Tag: Hypersonic flight
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New Frontier Aerospace tests 3D-printed rocket engine for future flight applications
Flames stream from New Frontier Aerospace’s Mjölnir rocket engine during a hot-fire test. (NFA Photo) Kent, Wash.-based New Frontier Aerospace says it has put its 3D-printed Mjölnir rocket engine through a series of successful hot-fire tests, in preparation for an initial flight test of a hypersonic drone that could take place as early as next year.…
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Radian Aerospace lays out its plan to create reusable re-entry vehicle for hypersonic tests
An artist’s concept shows the R3V spacecraft re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. (Radian Aerospace Illustration) Seattle-based Radian Aerospace says it’s developing a reusable re-entry vehicle that can be used to test aerospace components under stressful conditions and then bring them back down to Earth. The Radian Reusable Re-entry Vehicle, or R3V, is meant to advance technologies that…
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New Frontier Aerospace aims to zoom from hypersonic flight’s past into its future
New Frontier Aerospace’s chief operating officer, David Gregory (at left), lays his hand on the company’s Mjölnir rocket engine while CEO Bill Bruner strikes what he calls his “Wernher von Braun pose” with a 3D-printed model of the company’s hypersonic rocket ship. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) TUKWILA, Wash. — Thirty years after the first…
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Stratolaunch flies mammoth airplane with separation test vehicle hooked onto it
The triangular Talon-A separation test vehicle can be seen attached to a pylon between the fuselages of Stratolaunch’s Roc aircraft after takeoff. (Stratolaunch via Twitter) Stratolaunch — the air-launch company founded by the late Seattle software billionaire Paul Allen — put a test version of its hypersonic vehicle through its first in-the-air trial today. The…
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Stratolaunch ascends to new heights with successful test of world’s biggest airplane
Stratolaunch’s Roc airplane flies over California’s Mojave Desert. (Stratolaunch via Twitter) Stratolaunch says its mammoth carrier airplane rose to its highest altitude yet during its seventh flight test over California’s Mojave Desert. The aerospace venture, which was established by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen more than a decade ago but is now owned by a private…
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Stratolaunch lands its mammoth airplane early after a flight test that didn’t meet all of its objectives
Stratolaunch’s twin-fuselage Roc airplane gets ready for its sixth flight test. (Stratolaunch Photo) Stratolaunch says the sixth flight test of its super-sized Roc carrier airplane ended earlier than planned when the team ran into an unexpected issue. “While completing Roc testing operations, we encountered a test result that made it clear we would not achieve…
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Stratolaunch celebrates Star Wars Day with fifth flight of its giant airplane, featuring a new pylon
Stratolaunch’s Roc airplane comes in for a Mojave landing. (Stratolaunch / NASASpaceflight.com) Stratolaunch took the “fifth” on May the 4th, otherwise known as Star Wars Day. Today brought the fifth flight test for Stratolaunch’s 385-foot-wide carrier aircraft, known as Roc (in a nod to the giant bird of Middle Eastern mythology). Roc ranks as the…
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Karman Systems acquires Systima to target hypersonic and space technology
Systima Technologies moved into its current headquarters in Mukilteo, Wash., last year. (Systima Photo) Mukilteo, Wash.-based Systima Technologies has been acquired by Karman Missile & Space Systems as part of Karman’s push into the markets for space and hypersonic system infrastructure. Karman, headquartered in Los Angeles, was created just in the past year with backing…
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Stratolaunch teams up with Calspan and makes progress on hypersonic flight plan
Stratolaunch’s mammoth airplane sits on its runway. (Stratolaunch Photo) Stratolaunch, the aerospace company founded by the late Seattle tech titan Paul Allen, is gearing up on several fronts for tests of its hypersonic launch platform — a year and a half after its mammoth airplane first flew. Allen created the company in Seattle back in…
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Stratolaunch resurrects its hypersonic rocket vehicle under a new name: Talon-A
An artist’s conception shows Stratolaunch’s Talon-A hypersonic test vehicle. (Stratolaunch Illustration) Now that it’s under new management, Stratolaunch is retooling a concept for a rocket-powered hypersonic vehicle that it first unveiled 18 months ago. Back then, it was called the Hyper-A testbed vehicle, and it represented one of the engineering frontiers for Microsoft co-founder Paul…