Hypersonic Vehicles to be Launched From World's Biggest Airplane

The world's biggest plane will launch vehicles capable of going hypersonic or, in other words, Mach 5, as reported by Space.com. Stratolaunch is the company behind the world's largest airplane. Known as the Stratolaunch Carrier, this plane is described by the company as, "a revolutionary launchpad for hypersonic and aerospace vehicles." It's flown using six Boeing 747 engines with a payload capacity of over half a million pounds and its wingspan stretches to 385 feet. It stands 50 feet tall and its 103,256 square-foot hangar will soon serve as the launch pad of Stratolaunch's hypersonic vehicles capable of going five times the speed of sound. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=stratolaunch-hypersonic-vehicles-and-planes&captions=true"] "Our hypersonic testbeds will serve as a catalyst in sparking a renaissance in hypersonic technologies for our government, the commercial sector and academia," a quote from Stratolaunch CEO W. Jean Floyd reads on the company's website. The Carrier will launch Stratolaunch Talon As, Talon Zs, and the Black Ice vehicle. The Talon A is described as a, "fully reusable, autonomous, liquid rocket-powered Mach 6-class hypersonic vehicle...(that) will conduct over 1-minute of hypersonic flight testing" before gliding back autonomously to land on a standard airplane runway. The vehicle is also capable of autonomous takeoff. The Carrier can carry three Talon A vehicles at a time due to the Talon A's weight of 6000 pounds and wingspan of just 28 feet. Other vehicles the Carrier will one day haul include the Talon Z, which is currently in development, and the Black Ice, which is described on the Stratolaunch website as a, "fully reusable space plane that enables advanced on-orbit capabilities and cargo return." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=best-virtual-reality-adventure-movies&captions=true"] The current Black Ice vehicle has been designed for cargo, but a follow-up development is in progress designed to transport crew. The Stratolaunch Carrier has only flown once, with that flight taking place in April of last year and was a 2.5 hour test flight. Stratolaunch was originally a company founded in 2011 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Allen died in 2018 and the company was sold to an unknown buyer the following year. Allen's vision for the Stratolaunch was to launch satellites, according to Space.com, and while the company isn't launching satellites today, it will one day launch vehicles that could serve as satellites amongst many other things. Vehicles capable of Mach 5 used to be a thing of the past, with it being more sci-fi than reality and referenced in various movies. See what facets of sci-fi have transitioned into reality by watching the 100 best science fiction movies and looking back on films such as Galaxy Quest, which talk often of space crafts in relation to real-life situations in the movie. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

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