November 2020
It’s too bad that Paul Allen didn’t specify in his will that his benefactors were to allow his commitment to Stratolaunch to continue. Simply selling off the company caused all of his hard work to grind to a halt, just as they were on the cusp of a viable launch platform. sigh
November 2020
A viable flying launch platform, yes, but without a suitable booster. Pegasus already has a platform (L-1011), and carrying more than one at a time isn’t a useful capability - just take a look at how often a Pegasus gets launched!
November 2020
It appears as though they are building a hypersonic test bed aircraft out of carbon fiber composite. Considering the frictional heating effect at Mach 6, I’m not sure how that is going to work out. The SR-71 only made Mach 3+ and the skin heated to over 350 degrees in flight, even at 70,000 feet. It had to use titanium skins to withstand the temperatures.
1 reply
November 2020
▶ system
I’m fairly confident they will have thought about that.