We told our readers a while ago that Stratolaunch, which today owns the world’s largest aircraft, has stopped further development in the direction of high-altitude space launches and is refocusing on the development and test launch aspects of hypersonic aircraft. Recently, the Roc aircraft made another test flight, during which it raised the first prototype of the TA-0 hypersonic aircraft. And the next step will be a test of the separation procedure, after which the TA-0 apparatus will go into independent flight.

The Talon-A hypersonic aircraft was first introduced to the public in 2020. The “Roc” aircraft must lift it to an altitude of 10,000 meters and let it fly freely, after which the Talon-A will fly faster than Mach 5 and land on the runway like a normal airplane. TA-0, the first version of the Talon-A, does not have its own engine, it is currently used to test the console and reset the system.

The final test flight, the eighth in a row, was carried out in the skies above the Mojave Desert on October 30 of this year. In five hours, the “Roc” aircraft managed to gain an altitude of 7,000 meters, and a lot of data on aerodynamic loads were collected during the flight.

There are a few more test flights in the Stratolaunch administration’s other plans. Later this year, a zeroing system test will take place, during which the TA-0 device will make a stand-alone flight in the sky over the Pacific Ocean. In parallel with this, the development and creation of a full-fledged Talon-A device, whose testing and practical use will begin next year, continues. Source