Stratolaunch Roc
The Stratolaunch giant Roc aircraft set a personal altitude record of 8230 meters during its seventh test flight. Recall that Roc is the largest two—body airliner in the world with a wingspan of 117 m, equipped with six turbojet engines from Boeing 747. Its main task is to launch spacecraft into near—Earth orbit using the air launch method.
Two years ago, Stratolaunch introduced the Talon-A concept, which consists in providing flights of reusable spacecraft that take off by air launch and land like airplanes on the runway. The test version was named TA-O.
Stratolaunch Roc
The company's specialists equipped the Roc with special pylons, to which Talon-A was attached. The pylons are made of aluminum and carbon fiber. They are equipped with a compact lifting winch system with a length of 4.3 m and a weight of 3.6 t for lifting Talon-A. During the tests, the system was repeatedly tested. In particular, during one of the flights, the above-mentioned altitude record was set. Other characteristics were also tested — controllability and reliability of the chassis. In addition, for the first time, TA-O was tested in conjunction with a carrier aircraft. The first full-fledged flight is scheduled for the second half of this year.
Stratolaunch Roc
