Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Paul G. Allen Sets Sight On Space

Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen is rejoining the ranks of Seattle's starry eyed tech billionaires, and is funding a new startup to launch cargo payloads into orbit. Allen said today that he has created Stratolaunch, a new startup developing a launch system to boost unmanned payloads into space. Stratolaunch said it will create the "largest aircraft ever flown" to launch payloads into space, using technology from Scaled Composites, the aircraft design firm headed by Burt Rutan and which designed SpaceShipOne, the first commercial aircraft to reach space, as well as rockets from fellow tech mogul Elon Musk and his firm SpaceX. Stratolaunch said it will use six 747 engines to boost orbital payloads into space, operating from a large aircraft or spaceport like Kennedy Space Center. Allen is not the only local mogul with his interest in space: Amazon's Jeff Bezos has his own spaceflight venture, Blue Origin, and fellow Microsoft billionaire Charles Simonyi is known for two trips to the International Space Station as a space tourist. Allen funded Burt Rutan's original effort to build SpaceShipOne.