{"id":18253,"date":"2018-12-01T21:45:46","date_gmt":"2018-12-01T13:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/on-the-fast-track-stratolaunch-says-its-rocket-engine-preburner-has-hit-full-power\/"},"modified":"2018-12-01T21:45:46","modified_gmt":"2018-12-01T13:45:46","slug":"on-the-fast-track-stratolaunch-says-its-rocket-engine-preburner-has-hit-full-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/on-the-fast-track-stratolaunch-says-its-rocket-engine-preburner-has-hit-full-power\/","title":{"rendered":"On the fast track: Stratolaunch says its rocket engine preburner has hit full power"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_465543\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-465543\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-465543\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181201-pga-630x354.jpg\" alt=\"PGA preburner hot-fire test\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181201-pga-630x354.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181201-pga-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181201-pga-1260x709.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/181201-pga.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-465543\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The preburner for Stratolaunch\u2019s PGA rocket engine blazes during a hot-fire test. (Stratolaunch via Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Chalk up another milestone for Stratolaunch Systems\u2019 rocket engine development effort: The Seattle-based space company founded by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen says it ramped up the preburner for its PGA rocket engine to full power this week during hot-fire tests.<\/p>\n<p>Stratolaunch\u2019s 3D-printed preburner, a key component that typically begins a rocket engine\u2019s combustion process, had its first hot firing less than a month ago at NASA\u2019s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. And just a year ago, the hardware was merely a twinkle in the eye of Stratolaunch\u2019s engineers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPer public records, this is the fastest preburner development in U.S. history,\u201d Hanna Steplewska Kubiak, Stratolaunch\u2019s vice president of business development, &nbsp;tweeted.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1068592743813853184&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2018%2Ffast-track-stratolaunch-says-rocket-engine-preburner-hit-full-power%2F&amp;sessionId=0fe69daa243739e8196c74116cbada8a8518e447&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1068592743813853184\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782802114221836057=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">#Stratolaunch made #history this week \ud83c\udfc6<\/p>\n<p>In 11 months, our team designed, built and tested the #PGAEngine preburner to full power. See a video of the testing here. pic.twitter.com\/e9Xw1KAQ9F<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Stratolaunch (@Stratolaunch) November 30, 2018<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Friday\u2019s progress report suggests that Stratolaunch is moving along quickly with development of the PGA, which takes its name from Paul G. Allen\u2019s initials. (The same initials are emblazoned on a patch that football players on the Allen-owned Seattle Seahawks have been wearing on their uniforms since Allen\u2019s death in October.)<\/p>\n<p>The firing shown in Stratolaunch\u2019s video clip lasted 19.6 seconds, and the duration of the burn is likely to be increased as the tests continue. Other components will have to be tested as well, eventually leading to full-scale hot-fire tests of the complete rocket engine.<\/p>\n<p>When completed, the hydrogen-oxygen engine should produce 200,000 pounds of liftoff thrust for a&nbsp;wide range of launch vehicles&nbsp;that Stratolaunch is developing in-house. The first in-house rocket, known as the Medium Launch Vehicle or MLV, is due to fly in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Stratolaunch is also working on the world\u2019s largest airplane at its facility at California\u2019s Mojave Air and Space Port. Flight tests of the twin-fuselage, 385-foot-wingspan plane are&nbsp;expected to begin soon, with the aim of using it as a platform for air-launched rockets by as soon as 2020. The first launches would make use of Northrop Grumman\u2019s Pegasus XL rockets rather than the PGA-powered MLV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The preburner for Stratolaunch\u2019s PGA rocket engine blazes during a hot-fire test. (Stratolaunch via Twitter) Chalk up another milestone for Stratolaunch Systems\u2019 rocket engine development effort: The Seattle-based space company founded by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen says it ramped up the preburner for its PGA rocket engine to full power this week during hot-fire [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5115,4405,2489],"class_list":["post-18253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-pga-rocket-engine","tag-propulsion","tag-stratolaunch"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18253"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18253\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}