Roc, the world’s largest airplane, took to the skies with a hypersonic drone (photo)
On December 3, the world’s largest aircraft, Stratolaunch’s Roc, made its maiden flight with a new type of payload: the Stratolaunch Talon-A hypersonic test drone.
The company said in a statement.
According to the company, the main purpose of the flight was to evaluate the Stratolaunch Talon-A (TA-1) propulsion system and, more generally, to see how it behaves in flight.
Sunday’s flight was the 12th in a row for Roc, which has a wingspan of 117 meters. The last time the huge twin-body aircraft flew was in May this year, when it conducted the first-ever crash test with the Talon prototype.
During Sunday’s flight, the Roc stayed in the air for 3 hours and 22 minutes after taking off from Mojave Airfield in Southern California. The TA-1 remained attached to the carrier aircraft from launch to landing.
Stratolaunch was founded by Microsoft’s Paul Allen in 2011. The initial goal was to launch rockets from the air high in the Earth’s atmosphere, much like Virgin Galactic sends tourists into space with its WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane and VSS Unity space liner.
But in 2019, a year after Allen’s death, the company’s focus changed: it now intends to use Roc as a platform for hypersonic research and development.
The Talon-A reusable spacecraft will be the first in the Stratolaunch line of hypersonic vehicles. The company has already found several customers for its hypersonic services. Last week, it announced the signing of a contract with Leidos, the prime contractor for the US Navy’s Multi-Service Advanced Capabilities Testbed (MACH-TB). The agreement funds five hypersonic flights with Talon-A vehicles.
