{"id":17340,"date":"2022-10-28T21:30:18","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T13:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/stratolaunch-flies-mammoth-airplane-with-separation-test-vehicle-hooked-onto-it\/"},"modified":"2022-10-28T21:30:18","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T13:30:18","slug":"stratolaunch-flies-mammoth-airplane-with-separation-test-vehicle-hooked-onto-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/stratolaunch-flies-mammoth-airplane-with-separation-test-vehicle-hooked-onto-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Stratolaunch flies mammoth airplane with separation test vehicle hooked onto it"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"351\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/221028-strato-630x351.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-732750\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/221028-strato-630x351.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/221028-strato-1260x703.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/221028-strato-768x428.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/221028-strato-1536x857.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/221028-strato.jpg 1671w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption>The triangular Talon-A separation test vehicle can be seen attached to a pylon between the fuselages of Stratolaunch\u2019s Roc aircraft after takeoff. (Stratolaunch via Twitter) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Stratolaunch \u2014 the air-launch company founded by the late Seattle software billionaire Paul Allen \u2014 put a test version of its hypersonic vehicle through its first in-the-air trial today.<\/p>\n<p>The Talon-A separation test vehicle, known as TA-0, stayed firmly attached to its Roc carrier airplane throughout today\u2019s five-hour outing, which began and ended at California\u2019s Mojave Air and Space Port. This was Roc\u2019s 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\u2019s largest airplane, with a wingspan of 385 feet.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Stratolaunch Talon-A Captive Carry Test Flight\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HmrgfT7P8cw?start=3012&amp;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWith each successful test milestone achieved, we have built confidence that the hardware will perform exactly as it was designed,\u201d Krevor said in a news release. \u201cIt\u2019s exhilarating to see the team\u2019s hard work come to life and see the vehicles fly as an integrated system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stratolaunch is planning additional captive-carry tests in the months ahead, culminating in a drop test of the TA-0 vehicle over the Pacific Ocean in December.<\/p>\n<p>The company is also proceeding with ground tests of its first hypersonic flight test vehicle, TA-1, and with fabrication of its first fully reusable hypersonic vehicles, TA-2 and TA-3. Stratolaunch aims to start delivering hypersonic test services to government and commercial customers next year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re very bullish about this company now,\u201d Krevor told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>Allen founded Stratolaunch in 2011 with the vision of creating a versatile launch system that could be based at any airport with a runway that\u2019s long enough. After the Microsoft co-founder\u2019s death in 2018, ownership of the company was transferred from Allen\u2019s Vulcan Inc. to Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm. Krevor said Allen and his legacy were \u201ccertainly always on our minds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re very appreciative of the decade of investment provided by Vulcan and the Vulcan estate, and really building upon an incredible set of accomplishments,\u201d he told GeekWire. \u201cSo we\u2019re proud to continue on and continue flying his vision, but also very excited to be working under the banner of our new owners, Cerberus Capital Management, and bringing forth this capability for our country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The triangular Talon-A separation test vehicle can be seen attached to a pylon between the fuselages of Stratolaunch\u2019s Roc aircraft after takeoff. (Stratolaunch via Twitter) Stratolaunch \u2014 the air-launch company founded by the late Seattle software billionaire Paul Allen \u2014 put a test version of its hypersonic vehicle through its first in-the-air trial today. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[39,4435,2489,4612],"class_list":["post-17340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-aerospace","tag-hypersonic-flight","tag-stratolaunch","tag-talon-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}