How do they even taxi this thing to the runway?

It literally looks like you have 6 feet on either side of the taxiway, what about trying to land this thing?!
 
Sure seems like there'd be a fair amount of torsion on that center wing.
 
More power to them! Way to go, Scaled Composites!
I realize the most ignorant person there has forgotten far more about aircraft design than I can imagine ever learning, but... doesn't this look like it really needs an additional connection between the fuselages? Either at the nose or tail?
 
Similar concept to the White Knight plane...

spaceshipone-3.jpg
 
What exactly are they planning to carry under that center section?
 
If it works (and with its pedigree I bet it does) it could revolutionize rocket launches. You use far less fuel launching from the stratosphere. Combine that with reusable rockets or space planes and the cost to get into orbit plunges.
 
So, in response to the OP "how do they even taxi this thing to the runway?" it looks like it was successfully taxi tested:

 
This is so weird. When trying to get to sleep like two nights ago, I got to wondering why NASA fired up the Apollo rockets from the ground. Thought to myself "couldn't they use a plane like some of those I've seen with two fuselages, and get much closer to the stratosphere, and launch much cheaper, and lighter"

I swear to god, I thought about asking it here on POA, and tried to think of the forces a rocket launch (downward) and other reasons why much smarter folks than me decided not to, that I'd just embarras myself asking, someone would point out some obvious flaw I overlooked, and just didn't.
I even toyed with the idea of some sort of catapult, or how the rocket could be mounted to the plane.

Two days later I read about this plane that will be launching satellites.
 
Main gear width is almost 150 feet. Won't fit on most runways. Won't fit on most taxiway/runway fillets. Challenging to accommodate.
 
LongRoadBob said:
This is so weird. When trying to get to sleep like two nights ago, I got to wondering why NASA fired up the Apollo rockets from the ground. Thought to myself "couldn't they use a plane like some of those I've seen with two fuselages, and get much closer to the stratosphere, and launch much cheaper, and lighter"
Click to expand...

Orbital ATK launches the Pegasus rocket from a mount on the belly of a L1011. It gets dropped, fires horizontally and curves up 10 miles off the nose of the launcher.


The limitation on the concept is how much rocket you can hang underneath an aircraft. The Stratolaunch is an attempt to address that point.
 
weilke said:
Orbital ATK launches the Pegasus rocket from aamouny on the belly of a L1011. It gets dropped, fires horizontally and curves up 10 miles off the nose of the launcher.


The limitation on the concept is how much rocket you can hang underneath an aircraft. The White Knight is an attempt to answer that.
Click to expand...
Years ago the Air Force tested launching a Peacemaker from a C-5. I bet that was a fun little evolution with CG shifting rather quickly...
 
Clark1961 said:
Years ago the Air Force tested launching a Peacemaker from a C-5. I bet that was a fun little evolution with CG shifting rather quickly...
Click to expand...

A version of the treadmill on a plane problem. Did they launch from the cargo compartment or was there an external mount like the Stargazer (Orbitals L1011) ?
 
Ken Ibold said:
Main gear width is almost 150 feet. Won't fit on most runways. Won't fit on most taxiway/runway fillets. Challenging to accommodate.
Click to expand...
Well, if it is a Scaled Composites product, it probably will never operate anywhere other than Mohave and those runways are long and wide.
 
weilke said:
A version of the treadmill on a plane problem. Did they launch from the cargo compartment or was there an external mount like the Stargazer (Orbitals L1011) ?
Click to expand...
Internal.
 
weilke said:
A version of the treadmill on a plane problem. Did they launch from the cargo compartment or was there an external mount like the Stargazer (Orbitals L1011) ?
Click to expand...


It was deployed from the rear cargo door in flight by drogue's and once vertical and clear of the aircraft the engines would start.
 
LongRoadBob said:
This is so weird. When trying to get to sleep like two nights ago, I got to wondering why NASA fired up the Apollo rockets from the ground. Thought to myself "couldn't they use a plane like some of those I've seen with two fuselages, and get much closer to the stratosphere, and launch much cheaper, and lighter"

I swear to god, I thought about asking it here on POA, and tried to think of the forces a rocket launch (downward) and other reasons why much smarter folks than me decided not to, that I'd just embarras myself asking, someone would point out some obvious flaw I overlooked, and just didn't.
I even toyed with the idea of some sort of catapult, or how the rocket could be mounted to the plane.

Two days later I read about this plane that will be launching satellites.
Click to expand...

I've wondered the same thing. Apparently you and I weren't the only ones.

Rich
 
About four times a year, the Missile Defense Agency pushes a ballistic missile target out of the back of a C-17. It descends on a parachute and then is released from the extraction pallet and ignites. The earliest versions used the upper stages of Minuteman missiles and now are using Orbital-ATK boosters.

https://www.mda.mil/video/FET-01_Public_Release_Video_web.mp4
 
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