Stratolaunch Conducts Successful Captive Carry Test Flight

The company said it is on track to perform its first hypersonic flight this year.

Monday, April 03, 2023 at 05:37 PM ET

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Stratolaunch's Roc launch aircraft takes off from Mojave Air and Space Port on its tenth flight and third captive carry with the Talon-A separation test vehicle, TA-1, on April 1, 2023. [Credit: Stratolaunch/Matt Hartman]

Key Takeaways:

Stratolaunch's Roc, the world's largest wingspan airplane, successfully completed its 10th flight and 3rd captive carry test with the Talon-A hypersonic separation vehicle.
The five-hour flight collected data on separation profiles, telemetry, and communication to validate Roc's sophisticated payload release system.
This test builds confidence and reduces risks for the upcoming first release test of the Talon-A (TA-0), which is crucial for Stratolaunch's mission to launch autonomous, rocket-powered hypersonic testbeds.

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Stratolaunch’s Roc, the airplane with the world’s largest wingspan, successfully conducted a captive carry test flight with the Talon-A separation vehicle Saturday.

The Talon-A is a reusable autonomous hypersonic testbed vehicle. It is critical to the mission of the 238-foot-long turbofan-powered Roc launch platform and will be used to test and validate the aircraft’s sophisticated payload release system.