SEATTLE – Nearly a decade ago, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen founded Stratolaunch to build the largest aircraft capable of launching orbital rockets. ARS Technica reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
13 April 2020 -- Alas, the aircraft never did prove to be an effective launcher. In fact, what became the world's largest airplane took flight just one time, in April, 2019. The Stratolaunch plane reached speeds above 189 miles per hour and heights of 17,000 feet during its 2.5-hour test flight before landing safely at the Mojave Air and Space Port.
But the plane has been grounded since. And last summer, less than a year after Allen died in October, 2018, Stratolaunch effectively ceased operations. In recent months, however, the company has been rehiring employees, and this week it officially unveiled a new business plan—building and operating hypersonic test beds.
To facilitate this, the company released preliminary designs for "Talon-A," a reusable vehicle capable of reaching Mach 6. (Hypersonic flight is generally defined as speeds above Mach 5 through the atmosphere.) The company says its 8.5-meter-long Talon-A vehicle is a "flexible, high-speed testbed built for hypersonic research, experiments, and enabling operational missions." It is not clear when the Talon-A will be ready for flight.
John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
