Hey, everyone. The man doesn't want to buy the company because it can count its bots. You would think an artificial intelligence guy would allow the machines to speak.
There is a plain view.
It was based on a dream. Paul Allen, the unspeakably wealthy co-owner of Microsoft, devoured books like the visionary rocketry tomes of science writer Willy Ley when he was a kid. The X-Prize was the first private venture to send a human into space, and was funded by Allen. He licensed the technology to Virgin Galactic, which built its own carrier vehicle to send Richard Branson into sub-orbital ecstasy. Allen decided to get back into the space business because he was frustrated with NASA's timidity. He retained the legendary aircraft engineer to design a giant carrier that could launch satellites. The plane's mission to lift its cargo to the heavens made it a spectacle in itself. I went to the Mojave desert to see the world's biggest airplane for myself.
After a third bout of the cancer that had plagued him for decades, Allen's space dream died as well. There are no plans for crossing the Karman line. It is now an unabashed defense contractor, specializing in what the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs called a new and destabilizing strategic weapon, hypersonic technology that propels programmed airborne craft at speeds of Mach 5 and above.
How that happened is explained here. Allen's holding company, which included sports teams and an artificial intelligence think tank, fell to his sister Jodie. She offered to sell her space venture for $400 million, far less than her brother's investment. It was not clear if there would be anyone interested in the world's biggest plane. Richard Branson jokingly offered a dollar, because he chronically underplays Allen's contribution to his own space venture.
The private equity firm named after the mythical three-headed dog who guards the gates of hell emerged as the buyer. The identity of the buyer of the sale was discovered by reporters after the sale was made. Maybe that was because Stephen Feinberg has some baggage. It once tried to create a personal weapons powerhouse called Freedom Group by acquiring arms makers like Bushmaster. After a mass murderer used a Bushmaster to kill 20 children and six teachers at Sandy Hook, the group tried to sell its assets to another company. Feinberg once joked that if any of his employees had their picture in the paper, he would kill them.
The private equity firm bulked up the workforce from 13 to more than 250 after buying the company. During the Allen era, these were considered as potential payloads, but they were secondary to satellite-launching and a possible manned vehicle called Black Ice. The advantages of using a carrier vehicle for hypersonic craft include being able to launch over the ocean, where the ear-crushing sonic boom wouldn't be so disruptive. Feinberg served as the head of the President's Intelligence Advisory board and was knowledgeable about the defense establishment. The Missile Defense Agency awarded a contract to Stratolaunch in December of 2021. The company is building its own missiles. After the test it will drop into the ocean. The second is a hypersonic vehicle that will retain key data after tests. The intent is to mimic the behavior of potential attack missiles. There is a future role for Stratolaunch in creating offensive hypersonic weapons.
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