# Monster 6 engine, dual fuselage, 385 ft wingspan airplane "Stratolaunch" soon to be a reality **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 4, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster-6-engine-dual-fuselage-385-ft-wingspan-airplane-stratolaunch-soon-to-be-a-reality/727008 "2015-08-04T20:55:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster-6-engine-dual-fuselage-385-ft-wingspan-airplane-stratolaunch-soon-to-be-a-reality/727008/1 "2015-08-04T20:55:29Z")
[Article and video here](https://www.yahoo.com/autos/s/stratolaunch-soon-largest-plane-world-133041433.html). I’m wondering how having the pilot bay on one side for the plane will work out. I wonder how much fuel the rocket is saving being launched high. Short video is worth a look. > [@](#): > > Over the years, man has built some truly colossal airplanes. But in 2016, an even larger aircraft is expected to take flight, and when completed, it will officially be the largest plane in the world. That massive aircraft is known as the Stratolaunch. > > The Stratolaunch is currently in production at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port. Aerospace firm Scaled Composites has headed-up development of the mammoth aircraft, and befitting such a sizable plane, the technical details are jaw-dropping. Stratolaunch, nicknamed “Roc” after the mythical bird of prey, features two fuselages, six Pratt & Whitney jet engines, 28 landing gear wheels, and a whopping 385 foot wingspan. > [@](#): > > The Stratolaunch is designed to carry a three-stage rocket (equipped with a satellite) between its two fuselages. Upon reaching the correct altitude, the rocket will detach, blast off into space, and later release the satellite. The combined weight of “Roc” plus the rocket is estimated to be 1.3 million pounds. Take a look at the animated video of the Stratolaunch in action, below. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster-6-engine-dual-fuselage-385-ft-wingspan-airplane-stratolaunch-soon-to-be-a-reality/727008/2 "2015-08-04T22:33:08Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [Article and video here](https://www.yahoo.com/autos/s/stratolaunch-soon-largest-plane-world-133041433.html). I’m wondering how having the pilot bay on one side for the plane will work out. > > I wonder how much fuel the rocket is saving being launched high. > > Short video is worth a look. Fascinating… but if you don’t mind, I’m not clicking that Yahoo link. Currently, Yahoo’s advertising service is a[festering swamp of malware](http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/04/yahoo-ad-network-malware-attack/). Anyway, there’s [ample precedent for air-launched orbital and sub-orbital space launch vehicles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_launch_to_orbit), but this seems to be the biggest I’ve ever heard of. According to the [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratolaunch_Systems), Orbital Sciences was to provide the [launch vehicle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_II_%28rocket%29), but Stratolaunch fired 'em so the actual rocket science part of the project is (not yet) up in the air. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster-6-engine-dual-fuselage-385-ft-wingspan-airplane-stratolaunch-soon-to-be-a-reality/727008/3 "2015-08-04T23:08:12Z")
The original space launch vehicle was going to be a highly modified Falcon 9 before someone figured out that the necessary structural reinforcements to carry the vehicle horizontally through launch were not practical. The Orbital Sciences vehicle was going to be the commercial Castor 120 first stage (also the first stage for the Taurus and the first two stages of the Lockheed Martin Athena II) with a Castor 30 upper stage (used on the Athena II and Antares rocket) and some unspecified liquid apogee stage (probably Super-HAPS). This apparently turned out to be uneconomical (probably due to the cost of the Castor 120) and Stratolaunch is apparently viewing a large number of alternative configurations, all of which are roughly the size of an Athena or Minotaur IV. The value of an air-launched SLV isn’t the reduction of propellant but the ability to select a more optimal launch azimuth and also avoid ground wind limitations and ground launch facility logistics, as I discuss [POST=13915667]here[/POST]. The tradeoff is that you need a carrier aircraft and a means to deploy reliability in flight, which can be quite challenging. Orbital Sciences (now Orbital ATK) launched the first successful commercial space launch vehicle 25 years ago with the Pegasus, and it’s proven to be a reasonably reliable vehicle in the small sat delivery category, but at a launch cost exceeding US$10k/kg it has not been any more cost effective than larger and more capable vehicles. However, there are a handful of other air-launch ventures focused on the nascent smallsat market, the foremost of which is GOLauncher 2, which I’ve been watching with some interest. But launching something as large as an Athena from an aircraft strikes me as more of a stunt than a cost-effective launch platform. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster-6-engine-dual-fuselage-385-ft-wingspan-airplane-stratolaunch-soon-to-be-a-reality/727008/4 "2015-08-05T13:34:48Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > But launching something as large as an Athena from an aircraft strikes me as more of a stunt than a cost-effective launch platform. That’s how [air-launching an ICBM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-launched_ballistic_missile#Air_Mobile_Feasibility_test:_C-5_w.2F_LGM-30) always struck me: a stunt. But I guess in the mid-70s “mobile launcher panic”, I suspect nothing was completely off-limits. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster-6-engine-dual-fuselage-385-ft-wingspan-airplane-stratolaunch-soon-to-be-a-reality/727008/5 "2015-08-05T15:08:37Z")
I got about as far as “Monster 6 engine, dual fuselage, 385 ft …” before I heard Tim Taylor grunting in my head. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster-6-engine-dual-fuselage-385-ft-wingspan-airplane-stratolaunch-soon-to-be-a-reality/727008/6 "2015-08-06T20:16:30Z")
You can tell Rutan retired from Scaled Composites - that thing is _ugly_. His designs always had a kind of beauty to them. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster-6-engine-dual-fuselage-385-ft-wingspan-airplane-stratolaunch-soon-to-be-a-reality/727008/7 "2015-08-07T03:06:55Z")
It’s right hand drive! Is it British?