Satellite Launch Platform Will Be The World's Largest Airplane

The Stratolaunch airplane designed to carry rockets that will deliver satellites to orbit is near completion, according Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who is bankrolling the effort.

Reuters reports that Allen recently took a few reporters on a tour of the hangar where Stratolaunch is being built. The twin-fuselage airplane uses engines, avionics, landing gear, and some other components from a pair of Boeing 747s as a foundation, but it was built by Northrop Grumman's Scaled Composites, and looks kind of like WhiteKnightTwo on steroids.

The goal of the company is to be able to deliver payloads similar to those carried by SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster into precise orbits, but using a runway rather than a launch pad. That helps eliminate launch range scheduling and weather delays, according to Allen.

Writing on LinkedIn, Allen says that Stratolaunch has a 300-foot wingspan and is powered by six 747 engines. It is designed to carry payloads up to 550,000 pounds. He says the aircraft's 1,000 nautical mile flight radius gives it access to a variety of runways, making it much more flexible for potential launch customers.

(Image courtesy Vulcan Inc.)

FMI: http://aerospace.vulcan.com