Stratolaunch, LLC last Saturday said it successfully completed the first powered flight of its Talon-A test vehicle, reaching high supersonic speeds, a key milestone in the development of the privately funded hypersonic test capability.
The TA-1 vehicle was powered by Ursa Major
’s 5,000-pound thrust Hadley engine, which also flew for the first time.
Stratolaunch said the successful flight-test showcased safe air-launch release of the TA-1, engine ignition, sustained climb in altitude, and a controlled water landing. The test was a step toward achieving reusable flight with its next hypersonic vehicle.
“While I can’t share the specific altitude and speed TA-1 reached due to proprietary agreements with our customers, we are pleased to share that in addition to meeting all primary and customer objectives of the flight, we reached high supersonic speeds approaching Mach 5 and collected a great amount of data at an incredible value to our customers,” Zachary Krevor, president and CEO of Stratolaunch, said in a statement on March 9. “Our goal with this flight was to continue our risk reduction approach for TA-2’s first reusable flight and be steadfast on our commitment of delivering maximum value to our customers.”
First flight for TA-2 is slated for later in 2024, Krevor said.
Stratolaunch said it is also progressing with the manufacturing of TA-3, the second reusable Talon-A product.
TA-1 was launched on March 4 above the Pacific Ocean from Stratolaunch’s six engine Roc aircraft, a dual fuselage high-wing design to launch aerospace vehicles and technologies. For a first flight, the environment was challenging given Hadley engine being “cold soaked” because the test occurred “well above sea level and then you’ve got a liquid-fueled vehicle being dropped and igniting horizontally,” Joe Laurienti, founder and CEO of Ursa Major, told Defense Daily in an interview on March 9.
The Hadley engine was first fired in 2016 and Ursa Major has been working on the flight ready hypersonic version of the engine two years ago, Laurienti said. The liquid oxygen and kerosene propellant engine features oxygen-rich staged combustion and Ursa Major says it has sold dozens of them to customers for space launch, hypersonics, and in-space missions.
Laurienti described Hadley’s “bread and butter” as being “tailored” for flight testbeds such as the Talon-A mission and hypersonic aerial targets. He said to expect additional flights with the engine this year and teased an upcoming announcement on a partnership on Hadley “for a very different mission.”
Ursa Major uses additive manufacturing to 3D print more than 50 percent of Hadley. Laurienti said every primary component of the engine is 3D-printed.
Draper Hot Fired
Ursa Major is developing a suite of liquid-fueled engines, including the 4,000-pound thrust Draper, which the company hot-fired for the first time last week, Laurienti said. He described it as a “next-generation kind of weapon- applicable tactical version of that engine.”
Last May, Ursa Major said the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) awarded the company a contract to build and test a prototype of Draper for hypersonics. At the time, Laurienti stated the engine “will become the foundation of America’s counter-hypersonic capabilities.”
Laurienti touted the successful test of Hadley on the first launch and the relatively short period between the AFRL contract and the Draper hot fire test as a “testament” to Ursa Major’s development model.