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World's largest plane soars to its highest altitude yet
https://newatlas.com ^ | 16 June, 2022 | By Nick Lavars

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; History; Society; Travel
KEYWORDS: aviation; roc; stratolaunch
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To: Magnum44

Yes. I don’t know much about planes, but that one is ugly.


41 posted on 06/17/2022 10:26:42 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: I-ambush

Monty Python’s Three-headed Giant?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxRkHXisdzU


42 posted on 06/17/2022 10:29:12 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (Rush, we're missing your take on all of this!)
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To: Magnum44
That is one ugly airplane.

What it launches isn't ugly.

43 posted on 06/17/2022 10:40:27 AM PDT by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: DIRTYSECRET

“Is there really a need?”

The US, and the world, has been working with hypersonic vehicles since before WW II. A hypersonic vehicle is defined as being able to travel in excess of mach 5. Even the German V2’s in WW II were hypersonic at 3800 MPH.

So the need I see is the launching of weapons. The leaders in this field right now are the US, Russia, and China. And China since the 1990’s has become a concern with Clinton, Hughes, and Loral giving them the MRV, their targeting capacity has greatly improved.

wy69


44 posted on 06/17/2022 10:41:37 AM PDT by whitney69
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To: 17th Miss Regt

🤦‍♂️👌................................


45 posted on 06/17/2022 10:55:24 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: 17th Miss Regt

The plane would stay still and the ship would be launched backward.


46 posted on 06/17/2022 11:00:16 AM PDT by Onelifetogive
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To: 17th Miss Regt

You should see the elevator that takes it down to the lower decks!


47 posted on 06/17/2022 11:02:08 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (Wanting to make America great isn’t an insult unless you’re trying to make it worse! ULTRAMAGA!!)
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To: Sirius Lee

Think how useful Mach 5 will be getting those ballots to precisely where they are needed at 3 AM. No more slow trucks in the wee hours.


48 posted on 06/17/2022 11:03:09 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (Wanting to make America great isn’t an insult unless you’re trying to make it worse! ULTRAMAGA!!)
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To: BenLurkin

Looks like Shamu.


49 posted on 06/17/2022 11:04:05 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Larry Lucido
I'll see your Roc and raise you a Rok.


50 posted on 06/17/2022 11:06:22 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (Wanting to make America great isn’t an insult unless you’re trying to make it worse! ULTRAMAGA!!)
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To: Flick Lives

“Design wingspan 1,120 ft.”

Were they going to assemble it in the air?


51 posted on 06/17/2022 11:07:55 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (Wanting to make America great isn’t an insult unless you’re trying to make it worse! ULTRAMAGA!!)
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To: Red Badger

I was fortunate enough to see it in person the first day of its Roll-Out. It’s home (where Peter Allen built it) is in the California desert at the Mojave Space Port just east of Tehachapi, CA

It is not very far from Edwards AFB.


52 posted on 06/17/2022 11:11:40 AM PDT by KC Burke (If all the world is a stage, I would like to request my lighting be adjusted.)
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To: Red Badger

Just imagine the cost of the tire replacement (28)!

Nonetheless, it is serving a need and more power to it!


53 posted on 06/17/2022 11:17:29 AM PDT by SES1066 (More & more it looks like Brandon's best decision was Kamala! UGH!)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
Or a Rock?

Or maybe a ROK.


54 posted on 06/17/2022 11:27:19 AM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: Red Badger

Reading the title of this article of highest altitude I was curious the altitude. Turns out it was less than I expected. It was only 27,000 feet meaning it couldn’t even get over mt. Everest at 29,000 feet.
It certainly shows the huge effect of altitude on flying.


55 posted on 06/17/2022 11:35:06 AM PDT by Balata (Structure determines Function)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

“Design wingspan 1,120 ft.”

Were they going to assemble it in the air?

Due to the immense wingspan of over 1,200 ft, the designers came up with an even crazier idea how to get the CL-1201 in the air; they planned to use 182 747 turbojet engines to allow for vertical takeoff (VTOL). Those 4 massive engines on the tail were just for use at altitude and were driven by a nuclear reactor.

Crazy stuff.

Here is a video that gives a good overview of the planned aircraft...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7KgjObskvM


56 posted on 06/17/2022 11:37:49 AM PDT by Flick Lives (The CDC. Brought to you by Pfizer)
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To: Red Badger
They're playing fast and loose with the definition of "largest" because there used to be an airplane with a heavier max take-off weight, the Antonov 225, which the Soviets destroyed while playing Capture The Flag in the Ukraine. And there are plenty that have a greater internal cargo volume.

But that doesn't change the fact that the Stratolaunch is one of the most extreme engineering projects ever built. It is the first (and as yet the only) airplane ever built with a wingspan longer than the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose."

The major engineering challenge lay in the fact that the wings outboard of the twin fuselages pull up while grabity is pulling the external load in the middle of the center wing down. They're opposing forces trying to fold the center wing in half. With a max external payload the bending moment in the middle of the center wing approaches 800 million inch-pounds, the equivalent of a large male African elephant standing on the end of a diving board one mile long.

Which is why it needs four wing spars. And why those four wing spars make up very nearly half of the airplane's nominal weight. Which means all the rest of the airplane, the twin fuselages, landing gear with 28 wheels, six jet engines and those long, spindly wings only weigh about 260,000 lbs between them (without the spars). Ridiculously light, which was one of Rutan's greatest strengths.

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57 posted on 06/17/2022 11:46:25 AM PDT by Paal Gulli
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To: Bob434

Now that there comment is funny.


58 posted on 06/17/2022 11:57:06 AM PDT by achilles2000 ("I'll agree to save the whales as long as we can deport the liberals")
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To: Red Badger
World's largest plane soars to its highest altitude yet

Read through the excerpt, and nowhere did I see the number which represents the highest altitude yet.

Had to go to the page and somewhere down further it said "World's largest plane soars to its highest altitude yet "27,000 feet".

So the highest altitude is 27,000 feet? No wonder they didn't post it in the title.

That's not terribly high for a purpose built aircraft.

59 posted on 06/17/2022 12:05:05 PM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: Red Badger; Taxman

ATC: flight 2-0-niner you’re cleared for takeoff. Captain Oveur: Roger! Roger: Eh? ATC: LA departure frequency 1-2-3 point niner. Captain Oveur: Roger! Roger: Huh? Victor: Request vector, over. Captain Oveur: What? ATC: Flight 2-0-niner cleared for vector 3-2-4. Roger: We have clearance, Clarence. Captain Oveur: Roger, Roger, what’s our vector, Victor? ATC: Tower radio clearance, over. Captain Oveur: That’s “Clarence Oveur”, over. ATC: Roger! Roger: Huh? ATC: Roger, over. Roger: Huh?! Captain Oveur: Who?!

60 posted on 06/17/2022 12:18:44 PM PDT by Daffynition (*This admin tells us *A* story; but they don't tell us *THE* story* & :) ~ D Bongino)
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