The market niche for air launch is rapid response and single-orbit
rendezvous, but there's insufficient demand from USAF/USSF to support
the high fixed cost.
On 3/31/23 07:35, John Stoffel wrote:
It's been interesting how people keep thinking that the (potential)Inclined to agree - VO had an ultimately weak business case and the"Matthew" == Matthew JL <prmattjl@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
capex to support air launch probably made them extra vulnerable to
The Squeeze.
flexibility of air launch and being able to choose where the
inclination and site will work out best, just hasn't worked out.
747 for Virgin Orbit
L-1011 for Orbital Sciences
These are the only two currently to have made it. Stratolaunch is
still trying.
Just looks like the extra complexity isn't worth it, especially since
the size of the launcher airplane severely limits how large a rocket
you can launch.
