World’s largest plane goes through initial tests

Earlier this year in May, the world’s largest aircraft was finally ready and preparations were underway for its tests. Recently, the aircraft successfully completed first of its tests.

Manufactured by a private spaceflight company Stratolaunch, all the rocket-launching aircraft’s huge turbofan engines were turned on and tested, which comprised three stages.

During the initial stage, a supplementary power source was used for charging the engines called a ‘dry motor’. Then a ‘wet motor’ was used for fueling those engines and finally, each engine was started separately, checking whether they can or cannot idle. All the engines performed successfully, reported The Verge.

Capable of carrying payloads of almost 550,000 pounds, the company aims to use the behemoth aircraft as a launch platform. It is designed in such a way that it can carry rockets that will be attached under the wing connecting the two fuselages. As soon as the plane reaches a particular altitude, the rocket will detach and ignite its own engine and move up into space.

According to New Atlas, the project has been in development for almost seven years and these tests are now a step towards the plane’s advancement.

However, the aircraft has just been rolled out of its massive hanger and there are still a lot of tests to do before it can actually start flying. “Over the next few months, we will continue to test the aircraft’s engines at higher power levels and varying configurations, culminating to the start of taxi tests,” the company said.