SATELLITE LAUNCHER

STRATOLAUNCH is an ambitious project spearheaded by Microsoft co-founder and business magnate Paul Allen. Equipped with six Boeing 747 engines the aircraft designed, built and hand-assembled by a team of 300 engineers and fabricators is the largest in the world by wingspan, measuring more than 117 metres from tip to tip. Allen plans to use the Stratolaunch as an airborne rocket launcher. Instead of taking off from a launchpad, which requires lots of fuel, Stratolaunch will give rockets a head start by first carrying them up into low-Earth orbit. The company has partnered with Orbital ATK to “air launch” the company’s Pegasus XL, a rocket capable of delivering small satellites. Currently undergoing fueling tests at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port, the aircraft is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of the decade.