World's largest aircraft carries supersonic vehicle for first time

The US Roc, the world's largest aircraft by wingspan, successfully carried an experimental hypersonic vehicle equipped with a Talon-A engine under its fuselage.

The Roc aircraft flies with the TA-1 hypersonic test vehicle on December 3 in California. Photo: Stratolaunch

The world’s largest aircraft took off last weekend with a new payload under its massive wingspan. Stratolaunch’s Roc cargo plane conducted its first flight carrying another vehicle on December 3, according to Space . The main goal was to evaluate the propulsion system of Stratolaunch’s first experimental hypersonic autonomous vehicle, the Talon-A, or TA-1, and see how it would react during transport.

“The Talon-A propulsion system supports the liquid-fueled rocket engine that provides the thrust needed to reach hypersonic speeds,” said Zachary Krevor, CEO of Stratolaunch. “While we have successfully conducted several ground tests to fuel and fire the system, we need to evaluate how the system performs in the air before separating. Initial flight results indicate that the system performed as predicted, and we will determine next steps after reviewing the full test data.”

The TA-1 hypersonic test vehicle in close-up. Photo: Stratolaunch

The latest flight was the 12th for the Roc, which has a 375-foot wingspan. The massive twin-body aircraft flew earlier this year in May, performing its first drop test with a Talon prototype. The Roc was airborne for three hours and 22 minutes on December 3, after taking off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in Southern California. The TA-1 was attached to the bottom of the transport aircraft from takeoff to landing.

Stratolaunch was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2011. The original goal was to launch rockets from high altitudes into the Earth’s atmosphere, similar to Virgin Galactic’s passenger-carrying WhiteKnightTwo and VSS Unity. But in 2019, a year after Allen’s death, the company focused on using the Roc as a platform for hypersonic vehicle research and development. The reusable Talon-A will be Stratolaunch’s first hypersonic vehicle.

An Khang (According to Space )

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