MOJAVE, Calif. - Stratolaunch in Mojave, Calif. announced it had completed the first powered flight of the Talon-A test vehicle, TA-1. This, Stratolaunch says, is a milestone in the country's first privately funded, reusable hypersonic test capability.
Primary objectives for the flight test included accomplishing safe air-launch release of the TA-1 vehicle, engine ignition, acceleration, sustained climb in altitude, and a controlled water landing.
"Today was a great day for the Stratolaunch team. I am extremely proud of their perseverance to reach this point. The successful outcome of the test is a direct result of the team's technical prowess and professionalism," said Dr. Zachary Krevor, Chief Executive Officer for Stratolaunch. "While I can't share the specific altitude and speed TA-1 reached due to proprietary agreements with our customers, we are pleased to share that in addition to meeting all primary and customer objectives of the flight, we reached high supersonic speeds approaching Mach 5 and collected a great amount of data at an incredible value to our customers."
"Our goal with this flight was to continue our risk reduction approach for TA-2's first reusable flight and be steadfast on our commitment of delivering maximum value to our customers. We are excited to review the data from today's test and use it as we plan our next steps toward TA-2's first flight later this year," Dr. Krevor said.
Related: Stratolaunch conducts successful captive carry flight test
Concurrent to TA-1 testing, Stratolaunch is progressing on the manufacturing of TA-3, the second fully reusable vehicle in that Talon-A product line. The company is also beginning modifications to its additional launch platform, the Spirit of Mojave, a modified Boeing 747-400.
Last spring, Stratolaunch completed the first separation of the company's launch Roc aircraft and its rocket-powered, autonomous, reusable testbed aircraft.
The flight, which lasted a total of 4 hours and 8 minutes, performed risk reduction by demonstrating the Talon-A launch system can cleanly and safely separate hypersonic vehicles from Roc's center-wing pylon. The test also confirmed telemetry between the vehicles and Vandenberg Space Force Base's communication assets, assuring that backup telemetry data collection will occur during future hypersonic flight tests.
