Stratolaunch ends plan to build rockets for its giant Roc aircraft
Capitalism in space: Stratolaunch has decided to cease work on the family of second stage rockets plus engine, announced in August and September 2018, that would have launched from the bottom of its giant Roc airplane.
Instead, they will only launch Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus rockets from Roc.
This does not look good for the company. Roc is vastly oversized for Pegasus, which really doesn’t need it. It also suggests that the death of Paul Allen has had a bad effect on the company.
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Capitalism in space: Stratolaunch has decided to cease work on the family of second stage rockets plus engine, announced in August and September 2018, that would have launched from the bottom of its giant Roc airplane.
Instead, they will only launch Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus rockets from Roc.
This does not look good for the company. Roc is vastly oversized for Pegasus, which really doesn’t need it. It also suggests that the death of Paul Allen has had a bad effect on the company.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Hardly surprising. Air-launch is not that compelling. So now that Paul Allen died, there’s some rationalization happening.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they go out of business in a couple of years.
The Roc was never needed.
Especially once a re-usable first stage was developed. Space-X
All rockets of the Pegasus class could still be launched from the Stargazer aircraft.
The reason for for all this is just to place a satellite into orbit. Unless it needs to go up in an emergency inside a week then it can be planned ahead of time and catch a ride on a larger rocket for a smaller price.
Cost savings are not panning out as fast as catching a ride on a larger rocket and might never pan out.
I fail to see why Allen’s demise has had an impact – Stratolaunch was committed to the aircraft and building its own rockets long before his death. If there are different market conditions now that make those choices seem unwise, well, that’s the joy of running a business. What would Allen do differently than today’s management considering the financial and marketing projections they now have? As for Allen, Musk or anyone else being “essential”, I’ve always liked Charles DeGaulle’s (arguably France’s “essential” figure in the Twentieth Century) answer, “The graveyards of the world are filled with “indispensable” men”
“Something Even You Have Never Seen…”
Casablanca
https://youtu.be/BztF71vFpnE?t=82
3:51
If you run a non profitable businesses and your money man dies……..
Just continuously gathering investment capital does not count as profitable.