Stratolaunch: World՚s Largest Aircraft Passed Engine Tests
Details on the Plane
World՚s largest aircraft with two fuselages and wingspan measuring 118 m- wider than a football field.
Weighs 227,000 kg when empty and unfueled.
Will have a maximum takeoff weight of 1.3 million pounds.
Fitted with six 747 turbofan engines.
Carry nearly 250,000 kg between the two fuselages and hold more than 113,000 kg of fuel.
Has operational range of approximately 2,000 nautical miles
Launch Platform for Rockets
Stratolaunch plane is designed for runway-style takeoff as a launch platform for carrying rockets, which attach underneath the wing connecting the two fuselages.
Normally at cruising altitude of 11,000 metres, it will detach rockets carrying small satellites into low-Earth orbit.
Capable of delivering payloads to multiple orbits and inclinations in a single mission.
This will be cheaper than launching the rocket directly from Earth, as the usual traditional launch vehicles cannot be reused.
Starting Small
Stratolaunch signed a deal last year to launch Orbital ATK՚s Pegasus XL rocket.
Designed to launch from the air, Pegasus is a small rocket, capable of launching satellites weighing up to 1,000 pounds from a much smaller plane than the Stratolaunch one.
NASA՚s Osiris-Rex Spacecraft Swings by Earth Towards Asteroid Bennu
NASA՚s asteroid observation spacecraft Osiris-Rex successfully swung by Earth putting it on desired trajectory towards near earth asteroid Bennu using Earth՚s gravity.
Passed within 17,237 km from Earth above Antarctica.
Osiris-Rex՚s science instruments were also tested by scanning Earth and moon for its operations at Bennu.
What is OSIRIS-Rex?
The OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, and Regolith Explorer) was launched in September 2016 for studying 101955 Bennu, a carbonaceous asteroid.
NASA՚s first asteroid sampling mission with Japan already visiting an asteroid.
OSIRIS-Rex Mission
Spacecraft reaches small, round asteroid in 2018 returning to Earth some of its gravels by 2023.
Intends to bring back 2 ounces of dust using robotic arm without landing just by hovering using nitrogen gas thruster.
101955 Bennu
Near-Earth carbonaceous asteroid size of a small mountain in the Apollo group.
Discovered in September 1999 by the LINEAR Project.
Apollo asteroids are a group of asteroids near Earth named after 1862 Apollo.
They are Earth crossing asteroids with orbital semi-major axis greater than that of the Earth (> 1 AU) but perihelion distances less than the Earth՚s aphelion distance.
Significance of Mission
Bennu asteroid might provide clues to origin of solar system and life
It might point to the source of water and organic molecules found on Earth.
Asteroids are believed to be the source of metals and minerals in future- with many companies eying extra-terrestrial mining operations.