{"id":18312,"date":"2018-10-16T21:00:17","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T13:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/paul-allens-passing-leaves-unfinished-business-on-stratolaunchs-space-frontier\/"},"modified":"2018-10-16T21:00:17","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T13:00:17","slug":"paul-allens-passing-leaves-unfinished-business-on-stratolaunchs-space-frontier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/paul-allens-passing-leaves-unfinished-business-on-stratolaunchs-space-frontier\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Allen\u2019s passing leaves unfinished business on Stratolaunch\u2019s space frontier"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_316461\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-316461\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-316461\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170309-stratolaunch-allen-630x420.jpg\" alt=\"Paul Allen and Stratolaunch\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170309-stratolaunch-allen-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170309-stratolaunch-allen-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170309-stratolaunch-allen-1240x826.jpg 1240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-316461\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Allen stands on the wing of the giant Stratolaunch plane during a March 2017 tour of the hangar in Mojave, Calif., where the craft was being assembled. The plane\u2019s tail is in the background. (Paul Allen via Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Seattle billionaire philanthropist Paul Allen\u2019s death comes just as his Stratolaunch space venture is counting down to the first flight of the world\u2019s biggest airplane \u2014 and lifting the veil on a wide range of space applications.<\/p>\n<p>Now it\u2019s up to the Stratolaunch team to make good on the high-flyingest idea from the self-described \u201cIdea Man,\u201d who succumbed to non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma at the age of 65.<\/p>\n<p>Heading that team is President and CEO Jean Floyd, who spent decades as a manager and executive at Orbital Sciences Corp. (now part of Northrop Grumman) before joining the venture in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Like many of the other executives in Allen\u2019s wide-ranging operation, Floyd confined his comments about his boss\u2019 death to a Twitter tribute: \u201cWe deeply respect and admire Mr. Allen\u2019s vision. His legacy will be honored,\u201d Floyd wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Just a week earlier, Floyd was tweeting about a happier subject: a revved-up series of taxi tests that sent Stratolaunch\u2019s 385-foot-wide, twin-fuselage plane down Mojave\u2019s runway at speeds as fast as 80 mph. Additional rounds of taxi tests are expected in the weeks ahead, setting the stage for the maiden flight.<\/p>\n<p>Stratolaunch expects to get the plane certified for air-launch operations after 18 months to two years\u2019 worth of flight tests, .<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Low-Speed Taxi Test\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-AY-HC4sUGU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The concept is a scaled-up version of the SpaceShipOne launch system that won the Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight in 2004, thanks to $28 million in backing from Allen. It calls for the plane to fly up to an altitude of about 30,000 feet, then release a rocket from its underbelly. Seconds after the drop, the rocket lights up its engine and ascends into space.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the unique things about Stratolaunch is that it doesn\u2019t require a fixed launch pad,\u201d Allen told GeekWire last year. \u201cYou can imagine systems that are very flexible for missions where you want to launch satellites at different orbits, from different angles. \u2026&nbsp;Then there\u2019s the fact that just doing an air launch gives you an advantage of probably 30 percent in performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Just in the past couple of months, Stratolaunch\u2019s executives and engineers have revealed the outlines of Allen\u2019s space vision&nbsp;\u2014 a grand plan that includes the development of a new type of rocket engine, a whole family of launch vehicles including a crew-carrying space plane, a partnership to create new space outposts, and a hypersonic testbed with obvious military applications.<\/p>\n<p>One of the big mysteries surrounding Stratolaunch has to do with its customers: The venture\u2019s timeline for launches in the early 2020s is similar to the schedule laid out by another billionaire-backed space effort, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin venture. But Blue Origin has announced several launch deals, while Stratolaunch hasn\u2019t announced any.<\/p>\n<p>Stratolaunch\u2019s initial target customers may still be in wait-and-see mode, in stealth mode, or in a combination of both modes.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s worth noting that the air-launch system\u2019s&nbsp;versatility could address the U.S. national security community\u2019s need for rapid-response launches in the years ahead. That potential synergy came into the spotlight a year ago when Vice President Mike Pence and his entourage visited Stratolaunch\u2019s hangar in Mojave<\/p>\n<p>Just after the visit, Floyd said&nbsp;he and Pence discussed \u201chow NASA and the Department of Defense can utilize small satellites and small launch capabilities for flexible, rapid deployments and stronger resiliency in space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m encouraged by the positive response we continue to receive from our public officials,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Paul G. Allen (1953-2018)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-ucdd5QpuJE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>As Stratolaunch\u2019s leaders follow through on Allen\u2019s space vision, might they pay special tribute to the venture\u2019s founder? There\u2019s precedent for that.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceShipOne\u2019s designer, Burt Rutan, had some of his mother\u2019s ashes flown aboard the rocket plane during one of its prize-winning flights in 2004, and it\u2019s not hard to imagine that Stratolaunch might do something similar. When Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson then licensed SpaceShipOne\u2019s technology from Allen for the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, he named its mothership after his own mother, Eve Branson. It\u2019s not hard to imagine that Stratolaunch might follow the model set by the VMS Eve, and call its giant plane the \u201cMS Paul Allen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The biggest tribute may well lie in knowing that Paul Allen blazed the trail for the personal spaceflight era in the 21st century, just as he blazed the trail for the personal computer era at Microsoft in the 1970s. And the biggest tragedy may well be that he passed away just as the new commercial space age was finally coming into its own.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of our pioneers in the commercial spaceflight industry have arisen just in the last 10 or 15 years,\u201d Eric Stallmer, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Foundation, told GeekWire today. \u201cIt\u2019s a setback. It makes you pause a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Update for 10:50 a.m. PT Oct. 18:<\/strong> Phil Larson was a space policy adviser in the Obama White House and a spokesman for SpaceX, and now serves as&nbsp;assistant dean and chief of staff at the University of Colorado-Boulder\u2019s College of Engineering and Applied Science. Here\u2019s what he had to say about Stratolaunch\u2019s plans for future flights:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s such an exciting time in many different facets of space launch and exploration. When that mammoth plane takes off, it will signal another new space project getting off the ground. That means potential new capabilities for our nation and new possibilities in space. While it\u2019s heartbreaking Mr. Allen won\u2019t be able to see the progress Stratolaunch has and will continue to make, it\u2019s heartening that his legacy will live on in helping humanity push the bounds of exploration and discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paul Allen stands on the wing of the giant Stratolaunch plane during a March 2017 tour of the hangar in Mojave, Calif., where the craft was being assembled. The plane\u2019s tail is in the background. (Paul Allen via Twitter) Seattle billionaire philanthropist Paul Allen\u2019s death comes just as his Stratolaunch space venture is counting down [&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":[291,2672,2489],"class_list":["post-18312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial-space","tag-paul-allen","tag-stratolaunch"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18312"}],"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=18312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}