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.
The five-hour April 1 flight marked the 10th flight of Roc and the third captive carry flight for the separation vehicle. During the flight, the company practiced a variety of separation profiles and confirmed telemetry between Roc and the Talon-A vehicles and communication assets at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, it said.
“This third captive carry accomplished data collection and verification of hardware that further builds confidence and reduces risks for our upcoming release test of our separation vehicle, known as TA-0,” Dr. Zachary Krevor, chief executive officer for Stratolaunch, said in a statement. “The team also practiced the release sequence, enabling us to collect important data regarding how the Stratolaunch Talon Launch System performs during this dynamic phase of flight.”
In January, the company conducted a six-hour captive carry flight that reached a maximum altitude of 22,500 feet.
Roc features six Pratt & Whitney PW4056 turbine powerplants, three mounted on pylons under each wing. The Talon-A testbeds are designed to attach to its 8,000-pound central pylon, which hangs from the airplane’s 95-foot center wing section, between its enormous twin fuselages.
Stratolaunch’s business model calls for it to launch small, autonomous, rocket-powered, hypersonic testbeds from altitudes around 35,000 feet.
