World's Biggest Plane Roc Solid Test
Stratolaunch's Roc Carries a Hypersonic Vehicle to 23,000 Feet
Major Moves Toward Hypersonic Commercial Flying at Mach 6
The world's largest airplane, California-based Stratolaunch's Roc, with a wingspan longer than a football field, just aced a major test flight while carrying a hypersonic prototype plane. The success is important on a number of levels. It moves Stratolaunch, whose mission is to launch small, autonomous, rocket powered hypersonic vehicles from altitudes of 35,000 feet, closer to test flying its Talon A hypersonic vehicle. And it moves the world closer to hypersonic flying at speeds of Mach 6 and more. This will eventually include commercial passenger planes traveling at six times the speed of sound or 4,570 mph. That would enable passengers to fly long distance air travel at warp speeds.
Aviation Technologies Deployed
Roc is a highly sophisticated payload release system specifically designed to launch hypersonic vehicles. The double-fuselage plane is 238-feet long and powered by 6 Pratt & Whitney engines. The engines are PW 406 turbine engine "PowerPlants" with 3 turbofan engines mounted on pylons under each wing. Talon is a reusable, autonomous hypersonic test vehicle. It is designed to reach speeds of Mach 6 or six times the speed of sound. The prototype is 28 feet long at the current prototype stage.
Latest Test Flight's Importance
Roc's purpose is to launch hypersonic aircraft from midair and the late October test, from the Mojave Air & Space Port, proved that Roc could carry the hypersonic prototype. Talon was attached to a pylon. It was centered underneath the 385-foot wingspan. The test flight lasted 5 hours and hit an altitude of 23,000 feet. It met all of the test objectives. Stratolaunch's view of the flight is that it is a major step forward toward regular and reusable hypersonic flight.
Microsoft Founder Paul Allen
Stratolaunch was founded in 2011 by Microsoft Co-Founder, the late visionary Paul Allen. It is now owned by Cerberus Capital Management. They plan on continuing test flights of increasing magnitudes. They expect to launch a hypersonic vehicle in 2023 and after that to start delivering hypersonic flight services to government and commercial customers in 2023. For more news stories like this, The Future of Flying
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