Stratolaunch conducts taxi tests

This past weekend, the Scaled test team successfully executed a low speed taxi test of the Stratolaunch aircraft. During this initial taxi test, the aircraft moved down the runway under its own power for the first time. These first test points have demonstrated the fundamental ability to control the aircraft speed and direction on the runway.

www.parabolicarc.com...

To be fair, zaph told me about this first. I didn't see anyone post anything so I thought a distraction to a project actually making progress would be a good idea.

The 'why?' for stratolaunch remains a huge question mark for rocketeers. It seems to add a lot of complexity to a launch and only seems to be worthwhile if they plan on quick rendezvous on orbit or a quick snap to a custom orbit.

This is a supersized version of orbital atk's, ahem, Northrop's pegasus after all.

Well wait and see. The parent bird is gorgeous though...

a reply to: anzha

You should probably ask a certain someone for his/her (disambiguate) photos🙄🙄



Weird, i remember the letters were painted red on that plane.

Edit: yep..

a reply to: Bigburgh

Almost like a poke a Boeing

a reply to: penroc3

lol!...
Damn that's right, I can't give you a star even though I do..😄

a reply to: anzha

Anzha..
Zaph did a thread on this very large modified double 747.
Pics and all.
Trying to track it down. It was supposed to shuttle civilians into space.

www.stratolaunch.com...

I'm not thinking anything nefarious yet. But click the link.🤗

Stratolaunch, founded in 2011 by Paul G. Allen, is developing an air-launch platform to make access to space more convenient, reliable, and routine. We believe that normalizing access to low Earth orbit (LEO) has the potential to redefine our lives by creating more opportunities for commercial, philanthropic and governmental organizations to collect rich and actionable data and drive advancements in science, research, and technology from space. 

She was still sitting out Saturday evening after dark. I wish we had gotten through earlier in the day, but can't catch all her firsts.

originally posted by: anzha

This past weekend, the Scaled test team successfully executed a low speed taxi test of the Stratolaunch aircraft. During this initial taxi test, the aircraft moved down the runway under its own power for the first time. These first test points have demonstrated the fundamental ability to control the aircraft speed and direction on the runway.

www.parabolicarc.com...

To be fair, zaph told me about this first. I didn't see anyone post anything so I thought a distraction to a project actually making progress would be a good idea.

The 'why?' for stratolaunch remains a huge question mark for rocketeers. It seems to add a lot of complexity to a launch and only seems to be worthwhile if they plan on quick rendezvous on orbit or a quick snap to a custom orbit.

This is a supersized version of orbital atk's, ahem, Northrop's pegasus after all.

Well wait and see. The parent bird is gorgeous though...

This is a really cool project, thanks for posting. I think the "why" is the same as when Goddard was first monkeying around with crude rockets in the early 1900s. People would scoff at his rockets and say they'd never make it to the moon. But people on down the line were able to improve on his concept and eventually make that happen. This particular craft may not be any more useful than a conventional rocket launch, but perhaps it will be a stepping stone to some future system that will make it easier and cheaper to put things in orbit, and by extension, travel to other bodies.

Paul Allens also got a very very nice warbird collection..Including an Me262 which will be flying with original engines and the only Fw190 flying with an original Bmw801..
Going to be a blast seeing the rockets take off from height..Risky business but hopefully all will go right.