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That's not a good summary. Yes, the plane is not very valuable in the short term (~4 years) because the only viable existing air-launched rocket is the pegasus,
by jessriedel 8y ago
That's not a good summary. Yes, the plane is not very valuable in the short term (~4 years) because the only viable existing air-launched rocket is the pegasus, which is old and can be more cheaply launched on the smaller planes for which it was designed. But as Manley emphasizes, the whole stratolaunch plan is predicated on developing a new air-launched rocket, and we just don't know what the specs on that will be.
- ThenAsNow 8y ago> the whole stratolaunch plan is predicated on developing a new air-launched rocket, and we just don't know what the specs on that will be Neither will Stratolaunch, any time soon: https://spacenews.com/stratolaunch-abandons-launch-vehicle-program/ https://spacenews.com/stratolaunch-abandons-launch-vehicle-p...
- floil 8y agoCan confirm. The whole group working on that effort has been laid off.