I wonder if they considered a half-loop launch, toss bombing style. That way they could dump the wing, perhaps at a price of higher strength requirements.
Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
151–160 of 170 posts
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#152385-foot wingspan 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 opt…
Just type the quantity and units into google.
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
That's the fuel the plane takes off with. I don't know how much this beast uses, but those six engines must be burning quite a lot of it. Also, the landing gears seem to be very robust.
Fundamentally, landing speeds are lower than takeoff speeds. To travel at the same (low) speed and rate of descent with more weight means getting more lift at the same speed. That is done by increasing angle of attack or adding flaps. There is a limit to both.
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Could I take my captured satellite to a base inside an extinct Japanese volcano?
That would be SPECTREcular!
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#155385-foot wingspan 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 opt…
Just type the quantity and units into google.
As I said in my comment - I have. I just said it would be awesome if there was some automatic conversion option.
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#156Nice to read how people are so out of touch when they reach to certain threshold.. lol where mark suckerberg rackets ?
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#157This is being blown out of proportion. Vulcan's Stratolauncher is not the future of launch; if this thing ever manages to leave the ground (with a payload), I doubt it will host more than five-to-seven launches throughout its lifetime, and that's a generous estimate. This vehicle is going to be incredibly expensive, compared to both other air launch options and dedicated smallsat options. Although this can change, th…
Hi there,
you seem to know a lot, any chance we could talk about this topic, would love to hear more of your thoughts on the topic? I don't see an address to contact you.
Thanks!
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#158385-foot wingspan 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 opt…
Agree, but just to throw it out there - nautical miles are actually an SI derived unit. It was originally defined as a minute (1/60 of a degree) of latitude, which doesn't convert exactly to km since it is not a constant measure. Although now it has been defined as the mean value.
I'd be surprised if a unit-converter plugin didn't exist already, but it should definitely preserve the original measures since the units do have contextual significance. e.g. nautical miles in navigation
edit: here's one https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/autoconvert-auto-c...
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#159Dumb question: why don't they launch rockets from the tops of mountains?
Altitude is much less important than velocity.* The extra altitude you'd get from launching from a top of a mountain would not be worth the expense of having to lug the rocket up there in the first place. * https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/
Thank you, very interesting.
But what is the point of a space elevator then?
Re: Paul Allen's new rocket-launching plane
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
Once the concept is proven, once there is a real market for that, other, more efficient planes designed for bigger rockets will be built.
The market would have to be really large (like way larger than the current global launch market) to justify it though. The conjoined twin 747s are gonna be good enough for any payload that they can carry.
If the cost goes down enough, new previously impractical products become practical, driving new demand.