Current:Home > ScamsStratolaunch conducts first powered flight of new hypersonic vehicle off California coast-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Stratolaunch conducts first powered flight of new hypersonic vehicle off California coast
View Date:2024-12-23 18:59:39
LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. aerospace company Stratolaunch conducted the first powered test flight of a new unmanned craft for hypersonic research on Saturday and called it a success.
Hypersonic describes flights at speeds of at least Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.
Chief Executive Officer Zachary Krevor said in a statement that the Talon-A-1 vehicle “reached high supersonic speeds approaching Mach 5 and collected a great amount of data at an incredible value to our customers.”
Krevor said he could not release the specific altitude and speed because of proprietary agreements with customers.
The company’s massive six-engine carrier aircraft Roc carried the Talon aloft, attached to the center of its gigantic wing, and released it off the central coast of California.
The Talon, powered by a liquid-fuel rocket engine, ended its flight by descending into the ocean as planned. While this Talon was expendable, a future version will be capable of landing on a runway for reuse.
Stratolaunch said the primary objectives for the flight included a safe air-launch release of the vehicle, engine ignition, acceleration, sustained climb in altitude, and a controlled water landing.
The company called the result a major milestone in the development of the United States’ first privately funded, reusable hypersonic test capability.
Stratolaunch conducted two captive-carry flights, in December and February, in which the Talon was taken aloft with live propellant but was not released from the mothership.
Stratolaunch is based at Mojave Air and Space Port in the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles.
The Roc aircraft, named after an enormous mythological bird, has a wingspan of 385 feet (117 meters) and twin fuselages that give the impression of two big jets flying side by side.
It was developed by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, who died just months before it flew for the first time in April 2019.
Allen intended to use it as a carrier aircraft for space launches, carrying satellite-laden rockets beneath the center of the wing and releasing them at high altitude.
That project was canceled, and new owners then repurposed Stratolaunch for launches of reusable hypersonic research vehicles.
Stratolaunch has announced flight contracts with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and the Navy’s Multiservice Advanced Capability Test Bed program as a subcontractor to technology company Leidos of Reston, Virginia.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Prosecutors say some erroneous evidence was given jurors at ex-Sen. Bob Menendez’s bribery trial
- Charges against country singer Chris Young in Nashville bar arrest have been dropped
- In a Steel Town Outside Pittsburgh, an Old Fight Over Air Quality Drags On
- Ukraine says it has no evidence for Russia’s claim that dozens of POWs died in a shot down plane
- Disney Store's Black Friday Sale Just Started: Save an Extra 20% When You Shop Early
- Most Americans feel they pay too much in taxes, AP-NORC poll finds
- Hayden Panettiere Shares a Rare Look Inside Her Family World With Daughter Kaya
- Rep. Nancy Mace's former chief of staff files to run against her in South Carolina
- Bull doge! Dogecoin soars as Trump announces a government efficiency group nicknamed DOGE
- Russia marks 80 years since breaking the Nazi siege of Leningrad
Ranking
- Indiana man is found guilty of murder in the 2017 killings of 2 teenage girls
- 'Wait Wait' for January 27: With Not My Job guest Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
- Hollywood has been giving out climate change-focused awards for 33 years. Who knew?
- Channing Tatum Has a Magic Message for Fiancée Zoë Kravitz
- The Daily Money: Mattel's 'Wicked' mistake
- Bullfight advocates working with young people to attract new followers in Mexico
- Lionel Messi and Inter Miami are in Saudi Arabia to continue their around-the-world preseason tour
- Iraq and US begin formal talks to end coalition mission formed to fight the Islamic State group
Recommendation
-
NBC's hospital sitcom 'St. Denis Medical' might heal you with laughter: Review
-
Kentucky parents charged with manslaughter after 3-year-old fatally shoots 2-year-old brother
-
'It's crazy': Kansas City bakery sells out of cookie cakes featuring shirtless Jason Kelce
-
'You have legging legs': Women send powerful message in face of latest body-shaming trend
-
West Virginia expands education savings account program for military families
-
'It's crazy': Kansas City bakery sells out of cookie cakes featuring shirtless Jason Kelce
-
Remembering the horrors of Auschwitz, German chancellor warns of antisemitism, threats to democracy
-
Vince McMahon resigns from WWE after allegations of sexual assault