Stratolaunch announced that it has successfully completed a third captive transport flight of the Talon-A separation test vehicle, TA-0. The flight was the tenth for the company's Roc launch platform and marks the beginning of routine flight operations in the Western Range at Vandenberg Space Force Base off the central California coast.
A third test flight
A third carrier test flight has been completed by the Roc Stratolaunch, which thus carried Talon-A on April 1. Lasting five hours, this flight was Roc's tenth and the third captive carry flight for the "separation vehicle" -as it is named- Talon-A. During the same flight, the company tested various separation profiles and confirmed telemetry between Roc, the Talon-A vehicles and communications assets at Vandenberg Space Base in California.
A first hypersonic flight in 2023
Waiting for the results of post-flight data analysis, the team will progress to a separation test in the coming weeks, which will allow the company to make its first hypersonic flight in 2023. "This third captive flight provided data collection and hardware verification, which builds confidence and reduces risk for the next release test of our separation vehicle, called TA-0. The team also practiced the release sequence, which allowed us to gather important data on the performance of Stratolaunch's Talon launch system during this dynamic phase of the flight," said Zachary Krevor, Stratolaunch president and CEO.
.Découvrez cet article sur Air&Cosmos