Stratolaunch announces the completion of its sixth flight test of Roc, the world’s largest flying aircraft. The aircraft flew for 1 hour and 26 minutes over the Mojave Desert and reached an altitude of 15,000 feet (4572 m).
The sixth flight focused on continuing Roc’s flight envelope expansion with the recent addition of the pylon on the aircraft’s center wing. The pylon, comprised of a mini-wing and adapter, will be used to safely carry and release reusable, rocket-powered Talon-A hypersonic vehicles.
During the test program, the team encountered results that determined they would not complete the full set of test objectives. Therefore, the team focused on accomplishing:
Continued validation of the aircraft’s general performance and handling characteristics, with the addition of the recently installed pylon hardware
Continued validation of landing gear operations including door functionality, and alternate gear extension
“Today’s flight builds on previous successful flights and hardware enhancements,” said Dr. Zachary Krevor, Stratolaunch Chief Executive Officer and President. “We will leverage this flight experience as we complete integrated testing in the coming months and prepare for Talon-A test flights.”
The Stratolaunch team recently integrated the TA-0 separation test vehicle with the carrier aircraft for the first time, signaling a priority push toward captive carry and separation testing happening later this year. The team is also making steady progress on system integration its first hypersonic flight test vehicle, TA-1 and on the fabrication of a third vehicle, TA-2, the first fully reusable hypersonic test vehicle. The company anticipates delivering hypersonic flight services to government and commercial customers in 2023.
