Posted on 04/01/2020 10:08:36 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Stratolaunch's website now reveals that the company has reinvented itself as a builder, tester and operator of hypersonic vehicles — those that can travel at least five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5.
The huge plane is key to this new mission, hauling vehicles aloft to test various payloads in the extreme environments imposed by hypersonic flight. Those vehicles will include Stratolaunch's Talon-A, a 28-foot-long (8.5 m), 6,000-lb. (2,722 kilograms) reusable craft capable of reaching Mach 6.
The huge dual-fuselage plane — which used to be called Roc, but is now apparently known as the Stratolaunch Carrier — will be able to haul three Talon-As aloft at a time, allowing the collection of lots of data, company representatives said.
Talon-A isn't the end of the envisioned road for Stratolaunch, however. The company is also developing the Talon-Z, about which it divulges little on the website, and another vehicle called Black Ice, which could end up flying some very interesting and ambitious missions, if everything goes according to Stratolaunch's plan.
"Black Ice is a fully reusable space plane that enables advanced on-orbit capabilities and cargo return," the company's website reads. "Initial designs optimized for cargo launch, with a follow-on variant capable of transporting crew."
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
That beam holding the 2 halves together, worries me at Mach 6 or even close to that speed.
My favorite plane of all time.
Yeah the tails joined would offer a bit more assurance.
Saw it a number of times at air shows. Loudest engines by far.
You got that right! As is, it looks very flimsy.
Just refueled on the tarmac, it leaks fuel in several places. When it gets to speed, the skin expands from heat/air friction, and seals itself. Needs refueling from that fuel loss on its journey. It must nearly fall out of the sky, loping along with a KC Tanker, until its tanks are full again.
I saw them take off from Homestead AFB, just south of Miami, back in the mid-70s. State Police had highway blocked-off for miles in each direction, but we got close enough to see it clearly, thanks to a Trooper friend.
No, Your post at #8 — that is the subject of the article. I don’t know if your pic is that first day but it looks like it. I was on that Mojave remote highway and they were just rolling it out. I pulled off the side and that night read up on Paul Allen’s involvement.
The twin fuselage large carrier craft doesn’t break the sound barrier, the three craft it carries to the upper atmosphere are the high speed ships that break the surly bonds with that escape velocity off the high launch give by the carrier craft.
THAT makes sense. Thanks.
OK Thank You. Some days get fuzzy for Me. That’s still cool.
One of the things I like best is that the Ruskies donated all that Titanium for the project. The only thing that would have been more hilarious would be if We had traded Wheat for it.
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