Deceptive maneuver: the largest aircraft in the world can be the US secret weapon
Everyone probably heard that the American company Scaled Composites creates the largest (with some reservations) in stories the aircraft has two fuselage and serves as a platform for launching space rockets. Although the offspring of Scaled Composites is much inferior to the “Mrie” in terms of mass and length, the perspective aircraft is much larger in wing span: 117 meters versus 88. One of the founders of the company was Paul Allen, who died last year, best known for being one of the co-founders of Microsoft. Actually, the concept of the Stratolaunch Model 351 has been known for a long time: it is called the “air start”. In this case, the launch of the rocket produced in the sky. Russian developments in this direction were primarily associated with the MAKS system. And in its time, Ukraine tried to use the An-225 for the Svityaz and Lybid aerospace systems. None of the above could be realized.
Stratolaunch Model 351 features:
Length: 73 m
Wingspan: 117,3 m
Height: 4,69 m
Empty weight: 226,596 kg
Normal take-off weight: 340,194 kg
Maximum takeoff weight: 589,670 kg
External payload: 250,000 kg
Engine six x Pratt & Whitney PW4056 252,4 kN thrust each
It is important to note that the Scaled Composites project is not in place: on the eve of the first flight, the plane has already completed high-speed runs along the runway. Prior to that, it was dispersed to medium, and even earlier - low speed. That is, the company’s plans are serious and, apparently, they will not abandon the project.
Mysterious "vundervaffe"
The aircraft is positioned as a tool for civilian rocket production. Meanwhile, the Quartz recently published the Paul Allen built the world's biggest plane. Does anyone need it? ”Drew attention to some inconsistencies. A decade ago, the world rocket science was in crisis. However, now everything has changed and it's not just the SpaceX rocket Falcon 9 - the world leader in the number of space launches. In addition to Mask, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, United Launch Alliance, and Northrop Grumman have recently announced themselves. A newcomer of the market represented by the New Zealand private company Rocket Lab with its light and very cheap rocket “Electron”, which, by the way, has already completed several successful starts, can also “shoot”.
That is, most likely, there is simply no place for the new space launch operator in the world: a real struggle is going on for the market and the leaders, in general, have long been known. In addition, the very concept of air launch has significant drawbacks.
- At an altitude of more than 30 km, a decrease in air density drastically reduces the aerodynamic advantages of an aircraft wing;
- High requirements for the reliability of the payload (satellites are often developed with the requirement to withstand only axial overloads);
- Very high requirements for media engines, which should provide him with high speed at high altitude;
- Technological risks associated with the overall complexity of the concept;
- The risk of losing expensive aircraft and crew members.
In this regard, we can recall the company Virgin Group, which also uses the concept of air start. But do not forget that the goals of Richard Branson have long been known: suborbital tourism. Roughly speaking, his device has little in common with the Stratolaunch Model 351, although the launch method is the same.
According to Quartz, Stratolaunch Systems still has an advantage: if the plane is brought to mind, it will be able to put cargo into orbit, even if the weather is bad and will not allow the launch of a conventional rocket. Let us examine this issue in more detail. Postponement for commercial customers plays almost no role. At the same time, this problem can become critical if we are talking about military spacecraft. As proof of its hypothesis, the publication claims that US Vice President Mike Pence and US Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson recently visited the facilities of Stratolaunch Systems. At the same time, the company failed to answer Quartz’s question about the number of employees: only about fifty employees have a description on LinkedIn, a popular service for business connections. Why such secrecy for a civil company is not clear. By the way, SpaceX can provide data on 7000 employees, and Blue Origin - 1500. That is, in simple terms, about all (or almost all) of those who work there at all.
Perhaps the true goals of Stratolaunch Systems will become clearer if we consider the intended payload. Last summer, the company talked about which devices it wants to output using its aircraft. One of the declared - Medium Launch Vehicle (MLV) - has a tonnage of 3,5 tons and will be able to raise the load on the height to 400 km. There is also the MLV Heavy: in principle, the same thing, only with a greater carrying capacity. Most of all, the media was interested in the spaceplane, similar to the mysterious Boeing X-37 (experts are still arguing why the Americans needed this orbital plane). The problem is that Stratolaunch recently refused to develop its own missiles. Instead, the company wants to use the Pegasus XL launch vehicle developed by Orbital ATK. Recall, "Pegasus" is a multifunctional rocket that can be launched normally or from a carrier aircraft, as Stratolaunch Systems wants. The mass of the payload output to low Earth orbit by the carrier can reach 443 kg. In modern classification, it is a light launch vehicle. Behind Pegasus XL are many NASA missions. In theory, the rocket can also be used for some military launches, although its capabilities, of course, have quite obvious limitations.
Instead of a conclusion
In fact, in this matter it is very difficult to support one or another point of view. In favor of the "conspiracy theory" says that in America (and in other countries too) any military special operation may well be disguised as a peaceful project, while not sparing funds for the enemy's disinformation. Recently, former oceanographer Robert Ballard, who became famous after the discovery of the Titanic, said that the search for the legendary steamer was in fact a secret mission to search for sunken American submarines.
Projects of large aircraft carrier spacecraft in the history of the United States were also. For example, at one time they created the Conroy Virtus — a two-body transport aircraft for transporting the Space Shuttle shuttle. As it is easy to see, such a large and expensive project was part of an even larger program aimed at maintaining US superiority in the field of space exploration, which was an important component of the geopolitical game. Therefore, maybe the Stratolaunch Model 351 really doesn’t create “just like that.” Most likely, soon we will know everything ourselves.
Information