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| Roc Stratolaunch Aircraft Breaks Record Reaching Maximum Altitude Of 8,200 Meters |
Florida - The Roc is Stratolaunch's giant carrier aircraft that carried out its seventh test flight on June 16, 2022 and reached a maximum altitude higher than before. The Roc flew for more than three hours and broke its own altitude record of 27,000 feet or 8,200 meters.
The Roc underwent its 7th test flight over the Mojave Desert in California which lasted three hours and one minute. The Roc aircraft will be used to carry hypersonic and air-launched vehicles.
Quoted from Space.com, a Stratolaunch representative said Flight Seven is focused on continuing the expansion of the Roc's flight coverage with the recent addition of a pylon on the plane's center wing.
This gigantic plane has a wingspan of 385 feet or 117 meters and is designed to release payloads high in the sky for purposes such as hypersonic flight.
One such payload is the Talon-A, a prototype hypersonic Stratolaunch vehicle 28 feet or 8.5 meters long. The Talon-A is designed to fly as fast as Mach 6, or six times the speed of sound.
Stratolaunch plans to continue developing the Talon-A for hypersonic missions, with operational flights scheduled to begin in 2023, if all goes to plan. In its latest release, the company said that the program to set up Talon-A was making good progress.
"The company is also making solid progress in the system integration of its first hypersonic flight test vehicle, the TA-1, and in the manufacture of a third vehicle, the TA-2, the first fully reusable hypersonic test vehicle," Stratolaunch wrote.