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Commercialization

Stratolaunch Systems Releases New Design Concept

By Marc Boucher
NASA Watch
June 21, 2013
Filed under

Stratolaunch Systems New Design Concept [Watch], SpaceRef Business
Stratolaunch Systems unveils a new design concept for its space transportation system. With a wingspan of 385 feet, greater than the length of a football field and powered by six 747 engines, a mission range of 1,000 nautical miles and with a gross weight of 1.3 million pounds, the Stratolaunch can deliver 13,500 pounds to low earth orbit and into any orbit, any time.

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6 responses to “Stratolaunch Systems Releases New Design Concept”

  1. TheBrett says:
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    Coolness. I’m always fond of new space-experiments. I hope it gets enough seed money to build the proto-type.

  2. Spacetech says:
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    Its a design “concept”.
    Like most concepts, its real design is to solict money.
    Whether it is viable or not, the concept will be considered a “success” if it garners any kind of money from the government which is why so many “concepts” are thrown out there.

  3. ed2291 says:
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    It looks like from their website they have already purchased their first 747 and a big enough hanger. Sounds like they are serious at least beyond the powerpoint presentation and back of the envelope stage. See http://stratolaunchsystems….

    • mattmcc80 says:
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      They’ve bought both, actually. Tail numbers N196UA and N198UA, in February and March of 2012 respectively.

    • Steve Pemberton says:
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      Apparently two sixteen year-old 747-400’s were purchased from United last year. They need six engines so that gives them two spares. It also gives them spares on the flight deck, landing gear etc. that they will be using from the 747’s. And since they are right next to the Mojave boneyard they shouldn’t have any problem selling what’s left after that for parts and scrap.

      Seems like a pretty smart way to lower their development costs.

  4. Steve Whitfield says:
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    I wonder how much of the 747s they’re considering resusing in the StratoLaunch, aside from the engines. On one hand, the 747-400 was the first 747 with a glass cockpit, but on the other hand it’s 1980s technology, at best. The fuel tanks and their liners are candidates for SL use, but presumably more will have to be added than what a single -400 uses.

    One possible down side is that the -400 went out of production more than 5 years ago, so they may be dependent on the Mojave bone yard for spares.

    Assuming that there are no regulatory restrictions (because the SL is a space launch system) there’s a whole lot of stuff, from the accelerometers to the APU that could be incorporated into the SL, making for a lot of no-risk costs savings. That aspect alone makes this a very attractive concept.

    I noticed in the video that there were no winglets, a feature which made the -400 airframe more efficient than its predecessors. I wonder if this was deliberate or if they simply weren’t that far along when the video was done. WhiteKnight has its “feathering” so SL should have winglets; it just seems esthetically de rigueur.