Microsoft co-founder's space firm unveils rocket, space plane plans

The space company of billionaireMicrosoft co-founder Paul Allen on Monday unveiled details ofmedium-lift rockets and a reusable space cargo plane it isdeveloping, injecting more competition into the lucrative launchservices market.

With its rockets, Allen's Stratolaunch Systems Corp istrying to cash in on higher demand in the coming years forvessels that can put satellites into orbit. But his vehicleswill have to compete domestically with other space entrepreneursand industry stalwarts such as Elon Musk's SpaceX and UnitedLaunch Alliance a partnership between Boeing andLockheed Martin.

Seattle-based Stratolaunch, founded by Allen in 2011, saidin a news release its launch vehicles will make satellitedeployment "as easy as booking an airline flight," though thefirst rocket launch is not slated until 2020 at the earliest andthe massive airplane it is building to deploy the rockets isstill in pre-flight testing.

Rather than blasting off from a launch pad, Stratolaunch'srockets will drop at high altitude from underneath the company'ssix-engine, twin-fuselage airplane the largest ever built bywingspan.

That launch method is similar to the one being developed bybillionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

Stratolaunch's plane is designed to carry a rocket andpayload with a combined weight of up to 250,000kilograms(550,000 pounds), on par with what a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket can launch fromthe ground.

Timing is everything

Around 800 small satellites are expected to launch annuallybeginning around 2020, more than double the annual average overthe past decade, according to Teal Group space analyst MarcoCaceres.

Stratolaunch announced plans for the plane years ago withthe goal of flying Northrop Grumman Corp's small-payloadPegasus rocket in 2020, and some in the aerospace industryexpected Stratolaunch to eventually make its own rockets afterpartnerships with other manufacturers fell through.

Stratolaunch said its new medium-lift rocket with a capacityof about 3,400 kilograms(7,500 pounds) would fly as early as 2022. Itsaid it was in the early stages of developing a variant with apayload capacity of 6,000 kg. It made no mention of launchcustomers and declined to say how much it would cost to developits space vehicles.

Stratolaunch acknowledged it was designing a reusable spaceplane to carry cargo to and from Earth and a follow-on variantcould carry people.