by "facw" (facw)
Published 05/31/2017 at 16:56
by "facw" (facw)
Published 05/31/2017 at 16:56
Tags: Planelopnik
; Spacelopnik
; Vulcan Aerospace
; Stratolaunch
STARS: 9
Indeed, the biggest plane by wingspan, Vulcan Aerospace’s Stratolaunch was out of the hangar for the first time yesterday. The plan is to use it as a reusable rocket launch platform.
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Link in case kinja eats the main one
"BobintheMtns" (bobinthemtns)
05/31/2017 at 17:00, STARS: 2
"Jcarr" (jcarr)
05/31/2017 at 17:07, STARS: 2
Reminds me of Scaled Composites White Knight.
Here’s me getting my picture taken at Oshkosh 2005 with Mike Melville, who piloted the first successful X Prize flight.
"AuthiCooper1300" (rexrod)
05/31/2017 at 17:09, STARS: 2
Reminded me of the Conroy Virtus - only that was made out of B-52s.
"facw" (facw)
05/31/2017 at 17:13, STARS: 4
Yep (and it is a Scaled Composites design), though obviously much bigger. Going back farther, it’s fulfilling the same role as the B-52 did for the X-15 (and some other rockets):
Similar designs were also proposed for transporting (though not launching) the shuttle, such as the Conroy Virtus:
Or Lockheed’s twin C-5 design:
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
05/31/2017 at 17:14, STARS: 1
I’m envisioning two crews who have to coordinate (or compete?) carefully to get everything to work. I wonder why they didn’t fully box the tail...seems like it’d be a lot safer and more rigid. Guess I’ll go read now.
And a huge shout-out to the engineering on that hangar. Damn.
"Jcarr" (jcarr)
05/31/2017 at 17:16, STARS: 1
Oh man, how have I never heard of the twin C-5? That’s awesome!
"user314" (user314)
05/31/2017 at 17:20, STARS: 1
‘Scuse me a minute, I need to go price some C-5 models on eBay....
"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
05/31/2017 at 17:25, STARS: 1
Interestingly, the hangar doorway seems to have been intended for something with a very tall central tail.
"AuthiCooper1300" (rexrod)
05/31/2017 at 17:28, STARS: 1
Edit: I should have expressed myself more clearly –and written would have been made. No B-52s, sadly, were harmed to build a prototype.
I find Conroy’s story absolutely fascinating. Talk about lateral thinking.
"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
05/31/2017 at 17:28, STARS: 0
I’m no engineer, but wouldn’t it be stronger if the rear middle elevator ‘wing’ connected across the rear of the aircraft? It would also help lessen the stress on the main wing as there could be a mounting point there as well?
"facw" (facw)
05/31/2017 at 17:30, STARS: 0
It was built in 2012, so probably specifically for this (it does have a 747 out front in 2013). I’m guessing they just wanted to make it so it could fit other big planes in case this venture failed.
"AuthiCooper1300" (rexrod)
05/31/2017 at 17:34, STARS: 2
Good lord, I’d never seen a picture of the
Zwilling
C-5 proposal.
Absolutely bonkers - i.e., wonderful.
"user314" (user314)
05/31/2017 at 17:41, STARS: 1
Or not, Galaxy models are rather expensive. Wonder if I can find someone on Shapeways taking requests.
"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
05/31/2017 at 17:46, STARS: 1
That is super cool
"facw" (facw)
05/31/2017 at 17:56, STARS: 3
Certainly everyone would have been happier during the glide tests. NASA made it look easy, but I’, sure everyone involved would have preferred to be able to just drop the shuttle instead on having to have the carrier dive so that Enterprise could clear that big 747 tail.
"You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much" (youcantellafinn)
05/31/2017 at 21:12, STARS: 0
Tell me you can get from one fuselage to the other in flight through an access tunnel in the wing. If not, I’m not interested.
"gmporschenut also a fan of hondas" (gmporschenut)
05/31/2017 at 21:30, STARS: 0
it would reduce stress and stiffen up the rear tails, but at the same time, wings flex A LOT (as designed). The reinforceing required to make it join and stiff could add a huge amount of weight reducing payload capacity.
Also maybe rocket exhaust.
I’m not an aero engineer, only my $.02
"gmporschenut also a fan of hondas" (gmporschenut)
05/31/2017 at 21:37, STARS: 0
rocket exhaust? also the amount of framework to keep the tail rigid vs allowing the two to flex could have a signifiant impact on payload capacity.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
05/31/2017 at 23:05, STARS: 0
I’d be willing to bet that, with modern flight control computers, one person could fly that thing from either side.
"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
06/01/2017 at 05:31, STARS: 0
Yup...knew they were designed to flex a lot....just that those fuselages look quite heavy, especially with 3 engines on either side and with only that one connecting point (especially if the load of a fully-fulled ROCKET is hanging from the midpoint as well), I just thought there was a lot of stress there!
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
06/01/2017 at 09:17, STARS: 0
Good call, but traditionally the launch plane would drop the rocket first, well before firing up the engines. But I think that
’
s on the right track
—
I bet the rocket would cause a lot of turbulence behind it and a closed tail might not be useful (or it could physically interfere with the rocket itself).