Defense contractor successfully launches, recovers hypersonic flight in test
Stratolaunch, based in the Mojave Desert in California and Nevada, first tested one in December.
Reusable hypersonic flights are the first since the manned X-15 program was scrapped in 1968.
The Stratolaunch Talon-A hypersonic vehicle launched from the twin-fuselage Roc carrier aircraft, flew over the Pacific Ocean and achieved speeds greater than Mach 5 before landing at Vandenberg Space Force Base, DOD said in a news release.
Mach 5 refers to five times the speed of sound, or 3,806 to 7,680 mph.
Roc, named after the griffin-like creature, can carry as much as 500,000 pounds of payload, or more than 33 large elephants. It has a wingspan that stretches 385 feet, larger than any other plane.
The new program is called Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonics Test Bed, or MACH-TB.
"Demonstrating the reuse of fully recoverable hypersonic test vehicles is an important milestone for MACH-TB," George Rumford, director of the Department of Defense Test Resource Management Center, said. "Lessons learned from this test campaign will help us reduce vehicle turnaround time from months down to weeks."
It will also help lower costs.
"With the data collected from this second flight, we are able to apply lessons learned to enhance the strength and performance of the Talon-A vehicles," Stratolaunch CEO Zachary Krevor said. "We've now demonstrated hypersonic speed, added the complexity of a full runway landing with prompt payload recovery, and proven reusability. Both flights were great achievements for our country, our company, and our partners."
MACH-TB provides the Defense Department, other federal agencies, industry and academia "the capability to affordably and rapidly conduct hypersonic experiments and test hypersonic system components," the release said.
Stratolaunch has a contract to launch five MACH-TB flights, Defense News reported.
Stratolaunch's mission, according to its website, is to "advance high-speed technology through innovative design, manufacturing, and operation of world-class aerospace vehicles."
The company was founded in 2011.
"I am in awe of what this team has achieved," Krevor said. "We've executed four incredible Talon-A flights, completed twenty-four Roc flights to date, flew two new supersonic and hypersonic airplanes in a single year, and we are firmly on the path to making hypersonic flight test services a reality."
Stratolaunch has been making modifications to one of its launch platforms, a modified Boeing 747 jetliner called the Spirit of Mojave.
Before the United States started the program, China and Russia made progress developing and fielding hypersonic systems of their own.
In January, North Korea launched a hypersonic glide at first peak of 61 miles and a second peak of 26 miles, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.
The range was estimated at 683 miles.
"The hypersonic missile system will reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region that can affect the security of our state," said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who oversaw the launch via a monitoring system.
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