giant flying launch pad, designed to hurtle satellites into low Earth orbit. It aims to offer the military, private companies and even NASA itself a more economical way to get into space.
The aircraft's wingspan measures 385 feet -- wider than any airplane on the planet. From tip to tail, it's 238 feet long....
The jet, carrying a rocket loaded with a satellite, will take off from Mojave and climb to an altitude of 35,000 feet. There, pilots will launch the rocket from the plane on a trajectory toward space. The plane then will land safety back at Mojave, while the rocket carries the satellite into an orbit ranging from about 300 miles to 1,200 miles above Earth. The rocket deploys the satellite before eventually falling back to Earth, burning up in the sky like a meteor.
Putting small satellites into space via airplanes...eliminates the need for launch pads and all the pricey equipment and infrastructure surrounding a traditional rocket launch... the plane burns less fuel than a traditional rocket when it blasts off from Earth.
Bad weather won't be as much of a problem. Storms can delay a traditional rocket launch, but a jet could simply take off and fly over bad weather -- or around it -- and then launch the satellite.
Launches could take place more frequently and within a faster time frame. No more waiting in line for a slot to open up on a spacecraft blasting off from a traditional terrestrial launch pad.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
That's a design that might look good on paper or computer simulations, but in real life it cries out "catastrophic failure". Actually, I don't think that design looks good on paper or in real life.
I wouldn't trust it.
“Requesting clearance for emergency landing. We have an engine out.”
“Ah, the dreaded 5-engine approach.”
The future of flight is small, and getting smaller all the time. Its not larger.
I agree with that 100%. I just hope there’s enough of us good guys left to protect the others and repel this current global agenda.
I imagine only one could be active at a time. Or maybe there are some functions that are assigned to one and some to the other. I can’t believe you’d ever have two pilots operating the same aircraft.
Those crazy Russians.
35,000 feet isn’t that high ... i assume the value of this super-plane is its payload capacity ... too bad the horribly written CNN article doesn’t mention that factoid.... maybe the writer thinks 35,000 feet is REALLY high and that’s impressive enough ... i am, however, reassured that the plane will land “safely” when it returns from its mission; I’d really hate to think that the plan was for the plane to land un-safely ...
Yes, the forces of evil are always quick on the draw. We must maintain situational awareness, and never be complacent.
When I released from the forces, nobody released me from my oath. So I keep on going, and I will not not stop.
When I went to the NCO Academy at Charleston AFB (Military Airlift Command) my room mate and a number of my class mates were crewman on C5-A/B Galaxies. Many had the Air Medal.
I asked my room mate, who was a flight engineer on a C-5, what he did to earn his Air Medals (he had a silver oak leak cluster — five separate awards). He said, “Well, the last one I got was because one of the engines went out over the Atlantic but I helped ensure we landed safely at Dover AFB.”
I said, “Really, you had four engines to start with! Surely you didn’t want to ditch it?!”
He replied with a shrug and said, “Hey, I didn’t put myself in for it.”
Correction: This was the NCO Leadership School at Charleston AFB, South Carolina.
I went to the NCO Academy at McGuire AFB, New Jersey.
Parsons was a devil worshiper - a disciple of Aleister Crowley - very into the black arts.
...And for the good to be good.
Regards,
Yes, history has many examples of that, but evil seems to win out too much, as it is these days.
Your whit might have hit on a problem.
The difficulty in losing an engine on a multi-engine aircraft is due to the engines being not on the centerline of the aircraft. In other words, they have leverage sufficient to overcome the rudder, below a certain air speed stated as VMC.
Look at how far those engines are from the centerline........
I wonder if the required method of maintaining control would not be to shut down a good engine on the opposite side.
Stronger than we probablymthink, since thats where the satellites being launched will be placed.
Yes but the atmosphere is a lot less dense at 10 miles up, less geat, less friction, less drag, less fuel, less weight going up. To start your rocket flight there probably has great advantage over on the ground.
Any mention of Robert Goddard, the actual inventor of most of the rocket technology we have today?
Au contraire. In the event of war, both China and Russia have the ability to start taking out our GPS satellites. I say 'start' because there are a lot or them, and they are in polar orbits. They would only be 'taken out' as they fly over belligerent countries. With this airplane, we would be able to launch them as fast as they can be destroyed.
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