Stratolaunch Plane Hits 40 Knots

Stratolaunch Monster Plane Hits 40 Knots in Latest Taxi Test

We're dying to see this thing fly.

By Jay Bennett

 STRATOLAUNCH SYSTEMS

Stratolaunch, a gigantic twin-fuselage aircraft built by Scaled Composites for Paul Allen's Stratolaunch Systems, is inching closer and closer to first flight. On February 26, Paul Allen tweeted out a video of the biggest airplane in the world by wingspan, 385 feet from tip to tip, conducting taxi tests at the Mojave Air & Space Port that brought the mothership up to 40 knots, or about 46 mph. This represents an increase of about 15 knots since Stratolaunch rolled down the taxiway under its own power for the first time in December.


To achieve enough lift to overcome gravity and take off, an airliner typically needs to be going about 130 to 150 knots. Light aircraft can take off going slower, and Stratolaunch is mostly composites, so its massive wings might be able to take the plane airborne at slower speeds. Still, the six-engine carrier aircraft will likely need to double its current record or more before it leaves the ground.


The Stratolaunch team is taking pre-flight testing one small step at a time, checking and rechecking the many systems on the gargantuan aircraft. Ultimately, the plane is designed to carry up to three small rockets to the stratosphere, where it will drop the rockets for aerial launches to space. Paul Allen is betting that the carrier aircraft method with small rockets will provide a cheap and rapid delivery system for space payloads.

Watching this behemoth carry rockets to high altitudes and launch them would certainly be a sight to behold, but for now, we're just excited to see the monster plane take to the skies for the first time over California's Mojave Desert.


STRATOLAUNCH SYSTEMS