Allen, Rutan plan huge plane to launch spaceships
December 13, 2011 By DONNA BLANKINSHIP and SETH BORENSTEIN , Associated Press
Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, pictured in 2006, on Tuesday announced plans for a new space travel system that would use the largest airplane ever built to launch rockets carrying cargo and eventually humans into space.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan are building the biggest plane ever to haul cargo and astronauts into space, in the latest of several ventures fueled by technology tycoons clamoring to write America's next chapter in spaceflight.
Their plans, unveiled Tuesday, call for a twin-fuselage aircraft with wings longer than a football field to carry a rocket high into the atmosphere and drop it, avoiding the need for a launch pad and the expense of additional rocket fuel.
Allen, who teamed up with Rutan in 2004 to send the first privately financed, manned spacecraft into space, said his new project would "keep America at the forefront of space exploration" and give a new generation of children something to dream about.
"We have plenty and many challenges ahead of us," he said at a news conference.
Allen and Rutan join a field crowded with Silicon Valley veterans who grew up on "Star Trek" and now want to fill a void created with the retirement of NASA's space shuttle. Several companies are competing to develop spacecraft to deliver cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station.
Allen bemoaned the fact that government-sponsored spaceflight is waning.
"When I was growing up, America's space program was the symbol of aspiration," he said. "For me, the fascination with space never ended. I never stopped dreaming what might be possible."
Allen and Rutan last collaborated on the experimental SpaceShipOne, which was launched in the air from a special aircraft in 2004. It won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for the first privately financed, manned spaceflight.
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic licensed the technology and is developing SpaceShipTwo to carry tourists to space.
The new plane will have a wingspan of 380 feet - the world's largest. The plane will carry under its belly a space capsule with its own booster rocket; it will blast into orbit after the plane climbs high into the atmosphere.
This method saves money by not using rocket fuel to get off the ground. Another older rocket company, Orbital Sciences Corp., uses this method for unmanned rockets to launch satellites.
The rockets will eventually carry people, but the first tests, scheduled for 2016, will be unmanned. It should be another five years before people can fly on the system that Allen and Rutan are calling Stratolaunch.
The company, to be based in Huntsville, Ala., bills its method of getting to space as "any orbit, any time." Rutan will build the carrier aircraft, which will use six 747 engines.
The spaceship and booster will be provided by another Internet tycoon, Elon Musk of PayPal, who has built a successful commercial rocket.
Allen left Microsoft in 1983. Since his time at the software giant he has pursued many varied interests. He's the owner of the Seattle Seahawks football team as well as the Portland Trailblazers of the NBA.
More information: Stratolaunch Systems, http://www.stratolaunch.com
©2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
-
From lemons to lemonade: Reaction uses carbon dioxide to make carbon-based semiconductor,
32 comments
-
Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments,
3 comments
-
SpaceX private rocket blasts off for space station (Update),
42 comments
-
Climate scientists say they have solved riddle of rising sea,
31 comments
-
SpaceX capsule has 'new car' smell, astronauts say (Update),
4 comments
-
Distance of planets from stars and revolution
6 hours ago
-
revamping general concept and cosmological principle
May 25, 2012
-
Transiting Exoplanet Light Curve
May 25, 2012
-
Math behind Theoretical Physics
May 24, 2012
-
Do we know whats at the center of galaxies yet?
May 23, 2012
-
Structure of the Milky Way?
May 20, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - General Astronomy
More news stories
Land and sea species differ in climate change response: study
(Phys.org) -- Marine and terrestrial species will likely differ in their responses to climate warming, new research by Simon Fraser University and Australia’s University of Tasmania has found.
4 hours ago |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
5
|
Yale study concludes public apathy over climate change unrelated to science literacy
Are members of the public divided about climate change because they don't understand the science behind it? If Americans knew more basic science and were more proficient in technical reasoning, would public consensus match ...
6 hours ago |
4.8 / 5 (5) |
12
|
10 million years needed to recover from mass extinction
It took some 10 million years for Earth to recover from the greatest mass extinction of all time, latest research has revealed.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
6 hours ago |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
|
Sophisticated simulations predict future warming
The chances of our planet being hit by a global warming of 3 degrees Celsius by 2050 is as likely as it being hit by an increase of 1.4 degrees, new research shows. Presented in the journal Nature Geoscience, the British study ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 22, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (9) |
51
Aliens don't want to eat us, says former SETI director
Alien life probably isn’t interested in having us for dinner, enslaving us or laying eggs in our bellies, according to a recent statement by former SETI director Jill Tarter.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
May 25, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (15) |
41
Stunning image of smallest possible five-ringed structure
Scientists have created and imaged the smallest possible five-ringed structure – about 100,000 times thinner than a human hair – and you'll probably recognise its shape.
'Unzipped' carbon nanotubes could help energize fuel cells, batteries
Multi-walled carbon nanotubes riddled with defects and impurities on the outside could replace some of the expensive platinum catalysts used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries, according to scientists at ...
Change in developmental timing was crucial in the evolutionary shift from dinosaurs to birds: study
At first glance, it's hard to see how a common house sparrow and a Tyrannosaurus Rex might have anything in common. After all, one is a bird that weighs less than an ounce, and the other is a dinosaur that ...
Computer model used to pinpoint prime materials for efficient carbon capture
When power plants begin capturing their carbon emissions to reduce greenhouse gases – and to most in the electric power industry, it's a question of when, not if – it will be an expensive undertaking.
T cells 'hunt' parasites like animal predators seek prey, study shows
By pairing an intimate knowledge of immune-system function with a deep understanding of statistical physics, a cross-disciplinary team at the University of Pennsylvania has arrived at a surprising finding: T cells use a movement ...
Scientists develop ultra-sensitive test that detects diseases in their earliest stages
Scientists have developed an ultra-sensitive test that should enable them to detect signs of a disease in its earliest stages, in research published today in the journal Nature Materials.
Dec 13, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (17)
Dec 13, 2011
Rank: 4.6 / 5 (11)
Dec 13, 2011
Rank: 4 / 5 (3)
Dec 13, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (6)
Here is an article with a nice movie of the system
http://abcnews.go...15146297
Dec 13, 2011
Rank: 3 / 5 (1)
Dec 13, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
after the duration of a sneeze when then the batteries run out, this behemoth still has to fly and its NOT a glider!
Dec 13, 2011
Rank: 1.5 / 5 (8)
Assume this large plane can go to 45,000 ft at 600mph.
I would
fill up part of the plane with rocket fuel and once the plane reaches its max altitude and speed
I would
turn on the rocket motor (fed from the plane) and keep it running until the planes supply of rocket fuel runs out. This addition of the rocket motor may substantially increase the speed and/or height at release.
If the plane is too high for its engines it can glide back into the atmosphere until its engines can be used.
Cant hurt.
Dec 13, 2011
Rank: 1.4 / 5 (19)
Wait, I need to go join the Democrat supported and encouraged, get rid of the 1%, unwashed, defecating in the street Occupy nuts who are trying to block the ports so I can't get my imported shipments in, which if successful would create jobs, reduce unemployment, increase the wealth of my employees and hopefully myself.
BTW, isn't Paul one of the 1%? The government should have taxed everything he had so that he could be like most of us. There is no reason for someone to be as rich as he is just so that he could afford to build a spaceship, possibly making space travel affordable, create high tech employment, etc.
Merry Christmas.
Dec 13, 2011
Rank: 2.8 / 5 (5)
Freethinker: I hope he succeeds as well. If Allen, Musk and Rutan et al can build an orbital system privately by 2016 for less than NASA or UAL, they will save this government a bunch of money, speed up the settlement of space, end UAL's monopoly, and make it easier (?) for civilians to go into space. Not all 1% ers support the current GOP goals, and not all 99% ers support Obama's. That's what makes a horse race.
Happy Holidays!
(Christians aren't the only ones with something to celebrate during this season, so you shouldn't be so exclusive.)
Dec 13, 2011
Rank: 4.5 / 5 (2)
Dec 13, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (5)
Anyway this is great, the first half of the article I kept thinking "please don't be just a suborbital space plane, come on don't do this to me" :) I'm glad to see my pessimism was unfounded!
The image of the twin-fuselage carrying a rocket in the middle is very powerful, this could turn out to be a symbol of a new space age -- I hope it does!
Dec 13, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (7)
I don't know anyone who can afford a ticket, honestly.
This thing is bigger than the Spruce Goose.
It's like something you used to see in science fiction or a video game.
Dec 13, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (2)
I guess solving anti-gravity problem out of question.
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 3 / 5 (1)
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 4.6 / 5 (7)
And let's not forget that it's been 80 years of government policy developing the technology before the private market could stand a chance at private space flight. I don't care how rich Paul Allen is, he couldn't afford 1/1000th of the development cost. Same goes for the internet, same goes for GPS. I'd vote for anyone who believes gov policy is good as long as it can step back when the time is ripe and then let markets go to work. That the republicans have trashed this idea is in large part why we're losing out to China. Let's hope Obama, the victorious warrior, stays in power to keep big science and tech going and allow us all to have a
Happy Hanukah (see the light as it were)
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: not rated yet
I think space flights are a long way off in solving the worlds problems, thousands of miles off
but merry christmas to you too and to all the rest
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 2.5 / 5 (2)
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 1.5 / 5 (2)
Indeed: It would require a design change. STiffer airframe; change wingshape/aerodynamics; thrusters, on wingtips and fuselage for attitude control; ablative coating for re-entry heating; APU's just like the Space Shuttles;Better autopilot and remote control from ground for backup, etc, etc, etc...hey! Get in touch with these guys why don't you?! A supercritical swingwing combination..? The planes lifting ability would have to still get it to 45-60K feet B4 rockets came on & with D added fuel, top out/drop at 200-300K feet. Not bad, Do it!
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 4.3 / 5 (3)
One design would have used the existing 6-engine Antonov 225 to lift a spacecraft into the stratosphere after which a tripropellant engine would send the spaceplane into orbit, using kerosene at low altitude and hydrogen at high altitude.
Apart from the fuel tank, the spaceplane would have been reusable. So Rutan is where the Soviets used to be in the late 1980s.
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 3.5 / 5 (2)
Of course, by that time the decision-makers had a deathgrip on the Space Shuttle project, which turned out to be a white elephant.
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 1.4 / 5 (12)
BTW, If anyone wants to wish me a happy (put your holiday that you celebrate here) I appreciate it.
Since MOST people celebrate Christmas, and since I celebrate Christmas, and in the spirit of 116,
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
Chances of success? Rutan, Allen and Musk all have a history of making things happen.
Who can afford a flight? Well, not me, but I know about 30 people that could drop a million on a ticket and would. If the booster was a reusable version of the Falcon 5, a million would be on the high side.
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
http://www.youtub...=related
-Heres to the end of religionist tyranny, a holiday worth celebrating.Commercially it offers flexibility worldwide. Costs will drop based on number of units sold.The shuttle was primarily a military system - not meant to be cost-effective. Quickest to orbit, flexible, launched from hardened facilities at vandenberg afb. Which is why more rational designs such as this were not pursued.
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 4 / 5 (1)
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 4 / 5 (1)
It has to be cheaper-there is no first stage lifting the vehicle from the ground.
Dec 14, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Dec 15, 2011
Rank: 2 / 5 (2)
There is still first stage on the rocket. The aircraft is used as yet another stage before it. I have doubts whether this will be any cheaper than a launch pad, because it is more complex. Cost of rocket fuel is negligible, cost of this flying contraption may very well be higher.
Dec 16, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (3)
. . . should first become familiar with the energy source that makes things happen on Earth and in the cosmos.
1. Einstein provided the key in 1905: E = mc^2 [1]
[Mass is stored energy; Energy makes things happen]
2. N-N repulsion in cores of atoms/stars/galaxies [2]
3. Was ignored after 1971 for political reasons [3], and
4. The message [4] in the "Cradle of the Nuclides" overlooked.
References:
1. "Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieinhalt abhängig?", Annalen der Physik 18: 639643
www.fourmilab.ch/...mc2/www/
2. "Neutron repulsion" The APEIRON Journal, in press
http://arxiv.org/...1499.pdf
3. "Deep roots of the global climate scandal (1971-2011)"
http://dl.dropbox...oots.pdf
4. "Fear not, the universe is in good hands"
http://dl.dropbox..._Not.pdf
Best wishes,
O. K. Manuel
www.omatumr.com
Dec 16, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
That's what I meant.
Dec 17, 2011
Rank: 1.5 / 5 (4)
Wow! Another rocket scientist.