Gon5~SPARTA~ Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 (edited) https://www.yahoo.com/autos/s/stratolaunch-soon-largest-plane-world-133041433.html Edited August 3, 2015 by Gon5~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaiSan Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 I swear I've seen that on episodes of Thunderbirds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cent~SPARTA~ Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 ha Dai, that's what i thought!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
custard~SPARTA~ Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 Kin ell thats a bigun Lol lets hope we don't see the 'Hood' for real Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathrus~SPARTA~ Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 well it is a proven method. But that is an EXTREMELY expensive aircraft to build due to it's size and payload. I am not sure it would compete well yet with simple booster rockets lobbing payloads into orbit. As the technologies mature however, it may become viable in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathrus~SPARTA~ Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 as an example, I am sure many of you know about the Hughs "Spruce Goose. Growing up, one of our family friends was an aeronautical engineer who helped design and build the spruce goose. Yes we had the technology to build it, So Howard Hughs built it. But it was not a viable aircraft for the day. Just as I believe the "Paul Allen Project" could be built right now, but I do not think it would compete for a long time due to its cost relative to other payload delivery methods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pringle~SPARTA~ Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 Just wait until someone wants to strap a bomb to it. It'll get built then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathrus~SPARTA~ Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 HAHAHAHA! more correct than most would care to admit. You are correct, the military actually invests huge sums of money into all kinds of aircraft. Civilian aircraft programs typically benefit greatly from those military investments later. Sometimes civilians benefit immediately if its really good... and has no need to be classified. This designs and technologies developed are eventually released in some form through the defense contractors. It has really only been in the last 15 to 20 years I have seen private investment take on some very aggressive and therefore expensive and risky programs for aeronautics in general. It is good to see that growing. The more of that we can get, the faster we are going to get there. Since in all cases historically, on any kind of R&D program, the more teams you have working on it, the better. You end up with some fascinating designs that were not anticipated sometimes with many teams working on a project. Historically, only militaries had the capital necessary in most countries to even tackle some technological advancements in that manner. Crowd funding has changed the landscape in that regard I think. It allows a completely different approach to acquiring the funding necessary to push some advancements in technology forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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