Photo: Stratolaunch
And there you have it. After several years of hard work, the first test flight of what is to our knowledge America's first privately-developed hypersonic aircraft took place last week, opening the doors for a wealth of possibilities for both the military and civilian worlds.
The hypersonic aircraft that entered the history books is called Talon-A, or TA-1. It is the work of private company Stratolaunch, and over the past several months it has been at the center of attention for the American military.
The TA-1 is a hypersonic aircraft, meaning it is capable of flying at speeds that can reach Mach 5. That's at least 3,800 mph, or 6,100 kph. The machine does not have a pilot on board, it is not a weapon, and it is not a drone per se either.
The main purpose of the TA-1 (and its successors) is to give paying customers, from both the military and civilian worlds, a hypersonic platform that can help them test whatever payloads they need tested at these speeds.
The tech has such merits that America’s military included the aircraft in the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) program. That's a huge effort the U.S. is currently undertaking to advance its lead in hypersonic technologies.
Over the past several months the TA-1 was flown twice, but each time it did not leave the safety of its carrier plane to which is attached. The ROC, as the aircraft is known, is the world's largest operational aircraft in terms of size - 385 feet (117 meters) from wingtip to wingtip and about the size of a football field in length.
The Roc is used to carry the TA-1 to a set altitude where the hypersonic aircraft can be released and sent on its mission. That's exactly what happened over the past weekend when the test vehicle flew under its own power for the first time ever.
Described by Stratolaunch as “a major milestone in the development of the country's first privately funded, reusable hypersonic test capability,” the mission is pretty much a secret, as no details on location, altitude and speed reached will be shared with the public.
The company's reps do say that the aircraft reached speeds close to Mach 5 and generated a lot of data that is currently being analyzed. At first glance, the flight seems to have been a big success, with everything from the air-launch release to the controlled water landing going pretty much as planned.
The findings will be used to inform the flight of upcoming iterations of the Talon vehicle, the TA-2 and TA-3. A second carrier aircraft, the Boeing 747 known until not long ago as the Virgin Orbit Cosmic Girl, is also being transformed to be able to carry Talons (and it was also rechristened the Spirit of Mojave).
The TA-1 is a hypersonic aircraft, meaning it is capable of flying at speeds that can reach Mach 5. That's at least 3,800 mph, or 6,100 kph. The machine does not have a pilot on board, it is not a weapon, and it is not a drone per se either.
The main purpose of the TA-1 (and its successors) is to give paying customers, from both the military and civilian worlds, a hypersonic platform that can help them test whatever payloads they need tested at these speeds.
The tech has such merits that America’s military included the aircraft in the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) program. That's a huge effort the U.S. is currently undertaking to advance its lead in hypersonic technologies.
Over the past several months the TA-1 was flown twice, but each time it did not leave the safety of its carrier plane to which is attached. The ROC, as the aircraft is known, is the world's largest operational aircraft in terms of size - 385 feet (117 meters) from wingtip to wingtip and about the size of a football field in length.
The Roc is used to carry the TA-1 to a set altitude where the hypersonic aircraft can be released and sent on its mission. That's exactly what happened over the past weekend when the test vehicle flew under its own power for the first time ever.
Described by Stratolaunch as “a major milestone in the development of the country's first privately funded, reusable hypersonic test capability,” the mission is pretty much a secret, as no details on location, altitude and speed reached will be shared with the public.
The company's reps do say that the aircraft reached speeds close to Mach 5 and generated a lot of data that is currently being analyzed. At first glance, the flight seems to have been a big success, with everything from the air-launch release to the controlled water landing going pretty much as planned.
The findings will be used to inform the flight of upcoming iterations of the Talon vehicle, the TA-2 and TA-3. A second carrier aircraft, the Boeing 747 known until not long ago as the Virgin Orbit Cosmic Girl, is also being transformed to be able to carry Talons (and it was also rechristened the Spirit of Mojave).
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