Giant plane sees the light of day Friday, 02 June 2017

The world's largest aeroplane has moved out of its hangar for the first time.

The Stratolaunch is being built in California's Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles. Over the past few weeks, the team removed the fabrication infrastructure, including the three-story scaffolding surrounding the aircraft, and rested the aircraft’s full weight on its 28 wheels for the first time. It moved out of the hangar to conduct aircraft fueling tests.

The twin-fuselage aircraft is designed to launch rockets from the air into low earth orbit (LEO). It has a wingspan of 110 m, is 73 m long, and weighs over 220 t. It is designed for a maximum takeoff weight of 590 t, meaning it can carry payloads of up to 250 t.

"Opening up access to LEO will deliver many benefits," said Stratolaunch Systems Corporation founder Paul Allen.

"For example, we could deploy more satellites that would enable better understanding of why our weather patterns are changing and help increase agricultural productivity. And, we could study atmospheric chemistry more closely to better study and mitigate climate change. But none of this will happen as quickly without exploring new, flexible and streamlined ways to send satellites into orbit."

Allen believes that launching from the air will significantly reduce the long wait times traditionally experienced between the construction of a satellite and the opportunity to launch it into space, and this in turn will reduce costs.

"When such access to space is routine, innovation will accelerate in ways beyond what we can currently imagine," he said.

"That’s the thing about new platforms: when they become easily available, convenient and affordable, they attract and enable other visionaries and entrepreneurs to realise more new concepts. And in a world filled with great challenges and opportunities, we should be making this transformation prospect easier."

The plan is initially to launch a single Orbital ATK Pegasus XL vehicle, with the capability to ultimately launch up to three Pegasus vehicles in a single sortie mission.

[The Stratolaunch outside its hangar in the Mojave Desert. Photo: Stratolaunch]