Stratolaunch’s Roc, the world’s largest plane, aces 1st flight carrying hypersonic prototype
BY PGF
2 years ago
Stratolaunch is one step closer to a drop test of the Talon-A hypersonic prototype.
Stratolaunch, builder of the world’s largest airplane, flew a prototype of its planned air-launched Talon hypersonic vehicle for the first time on Friday (Oct. 28).
The massive Roc carrier plane, which has a wingspan longer than a football field, carried the test vehicle Talon-A (TA-0) into the sky above California’s Mojave Desert on a flight that proved Stratolaunch’s huge plane can indeed carry the experimental hypersonic vehicles it’s designed to launch from mid-air. Videos as the link.
Technical data and depth of information about this project are frustratingly sparse. But apparently, the craft isn’t powered by unicorn rainbow flavored candy wishes. One would think that Space.com wouldn’t be so shallow. Not everyone is a dumbed-down mindless drone.
Stratolaunch — the air-launch company founded by the late Seattle software billionaire Paul Allen — put a test version of its hypersonic vehicle through its first in-the-air trial today.
The Talon-A separation test vehicle, known as TA-0, stayed firmly attached to its Roc carrier airplane throughout today’s five-hour outing, which began and ended at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port. This was Roc’s eighth flight test, but the first to have a payload attached to a wing pylon centered between its twin fuselages. Roc rates as the world’s largest airplane, with a wingspan of 385 feet.
This time, Stratolaunch focused on measuring the aerodynamic loads on the Talon-A test vehicle while mated to Roc, in preparation for future tests that would involve releasing a functional, rocket-equipped Talon-A for hypersonic flight.
Roc reached a maximum altitude of 23,000 feet and a speed of 185 knots (213 mph) during the flight test, Stratolaunch CEO Zachary Krevor said.
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On November 1, 2022 at 12:24 am, Ned said:
Seems like a lot of aircraft for that tiny little launch vehicle.
On November 1, 2022 at 10:21 am, PGF said:
What is the mission/role of the hypersonic craft? They have a big giant flying thing, which I’m not against. And they have a little very fast flying thing, also not against. But for what purpose; how does this company intend to make money?
“Although this first version of Talon-A will not be powered in flight, its future iterations will be rocket-powered, autonomous, reusable testbeds carrying customizable payloads at speeds above Mach 5.”
Payloads for what? Is this a weapons platform, research vehicle, delivery vehicle, or what?
“The Talon-A testbed capability ultimately enables routine access to the hypersonic flight environment, which is critical for scientific research, technological development, and component demonstration.”
“We’re proud to reveal our first test vehicle to the public and our key stakeholders. TA-0 represents the immense progress our company has made toward hypersonic flight in a short period of time,” said Dr. Zachary Krevor, Chief Executive Officer and President at Stratolaunch. “Our pace of development parallels the nation’s critical need for hypersonic test capabilities, and we are putting forth every effort toward becoming a national test asset for our government and commercial customers in 2023.”
That doesn’t really explain much. I’ve worked around companies and people like this; absolutely under no circumstances can they iterate what it is that they do in a simple 3 sentence paragraph. Those companies never last long.
This helps: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/americas-hypersonic-weapons-programs-doomed-without-these-innovators-198049
On November 1, 2022 at 1:55 pm, Redman said:
Weren’t ‘they’ doing this kind of thing 50 years ago with a B-29 and Chuck Yeager? Reinventing the wheel again. Seems like with that boneyard of 747’s they could have pieced something together. 23k feet and 185 knots? Not very impressive. Must be some Gov’t $$ in here.
On November 1, 2022 at 7:41 pm, blake said:
I had the pleasure of seeing this airplane land. I was traveling East on Highway 58 and watched, and waited, and watched until, finally, wheels down. That aircraft has a very low landing speed. Not to mention it’s huge.