111–120 of 170 posts
I'd really hate to see that thing land in a crosswind, I don't think I could watch it.
They could always use a chase car like they do with the U-2 Dragon Lady because of its ridiculous wing span. This wouldn't help you avoid watching it, though. youtu.be/W2tnCDBkIoI
Dumb question: why don't they launch rockets from the tops of mountains?
Also, the best places to launch from are near the equator where there is a large body of water Eastward. And there are very few mountains in such spots.
The big advantage of airlaunch is the Isp improvement from launching at altitude. Since the rocket equation is exponential with respect to the ratio of delta V and Isp improving Isp even a little has big effects, and reducing delta V even a little does too.
But the big advantage of ordinary vertical launch rockets is that it's fairly straightforward to just make them bigger. The Saturn V was able to launch Skylab with a 6.6 meter diameter. And rockets could easily be scaled up to launch even larger diameter payloads. That's pretty difficult with something like Stratolaunch. Even with basically the largest aircraft ever made it still has a pretty small payload mass and fairing size.
One other cool thing about stratolaunch is that it has the ability to launch out of a lot more locations since it doesn't depend on a launch pad and tower. However, I suspect that's not going to be of huge importance.
I'd like to see what they can do with this technology but I suspect it'll be underwhelming.
IANARS but this plane should give the remaining stage(s) four advantages: 1. +230m/s orbital velocity [1] 2. +9km launch altitude [1] 3. can launch in more weather conditions 4. 1st stage can abort mid-launch without loss of payload. Of these, the most important is the increase in launch altitude, because that means stage 2 launches in air of greatly decreased density, leading to the following efficiencies: A. a vacu…
The primary advantage of airplane launch is that you can fly to into a launch window for an orbital rendezvous. Otherwise you'd have to wait for the target's orbit to be just right w/respect to the launch site, or do a long orbit matching process. This is very useful if say you want to very quickly and quietly launch something towards another satellite. People are making comparisons with the Spruce Goose, but the Glo…
edit: CIA and kursk submarine, was it the kursk doesn't sound like the right time
edit: nope Kursk is 141, K-129 is the one they wanted (Glomar Explorer)
I like the jet-rotor tip helicopter too
edit: haha yeah beast (photo of the helicopter with massive rotors spinning I think at 88rpms)
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/04/f9/9b/04f99b793...
I feel overcome by the Dianne Kruger effect, to an extent I don't remember feeling any time recently. I'm becoming more and more interested in news about rocketry (due to SpaceX of course) but I'm still a full on space-pleb. I see something like this and my intuition screams "Woah! Of course! Why don't other rocket companies do this? What's wrong with them?!" But the rational part of my brain kicks in and slaps me do…
Dianne Kruger......?????
1.3 million pounds
65 feet
2,000 nautical mile
I'm sorry, I know it has been mentioned a billion times already, but can someone make a browser plugin that converts everything on a website to normal SI units? As a non-american I have no idea how big this aircaft is or how much it can lift - sure I can look up conversions(I have) but it would be awesome if there was an automatic website conversion option.
IANARS but this plane should give the remaining stage(s) four advantages: 1. +230m/s orbital velocity [1] 2. +9km launch altitude [1] 3. can launch in more weather conditions 4. 1st stage can abort mid-launch without loss of payload. Of these, the most important is the increase in launch altitude, because that means stage 2 launches in air of greatly decreased density, leading to the following efficiencies: A. a vacu…
The primary advantage of airplane launch is that you can fly to into a launch window for an orbital rendezvous. Otherwise you'd have to wait for the target's orbit to be just right w/respect to the launch site, or do a long orbit matching process. This is very useful if say you want to very quickly and quietly launch something towards another satellite. People are making comparisons with the Spruce Goose, but the Glo…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Peagus rockets aren't cryogenic, they are solid monopropellant rockets. Not really all that dangerous.
Anyone who suggests to you that hydrazine isn't dangerous shouldn't be trusted.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I haven't actually seen anyone mention it, but it shouldn't be much more risky than taking off fully-fueled. That said, landing with the rocket still on board might break some fuel-balancing assumptions.
Landing weights are usually a bit lower than take off weights due to the extra shock on landing. for example the a340-600 has a MTOW of 380 tons but a Max landing weight of 265 tons. Just a bit of a difference.
