Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science

Rutan's X Prize design?

I wish I had a way to post the photo here. It's currently on the AOPA member's only website. This is perhaps the strangest design I've ever seen (Rutan couldn't design a normal looking plane but who would want him to?).

The plane is a twin-engine jet with the engines mounted above and behind the central crew compartment. It doesn't appear to have a conventional windshield. Instead, it has a series of small circular windows in the crew compartment. It has twin outrigger fuselages, each sporting a T tail, a nose wheel mounted at the end of a long point, and retractable main gear. Judging from the people standing around it, I'd guess the engines are probably in the 5000 to 10,000 pound thrust class. The picture is an oblique shot so it's hard to determine the wingspan. I'd guess it's somewhere between 50 and 80 feet.

Rutan had written earlier about carrying the rocket portion of the X-Prize vehicle underneath an airplane to a high altitude. This looks like his mother ship. His earlier Proteus design was thought to be the mothership.

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (12 posts)