Space firm founded by billionaire Paul Allen closing operations

[aresant]

This is on the heels of Stratolaunch deciding not to pursue the design and development of their own launch vehicle in January of this year.(1)

Instead they pivoted to customizing their massive airframe to launching Norththrop's Pegasus XL rockets.

Editorializing I'd guess that Paul Allen's estate pushed the company to figure out if there was a short term commercialization opportunity with Northrop, found there wasn't, and is cutting their losses.

Tough to be a space faring startup without a billionaire sponsor bankrolling you as a passion project.

(1) https://spacenews.com/stratolaunch-abandons-launch-vehicle-p...

[avmich]

We definitely need more billionaires interested in space. We need to inspire with space the "next" (heavily overlapping) generation, so those who'd succeed may have a chance to advance the space activities.

[dmix]

> Tough to be a space faring startup without a billionaire sponsor bankrolling you as a passion project.

I thought Allen still left quite a bit of money for his space projects?

This most likely was just a rational business choice based on their research and market testing. The parent company Vulcan Inc is still likely to continue.

[iscrewyou]

It used to be the government. When these individuals no longer want to do it, the government will step in again.

[jbuzbee]

They are denying it. Time will tell..

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/05/the-worlds-largest-a...

[dredmorbius]

"We don’t have any news or announcements to share at this time. Stratolaunch remains operational" is not an emphatic denial.

[hnjim]

I was excited to follow the original scaled composite work with Burt and spaceship one (winning the X Prize) but time has passed and stage reusability appears to be a better long term solution than a carrier solution. I think space ship 2 will meet a similar fate against blue origins approach with new Shepard and of SpaceX decides to sell space tourist spots in dragon 2. You need to try different approaches to find what works and the industry should be thankful for these experiments!

[soperj]

Figured this was going to happen when Paul died. Really too bad they didn't have another year or two.

[Animats]

And right after they got the big plane flying.

Maybe the museum up near Portland that has the Spruce Goose will take it.

[sonofhans]

That's the Evergreen Aviation museum in McMinnville, about an hour south of Portland. They have an SR-71, too. I make a pilgrimage once a year just to touch it :D

https://www.evergreenmuseum.org

[civilian]

Just on a tangent, it's amazing how huge the spruce goose is.

[bahmboo]

Paul's sister Jody running the joint now. She's probably more pragmatic than Paul was. Letting the craft go airborne was her homage to him and the team. But we have many players in this space doing better. Time to refocus

[nihil75]

spoken like a true bureaucrat

[neuronexmachina]

For a while I was convinced this project was actually a cover along the lines of the Howard Hughes Glomar Explorer. Maybe for deploying a variant of the X-37 to be able to launch/retrieve/bug satellites undetected. I guess that wasn't actually the case.

More about the Glomar Explorer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian

[deepnotderp]

It was a very interesting design, and I'm sad to see any space company go, but stratolaunch was honestly not a great idea for larger launch vehicles. The drag penalty reduction was most useful for smaller launch vehicles.

[aurizon]

'The Dream never dies, just the dreamer'... Allen was that rarest of all Unicorn fathers - no need for commercial justification - to a point. It was very saddening to see him pass. There may be a substantial tax hit? so his sister has to bring the dream to earth as well as make something carry on. Do a good job Jody, we all support you.

[nuccy]

I've just added Stratolaunch plane to the scheme with other giant planes so that it is easier to compare, see:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giant_planes_compari...

[avmich]

It's interesting that Russia (Soviet Union) produced a couple of big space rockets which flew very few times (N1 - four unsuccessful liftoffs, Energiya - two successful flights), and USA made a couple of big planes (Spruce Goose, Stratolaunch) which flew very few times (once each).

[ChuckMcM]

Interesting parallel to Howard Hughes and the Spruce Goose. An ambitious aircraft legacy. I hope the plane is not destroyed, it is a remarkable achievement.

[countryqt30]

Learning: Don't wait with your dreams until you die (or short before that).

[paulcole]

I’ve found it easier to just not have dreams.

[AmphibianTree]

Maybe we should all of our pollutant industries over to Io so at least it’ll be warm by the time we need it.

[_Microft]

That's what happens when someone's pouring their resources/time into a project without an existing business model. That does not need to be money or the space launch business. I have seen this with FOSS projects as well when the project lead/driving force left.

I'm a bit afraid that this might be Blue Origin's fate if Bezos suddenly died.

SpaceX would maybe be no longer be as ambitious anymore as it used to be if Musk went away but at least they're actually selling things and have a working business model. (TSLAQ hate crew objections incoming in 3..2..1.. ;)