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Stratolaunch Reportedly Shuts Down Leaving World's Largest Plane WithAn Uncertain Future
"Space launch company Stratolaunch, which the late Microsoft co-founder Paul
Allen had founded nearly a decade ago, is reportedly in the process of closing down for good and will be selling off all of its physical assets and intellectual property rights. The news comes less than two months after the firm's massive Roc aircraft, the largest plane ever flown, took the sky for the first time. On May 31, 2019, Reuters reported that Vulcan, Inc., an investment firm that Allen had also established to support Stratolaunch and many other projects, had decided to shutter the space launch unit, citing multiple unnamed individuals familiar with the plans. The War Zone also heard this earlier in the week. Allen died in October 2018 after a battle with cancer. Founded in 2011, Stratolaunch hoped to offer low-cost and flexible access to space, using the Roc aircraft, named after the mythical bird of prey capable of carrying off an elephant, to air-launch expendable and reusable space launch vehicles. A cost-effective air-launched space access concept would allow customers to get payloads into space on shorter notice than with traditional rockets and launch them from the best possible location, a potential game- changing capability that you can read about more here. Scaled Composites, a part of Northrop Grumman, had actually designed and built the aircraft. The plan had been for Roc to conduct its first test launch of a Pegasus XL space launch rocket, another Northrop Grumman product, in 2020. Stratolaunch and Northrop Grumman both declined to give comments to Reuters for its story and it is unclear whether or not the test program will continue under the latter company's direction, but it seems unlikely at this point." See: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...certain-future |
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Stratolaunch Reportedly Shuts Down Leaving World's Largest PlaneWith An Uncertain Future
From Spruce Goose to Composite Condor...
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Stratolaunch Reportedly Shuts Down Leaving World's Largest Plane With An Uncertain Future
"David Spain" wrote in message ...
From Spruce Goose to Composite Condor... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...19189632956681 -- Greg D. Moore http://greenmountainsoftware.wordpress.com/ CEO QuiCR: Quick, Crowdsourced Responses. http://www.quicr.net IT Disaster Response - https://www.amazon.com/Disaster-Resp...dp/1484221834/ |
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Stratolaunch Reportedly Shuts Down Leaving World's Largest PlaneWith An Uncertain Future
On 6/6/2019 2:02 PM, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote:
"David Spain"Â* wrote in message ... From Spruce Goose to Composite Condor... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...19189632956681 Sigh. Thanks Greg. I'd laugh, but it's just way too familiar and way too sad.... Dave |
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Stratolaunch Reportedly Shuts Down Leaving World's Largest Plane With An Uncertain Future
In article , says...
On 6/6/2019 2:02 PM, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote: "David Spain"* wrote in message ... From Spruce Goose to Composite Condor... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...19189632956681 Sigh. Thanks Greg. I'd laugh, but it's just way too familiar and way too sad.... Paul Allen was somehow sold on air launch (likely Rutan sold him on the idea) and he decided to build Birdzillia. Unfortunately, there was a complete lack of focus on what it was going to launch! The assumption was that a partner would be easy to find who would foot the bill for the launch vehicle development. That was, in hindsight, obviously misguided thinking. All IMHO, of course. Jeff -- All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone. These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends, employer, or any organization that I am a member of. |
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Stratolaunch Reportedly Shuts Down Leaving World's Largest Plane With An Uncertain Future
Jeff Findley wrote on Thu, 6 Jun 2019
18:09:04 -0400: In article , says... On 6/6/2019 2:02 PM, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote: "David Spain"* wrote in message ... From Spruce Goose to Composite Condor... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...19189632956681 Sigh. Thanks Greg. I'd laugh, but it's just way too familiar and way too sad.... Paul Allen was somehow sold on air launch (likely Rutan sold him on the idea) and he decided to build Birdzillia. Unfortunately, there was a complete lack of focus on what it was going to launch! The assumption was that a partner would be easy to find who would foot the bill for the launch vehicle development. That was, in hindsight, obviously misguided thinking. Not that misguided. First, they started out to develop their own launch vehicles so they weren't engaging in the "complete lack of focus" that you decry. Second, didn't they have a launch contract with NG (was OSC (was ATK)) to launch Pegasus XL from it? -- "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." --George Bernard Shaw |
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Stratolaunch Reportedly Shuts Down Leaving World's Largest Plane With An Uncertain Future
Jeff Findley wrote on Fri, 7 Jun 2019
06:22:00 -0400: In article , says... Jeff Findley wrote on Thu, 6 Jun 2019 18:09:04 -0400: In article , says... On 6/6/2019 2:02 PM, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote: "David Spain"* wrote in message ... From Spruce Goose to Composite Condor... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...19189632956681 Sigh. Thanks Greg. I'd laugh, but it's just way too familiar and way too sad.... Paul Allen was somehow sold on air launch (likely Rutan sold him on the idea) and he decided to build Birdzillia. Unfortunately, there was a complete lack of focus on what it was going to launch! The assumption was that a partner would be easy to find who would foot the bill for the launch vehicle development. That was, in hindsight, obviously misguided thinking. Not that misguided. First, they started out to develop their own launch vehicles so they weren't engaging in the "complete lack of focus" that you decry. Second, didn't they have a launch contract with NG (was OSC (was ATK)) to launch Pegasus XL from it? First they were to partner with SpaceX to develop the launch vehicle. But that partnership ended in 2012, so they were left without a launch vehicle plan at that point. Second, they went to Orbital ATK as a partner who was supposed to develop a Pegasus II (bigger, obviously, than the original). That didn't work out very well either. The third launch vehicle planned to be launched was Pegauss/Pegasus XL. But that's kind of like flying a Boeing 747 from NYC to DC with only 50 passengers on the plane. There would have been zero advantage to flying Pegasus from this aircraft compared to the L-1011. They said something about flying three of them at once, but even that makes no sense given the current (very low) flight rate of Pegasus. Again, they never worked on developing their own launch vehicle. They were relying on partnerships that never worked out. Say it again and again, it's still incorrect. They started development of their own engine (PGA Engine) and got as far as preburner test firing. They also had a vehicle in development (Medium Launch Vehicle or MLV) that was slated to fly in 2022, an MLV Heavy that was in design, and had initiated design studies for a spaceplane (Black Ice). So your claim that "they never worked on developing their own launch vehicle" is counterfactual. Now all that development was set up to run behind that of the launch aircraft, because they needed that first, but it still existed. All those got cancelled shortly after Paul Allen's death, since they were being funded out of his checkbook. It was in all the news, so I don't see how you missed it. -- "Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong." -- Thomas Jefferson |
#9
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Stratolaunch Reportedly Shuts Down Leaving World's Largest Plane With An Uncertain Future
In article ,
says... Again, they never worked on developing their own launch vehicle. They were relying on partnerships that never worked out. Say it again and again, it's still incorrect. They started development of their own engine (PGA Engine) and got as far as preburner test firing. I never gave this engine any serious consideration because of how little public progress they had made on the thing. Since you can't finish the design of a launch vehicle without a working engine design, I really don't know how much progress they could have made on launch vehicle development aside from CAD/CAM/CAE models. Those are a dime a dozen, IMHO. From what I can tell from the press, they didn't start preburner testing of that engine until very late in 2018. That means, realistically, a full engine would have been several more years in the making (I'd say about five years, given how long these things take for an engine that size). This is an article about their very first preburner firing, which was only 7 months ago: Stratolaunch completes milestone preburner test firing for PGA rocket engine BY ALAN BOYLE on November 6, 2018 at 10:59 am https://www.geekwire.com/2018/strato...tes-milestone- preburner-test-firing-pga-rocket-engine/ They also had a vehicle in development (Medium Launch Vehicle or MLV) that was slated to fly in 2022, an MLV Heavy that was in design, and had initiated design studies for a spaceplane (Black Ice). IMHO, their 2022 first flight date was an aspirational goal given their extremely limited progress to date on engine development. The spaceplane thing was always notional and far off in the future. No "real" work was ever done on the spaceplane besides renderings, IMHO. So your claim that "they never worked on developing their own launch vehicle" is counterfactual. Now all that development was set up to run behind that of the launch aircraft, because they needed that first, but it still existed. I'll agree to that. I should have acknowledged their PGA engine preburner test firing back in November. Still, the evidence is that they started work on their own launch vehicle after not one, but two different partnerships failed to deliver something that could actually utilize the capabilities of Birdzillia. In other words, the launch vehicle side of things was never given enough priority. In house launch vehicle development was clearly "Plan C" after SpaceX (Plan A) and then Orbital ATK (Plan B) both failed to deliver. Stratolaunch's engine development program simply screams last ditch effort to me. Given a reasonably sized engine takes 5+ years to fully develop, they should have stared on this in 2012 so the aircraft and launch vehicle would be ready at the same time. All those got cancelled shortly after Paul Allen's death, since they were being funded out of his checkbook. It was in all the news, so I don't see how you missed it. True, the plane as well as their liquid fueled rocket engine preburner development program were both canceled at the same time. Jeff -- All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone. These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends, employer, or any organization that I am a member of. |
#10
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Stratolaunch Reportedly Shuts Down Leaving World's Largest Plane With An Uncertain Future
Jeff Findley wrote on Sat, 8 Jun 2019
09:29:46 -0400: In article , says... Again, they never worked on developing their own launch vehicle. They were relying on partnerships that never worked out. Say it again and again, it's still incorrect. They started development of their own engine (PGA Engine) and got as far as preburner test firing. I never gave this engine any serious consideration because of how little public progress they had made on the thing. Your statement was "they never worked on developing their own launch vehicle". You yourself now admit that your statement was wrong and is only true if you selectively ignore facts you don't like. Since you can't finish the design of a launch vehicle without a working engine design, I really don't know how much progress they could have made on launch vehicle development aside from CAD/CAM/CAE models. Those are a dime a dozen, IMHO. Sorry, but from what I read MLV was 'designed' (as in design finished). From what I can tell from the press, they didn't start preburner testing of that engine until very late in 2018. That means, realistically, a full engine would have been several more years in the making (I'd say about five years, given how long these things take for an engine that size). Your estimate is quite a bit longer than theirs, since they planned on launching a completed vehicle in 2022. And again, your claim was "they never worked on developing their own launch vehicle" when they quite obviously did. This is an article about their very first preburner firing, which was only 7 months ago: Stratolaunch completes milestone preburner test firing for PGA rocket engine BY ALAN BOYLE on November 6, 2018 at 10:59 am https://www.geekwire.com/2018/strato...tes-milestone- preburner-test-firing-pga-rocket-engine/ So? Again, your claim was "they never worked on developing their own launch vehicle" when this is quite obviously work on doing just what you said they never did. They also had a vehicle in development (Medium Launch Vehicle or MLV) that was slated to fly in 2022, an MLV Heavy that was in design, and had initiated design studies for a spaceplane (Black Ice). IMHO, their 2022 first flight date was an aspirational goal given their extremely limited progress to date on engine development. The spaceplane thing was always notional and far off in the future. No "real" work was ever done on the spaceplane besides renderings, IMHO. I think you're wrong, but regardless, it is still "work on their own launch vehicle" that you claimed they never did. They hired a guy from SpaceX in 2017 to run their engine development. So your claim that "they never worked on developing their own launch vehicle" is counterfactual. Now all that development was set up to run behind that of the launch aircraft, because they needed that first, but it still existed. I'll agree to that. I should have acknowledged their PGA engine preburner test firing back in November. Still, the evidence is that they started work on their own launch vehicle after not one, but two different partnerships failed to deliver something that could actually utilize the capabilities of Birdzillia. In other words, the launch vehicle side of things was never given enough priority. In house launch vehicle development was clearly "Plan C" after SpaceX (Plan A) and then Orbital ATK (Plan B) both failed to deliver. Actually you have your timeline a bit hosed. The Pegasus stuff was in parallel with their own vehicle development, not preceding it. Stratolaunch's engine development program simply screams last ditch effort to me. Given a reasonably sized engine takes 5+ years to fully develop, they should have stared on this in 2012 so the aircraft and launch vehicle would be ready at the same time. If we assume their claimed flight date for MLV was 'aggressive' vice 'aspirational', they're assuming five years for the whole vehicle, not just the engine. And that's probably not that far out. So they 'should have' had a start date around 2014 (vice 2016-17). All those got cancelled shortly after Paul Allen's death, since they were being funded out of his checkbook. It was in all the news, so I don't see how you missed it. True, the plane as well as their liquid fueled rocket engine preburner development program were both canceled at the same time. Again your timeline is a bit off. Their launch vehicle efforts were cancelled before the plane, which kept going for a while after Allen's death. I personally don't understand the point of air launch for large vehicles, but that's a different topic. -- "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." --George Bernard Shaw |
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