Elon Musk's idea is better. Can't land an airplane without a runway. Where's he going to land this plane at the ISS?
Not sure where they're headed. SpaceX was going to develop the rocket part that would be carried by this plane. That was shelved in 2012 due to economic reasons. Then Orbital Science was going to develop the rocket based on their 20 year old Pegasus XL. This new rocket dubbed Pegasus II was shelved in 2015 due to economic reasons. That left only the original Pegasus XL rocket. These guys say they will launch multiples of these per flight. I'm guessing this will wither on the vine due to economic reasons. Orbital Science is quite capable of launching Pegasus XL from their own modified L-1011 aircraft. The plane itself is cobbled together from 2 used 747s for engines and flight decks by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites. Unless Orbital Science vastly increases their business and needs Allen's plane due to volume, think it's likely to fly into history without launching anything. Maybe the Spruce Goose needs a mate.
The plane isn't going to space. It's acting like the first stage of a rocket. The payload it carries will be shot into space, but it isn't going anywhere close to space.
I got that. But, it still is no competition for SpaceX. This is why Elon Musk gave up on the "airplane" style rocket. https://www.theguardian.com/science...on-musk-outlines-mars-colonisation-plan-video
I wonder if private & government sponsoring/funding, working together, would make the construction of a permanent Lunar base a reality? Stable Moon bases would, should, make things easier regarding space missions. We could build a "staircase" to Mars, the Asteroid Belt, & beyond. The "stairs" being the ISS, & perhaps other future space stations, & Lunar bases.
No it would not. Permanent lunar bases would be a major diversion of effort from other deep space missions and would offer no advantages in refueling, vehicle construction or training.
It has gravity. This could be an advantage in construction. The moon has rich deposits of titanium (10x that of earth deposits) and other metals and gases. source
No, nor is it sitting in LEO. At least the moon has the advantage of material in a shallower gravity well. Whether this is advantageous over earth based construction depends on the economics of each. The economics are dependent on engineering. I can imagine the Chinese building factories on the moon before us.
No. But it is on Earth currently. Given that it would have to be lifted out of Earth's gravity well along with the support facilities and workers FIRST! It is very doubtful whether having the ore plentiful on the moon and in a shallower gravity well than Earths would be any significant advantage when those things are factored in.
The main competition for SpaceX is the United Launch Alliance. ULA is a bunch of traditional aerospace compa ies using very traditional tech and so their costs are very traditionally high. SpaceX and Allen's company are trying to find ways to bring down costs.
I can’t find a non-paywalled link, but apparently, someone’s bought the company and plans commercial flights next year.
This flight system, similar to VirginGalactic's, is inefficient and actually worse for the environment than traditional rocket launches.