Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
arstechnica.com
Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
1–10 of 170 posts
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#2The article doesn't mention SpaceX, I wonder what's the difference in energy and cost for launching (and landing) the relative stage 1s. Does anyone have an idea on that?
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#3I'm confused as to what this thing can accomplish. It can probably fly very high, but I assume it can't fly very fast (relative to orbital speed), and I thought the overwhelming majority of the delta-V to get something into orbit was for forward momentum and that just launching from higher up wouldn't help much.
Clearly there's something I'm missing here (or they wouldn't have built it), can anyone fill me in?
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#4I'm confused as to what this thing can accomplish. It can probably fly very high, but I assume it can't fly very fast (relative to orbital speed), and I thought the overwhelming majority of the delta-V to get something into orbit was for forward momentum and that just launching from higher up wouldn't help much. Clearly there's something I'm missing here (or they wouldn't have built it), can anyone fill me in?
For anyone unclear on why launching a rocket from a plane isn't as great of an idea as it sounds like it would be, this is an excellent explanation: https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#5I'm confused as to what this thing can accomplish. It can probably fly very high, but I assume it can't fly very fast (relative to orbital speed), and I thought the overwhelming majority of the delta-V to get something into orbit was for forward momentum and that just launching from higher up wouldn't help much. Clearly there's something I'm missing here (or they wouldn't have built it), can anyone fill me in?
[deleted]
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#6I'm confused as to what this thing can accomplish. It can probably fly very high, but I assume it can't fly very fast (relative to orbital speed), and I thought the overwhelming majority of the delta-V to get something into orbit was for forward momentum and that just launching from higher up wouldn't help much. Clearly there's something I'm missing here (or they wouldn't have built it), can anyone fill me in?
Checkout the photo gallery, it seems to launch a rocket from between the two hulls while flying very high in the atmosphere (less drag and gravity).
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#7I'm confused as to what this thing can accomplish. It can probably fly very high, but I assume it can't fly very fast (relative to orbital speed), and I thought the overwhelming majority of the delta-V to get something into orbit was for forward momentum and that just launching from higher up wouldn't help much. Clearly there's something I'm missing here (or they wouldn't have built it), can anyone fill me in?
The less air you are pushing the cheaper it is to achieve that delta-V
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#8The article claims that it hold's the record for largest wingspan, which is 385ft. It then goes on to say that this blows away the previous record of 65ft. I don't know what the largest wingspan is, but I thought B-52s had a wingspan of 185ft? Error in the article?
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#9I'm confused as to what this thing can accomplish. It can probably fly very high, but I assume it can't fly very fast (relative to orbital speed), and I thought the overwhelming majority of the delta-V to get something into orbit was for forward momentum and that just launching from higher up wouldn't help much. Clearly there's something I'm missing here (or they wouldn't have built it), can anyone fill me in?
The less air you are pushing the cheaper it is to achieve that delta-V
Is it really that dramatic a difference? I suppose it must be, if they're building it, but it's strange that no one has done this before if it really helps.
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#10The article claims that it hold's the record for largest wingspan, which is 385ft. It then goes on to say that this blows away the previous record of 65ft. I don't know what the largest wingspan is, but I thought B-52s had a wingspan of 185ft? Error in the article?
"by 65 feet"