The world’s largest airplane may be grounded after a single flight - Stratolaunch_FF-00942-1440x1800.jpg ...

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019...ven-fly-again/

The aerospace company founded by Paul Allen, Stratolaunch, is closing operations
according to a report by Reuters that cited anonymous sources. The company will
cease its efforts to challenge traditional aerospace companies in a new “space
race,” four people familiar with the matter told the wire service.

In response to a query from Ars about potentially ending operations, a
spokeswoman for the Seattle-based company replied, "We don’t have any news or
announcements to share at this time. Stratolaunch remains operational."

Questions about the future of Stratolaunch arose almost immediately after Allen,
a co-founder of Microsoft, died in October, 2018, at the age of 65. According to
Reuters, the decision to set an exit strategy was made late last year by Allen’s
sister, Jody Allen. In January, Stratolaunch abandoned efforts to build a series
of rockets to be launched from its large carrier plane—an ominous sign.

This cast a pall over the plane's first flight. With a 384-foot wingspan, this
largest aircraft in the world took flight in April after eight years of
development. "All of you have been very patient and very tolerant over the years
waiting for us to get this big bird off the ground, and we finally did it,"
Stratolaunch CEO Jean Floyd told reporters at the time. The company reported the
airplane reached speeds of 189mph and heights of 17,000 feet during its
150-minute test flight before landing safely at the Mojave Air and Space Port.
But it has not flown since.

Throughout the development of the large Stratolaunch airplane—Allen founded the
company in 2011, spurred by childhood dreams of spaceflight and a desire to
lower the cost of access to space—it has not been clear why such a large
aircraft was needed to launch relatively small rockets. Stratolaunch had been
contracted to launch the Pegasus rocket, developed by Northrop Grumman, which
has a capacity of about 450kg to low-Earth orbit.

A competitor, Virgin Orbit, is much closer to market with its air launch system.
The company uses a modified 747 aircraft named Cosmic Girl, and it's expected to
begin commercial service with its LauncherOne rocket later this year. This
rocket has a capacity of about 500kg to low-Earth orbit.

It now seems as though the Stratolaunch aircraft may really be the second coming
of the Spruce Goose aircraft. This noted airplane, built in 1947 as a vanity
project of the eccentric business magnate Howard Hughes, flew just a single
one-mile flight at an altitude of less than 100 feet before going on display at
the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in Oregon. It had a wingspan of 320 feet.




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