Stratolaunch Roc Aircraft Has Successfully Completed The Separation Test of Talon-A Vehicle.

Stratolaunch LLC has announced that it has successfully completed a separation release test of the Talon-A separation test vehicle, TA-0.

The landmark flight was the eleventh for the company's launch platform Roc and the second time the team has conducted flight operations in Vandenberg Space Force Base's Western Range off California's central coast.

• Stratolaunch Roc took off today and dropped off the TA-0 hypersonic aircraft testbed as a separation test.
• As a Landmark, It was eleventh flight of Roc and fourth captive carry of the TA-0 separation test vehicle.
• TA-0 was unpowered , and the flight lasted a total of 4 hours and 8 minutes.

Programme was announced in Dec-2011 & rolled out in May 2017. Earlier known as Model 351 'Stratolaunch' ( Reg- N351SL ) , the aircraft was built for Stratolaunch Systems by Scaled Composites to carry air-launch-to-orbit rockets.

The latest flight, which lasted a total of 4 hours and 8 minutes, performed risk reduction by demonstrating the Talon-A launch system can cleanly and safely separate hypersonic vehicles from Roc's center-wing pylon.

The test also confirmed telemetry between the vehicles and Vandenberg Space Force Base's communication assets, assuring that back-up telemetry data collection will occur during future hypersonic flight tests.   

Stratolaunch said, next will be hepersonic flight,

With this landmark test complete, the team will progress toward its first hypersonic flight of the TA-1 expendable testbed in late summer of 2023.

"Today's test was exceptional," said Dr. Zachary Krevor, Chief Executive Officer and President for Stratolaunch. "It was exhilarating to see TA-0 release safely away from Roc, and I commend our team and partners. Our hardware and data collection systems performed as anticipated, and we now stand at the precipice of achieving hypersonic flight." 

 Stratolaunch Roc to FL270: Roc reached to a new altitudue of 27,000 ft. during it's 7th Roc test flight in June 2022.

"We also thank the Western Range, Vandenberg Space Force Base, for their continued support of our test operations. They have provided us with multiple flight opportunities and have been a great partner adapting to our various schedule requests as we adjusted our release window. We look forward to working together during our future operations pursuing hypersonic flight," he said.

The company will hold a virtual press teleconference to discuss initial results of today's test flight via Zoom on Monday, May 15 at 9 a.m. PST. To join, click here.

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