Doesn’t seem practical for much. Bragging rights?
Is it made out of spruce?
It’s designed to launch a spacecraft-carrying rocket from high altitude, thereby saving considerable rocket fuel and money on each launch.
Cheaper launches.
If the design works as intended (and the concept appeared often enough in late nineteen fifties science fiction) it will make money.
Those of us who read the article know that it's for launching rockets.
Read the article!
I believe it's less expensive, less dangerous, and almost weatherproof. Also, we've been doing it since Yeager broke the sound barrier.
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.
You DO have to read the articles now and then...
Satellites in low Earth orbit can provide communications and broadband internet connectivity to remote areas on the ground. They can conduct valuable Earth observation and surveillance. The market for commercial satellite launch services is growing rapidly and is expected to reach $7 billion by 2024.That sounds like a lot of great benefits to me.Putting small satellites into space via airplanes also promises to be cheaper than traditional rocket launches because it eliminates the need for launch pads and all the pricey equipment and infrastructure surrounding a traditional rocket launch. It also can save on fuel costs, because 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.
The article says it’s meant to be a cost-effective platform for launching satellites into space.