Today, stratolaunch, the carrier of the new air launch orbit system developed by the US space transportation enterprise, has broken the record. On April 13, 2019 (local time), it successfully made its first flight in the US, the world's largest aircraft, with a flight time of 2 hours and 29 minutes. Its wingspan has set the world's highest record of 117 meters. This world's largest twin fuselage aircraft can fly in the air Launch a spaceship.
As the saying goes, "laymen watch the show and experts watch the door", the relevant parties are more concerned about the promotion of stratolaunch's successful first flight to human space industry, while the onlookers are more concerned about the size of the so-called 'world's largest' aircraft. In fact, it is not accurate to say that stratolaunch is the world's largest aircraft. Its 117 meter wingspan has indeed broken the record, but its fuselage length is only 73 meters, and its maximum take-off weight is about 590 tons, while the Ukrainian an An-225 transport aircraft with the largest tonnage in the world has a fuselage length of about 84 meters, and its maximum take-off weight reaches 640 tons.
The figures may not directly show the size of stratolaunch aircraft, but the company has also sent an aircraft to accompany it, namely the cessna-550 general aircraft. Yes, you are right. The very humble plane in the picture is the cessna-550, which looks like a toy plane against the backdrop of stratolaunch's giant catamaran. Cessna-550 general aircraft is a medium-sized business aircraft with twin engine turbofans. Its fuselage length is about 14.39 meters, wingspan is about 15.9 meters, fuselage height is about 4.57 meters, and maximum take-off weight is about 6849 kg. From the perspective of fuselage size, the cessna-550 is not a 'pocket aircraft'. Its wingspan is much longer than that of F-22 fighters. Therefore, we can see how large the stratolaunch is.
Stratolaunch symbolizes a new step in the development of the air launch orbit system. Air orbit launch system (air launch platform) is one of the research hotspots in the field of Aeronautics and Astronautics. It refers to the technology of using air launch platform to launch small rockets and other aircraft in the air. The United States, Russia, Japan, France, Germany and other countries have made some achievements in this field. The rise of air launch platform is a trend, because if the launch vehicle is launched from the ground, most of the energy will be consumed by the weight of the rocket itself in the launch process, and only a small part of the energy will be used to enhance the payload. Then, if the launch site of the launch vehicle is changed from the ground to the high altitude, the smaller the thrust required by the rocket, the less the energy consumed, the payload will be further improved, and the cost will be reduced.
As the first stage carrier of the air launch platform, stratolaunch carrier's performance may not be perfect, but its first flight success has undoubtedly left a heavy mark in the history of aerospace.