Stratolaunch Systems
Space Exploration Merit Badge Supplementals
(created Mon., Apr. 15, 2019; updated Thr. Mar. 15 2018)
This is an extension of
the Space Exploration Merit Badge page.
This page is a supplement to the Boy Scout Space Exploration Merit Badge. None of the information is needed to complete the merit badge. The page exists solely to provide additional insights about all that is exciting about the exploring the universe beyond our planet, in person and through unmanned spacecraft.
The purpose of this page is to provide more information about Stratolaunch.
Company website: https://www.stratolaunch.com
In 2004, SpaceShip One ushered in the age of passenger space travel... twice in two weeks it flew higher than the Karman Line, which is the 62-mile / 100-kilometer altitude that is the generally viewed altitude where space begins.
The X-Prize was won by the team that was led by Burt Rutan, and was financially backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
SpaceShip One was piloted by Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie to win the Ansari X-Prize in 2004.
SpaceShip One was a rocket that was carried aloft by its “mother ship” “White Knight,” which dropped SpaceShip from its “belly” at 45,000 feet, letting SpaceShip One separate, then ignite its engine and soar to 60 miles (100 kilometers) / 300,000 feet in altitude.
StratoLaunch Systems is the company started by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, to take the White Knight “mother ship” concept and increase the size to lift large payloads into orbit.
The company started in 2010.
“Paul G. Allen founded Stratolaunch to get game-changing ideas off the ground by making space launch more reliable, affordable and accessible than ever before. From uncovering better climate data to protecting endangered species to solving humanitarian challenges, the potential benefits of data collected from satellites are world-altering.
It’s these possibilities that drove us to develop the world’s largest plane, which acts as a launch pad in the sky, bypassing many of the hazards that cause ground-launch delays here on Earth. From our base of operations at Mojave Air & Space Port, we’re creating a world where booking a satellite launch is as routine and convenient as booking a plane ticket. So more people — across more industries — can see their big ideas take flight.
With Stratolaunch, the most exciting thing about space is how amazingly close it is.“
Source: https://www.stratolaunch.com/who-we-are/
Stratolaunch Systems has since created the world’s largest aircraft, the StratoLaunch, with a 385-foot wingspan... longer than the Saturn V rocket is / was tall!
image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratolaunch_Systems
The Stratolaunch first flew on Saturday April 13, 2019.
What are some of the current companies working to launch space missions?
Helpful resources to determine the answer include:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_private_spaceflight_companies
image source: https://www.stratolaunch.com/news-and-features/galleries/
Some of many videos capturing the maiden flight of the StratoLaunch on Saturday, April 13, 2019:
-
- “Stratolauch Systems. A Paul G. Allen Project.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87erZMhr5F4 -
-“Stratolaunch First Flight”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFHAz4AG-no -
-“Stratolaunch Flies World’s Largest Plane for the First Time”
https://www.space.com/stratolaunch-flies-worlds-largest-plane-first-time.html
These are all of the links to the Astronomy Merit Badge pages:
Astronomy Merit Badge - Extra “Fun Facts”
Astronomy - Great American Eclipse
Astronomy - Great American Eclipse 2017
These are all of the links to the Space Exploration Merit Badge pages:
New Horizons - Mission Overview
New Horizons - Pluto Resources
All images were scanned directly from the magazine using the Halo Scanner Mouse - http://shop.halo2cloud.com/collections/computer-and-backup/products/scanner-mouse, which I received as a Christmas present from my mother in 2013.
Regardless your desire to pursue a career in space exploration, it is hoped that you learned enough about exploring space through this merit badge to at least be interested to continuously look up at the sky in awe and wonder, and think about what you may want to explore if you were to go “out there” or were to send a probe “out there.”
If you pursue with enthusiastic interest, that’s great. If you do make a career in the field, GREAT.
May all be better off having completed your Space Exploration Merit Badge than you were before you started.
