Posted on 06/17/2022 8:47:00 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Stratolaunch Roc plane in action during testing - Stratolaunch
The world's largest flying aircraft has reached new heights, with Stratolaunch today completing the seventh test flight of its gigantic Roc carrier plane and logging a record altitude for the huge aircraft in the process. The exercise was also used to test the in-flight performance of recently installed pylon hardware, which will launch smaller hypersonic aircraft from altitude and send them across the skies at speeds of over Mach 5.
California's Stratolaunch originally designed Roc to carry rockets and satellites into the stratosphere from where they would then be fired into low-Earth orbit. A recent shift in strategy has seen the massive plane, which features six Boeing 747 engines, two side-by-side fuselages and a wingspan of 385 ft (117 m), repurposed as a carrier for hypersonic research vehicles.
In 2020, the company offered a first look at what these vehicles will look like, revealing a concept called the Talon-A. It is designed for swift and repeatable hypersonic flights with an ability to take off and land itself on a runway, in addition to being launched from the Roc carrier aircraft. The company unveiled a test version of this hypersonic vehicle last moth, called the TA-O.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
Aviation Ping!......................
Guessing there’s very few landing strips that can handle that beast.
“the massive plane, which features six Boeing 747 engines...”
What....not battery powered????
The green weenies gonna get the vapors.
Is it necessary? It’s like men getting pregnant. Is there really a need?
Spruce Goose aint got nothing on the Roc.
5.56mm
Imagine a catapult launch in that thing!
It has a purpose: to launch rockets from higher altitudes.
I can’t decide if I like it or not. I guess I’ll just wait for more updates on it.
‘Face
;o]
The Talon-A measures 28 ft long (8.5 m) with a wingspan of 11.3 ft (3.4 m) and has a total weight of 6,000 pounds (2,722 kg). Stratolaunch says the aircraft will be capable of autonomous take-off from a conventional runway, hitting Mach 6 speeds on long-duration flights, and then landing autonomously on the runway once the mission is complete.
No for ‘carriers’ it IS a ‘carrier’! It is for transporting LARGE stuff like rockets and cranes.
It is named for a giant mythological bird from “The Arabian Nights” stories that could pick off elephants................
Time to take your meds
It always reminds me of a couple of Greek guys dancing.
Opa! Opa!
They mean mail carrier. For all the fake ballots the dems are going to need for drop box stuffing in November.
I think it carries carriers
Lol.
Look at that serious angle of flap deployment.
Siamese jet Ying and Yang🤪
12,000 feet required. 385’ wingspan
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