Aircraft Designed To Launch Satellites To Low Earth Orbit

The Stratolaunch aircraft, the brainchild of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and several partners ... including Elon Musk ... could fly as early as next year according to the company.

Engadget reports that the company is hoping to build a viable satellite launch business using the airplane, which would be the world's largest. The wingspan of the Stratolaunch airplane will be 385 feet, about 123 feet more than an Airbus A380. It will require a runway of 12,000 for takeoff.

But in a recent development, Stratolaunch Systems has parted ways with Orbital ATK, which would have been the primary satellite launch vehicle carried under the airplane. Parabolic Arc reported in June that Vulcan executive Charles Beames said that Orbital's rocket "was not hitting the economic sweet spot" for revenue generation, and now the company is evaluating as many as 70 different launch boosters. Vulcan is the company developing the Stratolaunch concept.

While that shift won't delay a first flight of the aircraft, he said, it could push back their schedule for launching their first satellite to orbit.

Also now on the back burner are plans to use Stratolaunch as a platform for manned spaceflight. Sierra Nevada has explored the possibility of launching a Dream Chaser manned spacecraft using the Orbital ATK booster from Stratolaunch, announcing those plans up to a year ago. With Orbital no longer a part of the Stratolaunch plans, the manned spaceflight concept has also been shelved.

The Stratolaunch website is also apparently undergoing a major renovation, but we'll include that link below.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.stratolaunch.com