Microsoft‘s co-founder Paul Allen and Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan founded the aerospace firm Stratolaunch in 2011. The company created a behemoth carrier airplane called Roc – the world’s largest aircraft by wingspan – officially named Scaled Composites Model 351 Stratolaunch. It’s a conjoined fuselage aircraft powered by six Boeing 747 engines.
The plane resembles an aircraft version of a catamaran. It’s powered by six Pratt & Whitney PW4056 engines taken from a pair of Boeing 747s. The fuselages are 238 ft (73 m) long. They are each supported by 12 main landing gears. The pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer are situated in the right fuselage’s cockpit, and the left side is un-crewed. The left provides additional storage space for mission-specific equipment.
Mr. Allen passed away in October 2018, and Stratolaunch went on the market before he could witness the first test flight of the giant aircraft – which took place April 2019. Cerberus Capital Management became the new owners.
Initially, the unique aircraft was to host rockets carrying satellites – getting them higher into the sky before launching them further into space. However, the new owners decided to use the mothership of a rocket launcher as a launch vehicle for reusable hypersonic flight research instead.
It’s been nearly two years since the Roc was airborne, but finally, it has completed its second flight. It was the Stratolaunch’s first flight under new ownership. The latest flight of Roc – named after the legendary, giant bird of prey in Middle Eastern mythology – was the culmination of the company’s revival.
We are airborne! pic.twitter.com/6jTkkqfjKd
— Stratolaunch (@Stratolaunch) April 29, 2021
The twin-hulled plane, which is wider than the length of an American football field, performed the test flight in California – at the Mojave Air and Space Port – shortly after 07:30 AM local time. It stayed in the air for three hours and 14 minutes, reaching a peak altitude of 2.6 miles and performing various test flight maneuvers before landing safely. The flight was longer than the first run, but the plane flew slightly lower.
Touchdown!! Successful flight tests to round out the day. What a beautiful sight. pic.twitter.com/gdssjvoN8x
— Stratolaunch (@Stratolaunch) April 29, 2021
Zachary Krevor, Stratolaunch’s chief operating officer, told reporters in a call:
Today’s flight, at first review, has appeared extremely successful. We accomplished all test points as desired; we have not seen anything anomalous, and we are very pleased with the condition of the aircraft upon landing.
The aircrew did an excellent job of bringing the aircraft down according to our expected crosswind procedures.
As mentioned before, initially, the idea was to provide a fast and affordable air-launch system for small satellites. However, now the company means for Roc to serve as a launch vehicle for its autonomous and fully reusable Talon-A hypersonic vehicle – a craft that reaches speeds of at least five times the speed of sound (Mach 5).
Short video I took this morning, from my office, as we towed the aircraft back into the hanger. Gives a nice perspective on the size of the Roc pic.twitter.com/JEO3ao5lf9
— Jean Floyd (@WJeanFloyd) April 23, 2021
The carrier plane’s wingspan is near twice the Boeing 747 – 385 feet (117 meters). It’s designed to eventually carry the Talon-A – a 28 feet long and 14 feet wide rocket-powered, jet-shaped craft made to serve as a hypersonic testbed for the Department of Defense – into the sky. Once up there, the Talon-A will ignite its liquid-fueled rocket engine and boost itself higher in Earth’s atmosphere. When finished, it glides back and lands autonomously on a conventional runway.
Daniel Millman, the company’s chief technology officer, said Roc should be ready to carry a Talon-A later this year. For now, it will continue flying solo, soaring higher and faster during testing until it can prove itself capable of achieving the right flight conditions needed to drop Talon-A.
