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Showing posts with the label #test flight

World's Biggest Plane & Hypersonic Travel

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  Stratolaunch's Roc Carries a Hypersonic Vehicle to 23,000 Feet                                                  Source:  Stratolaunch Major Moves Toward Hypersonic Commercial Flying at Mach 6 The world's largest airplane, California-based Stratolaunch's Roc, with a wingspan longer than a football field, just aced a major test flight while carrying a hypersonic prototype plane.  The success is important on a number of levels.  It moves Stratolaunch, whose mission is to launch small, autonomous, rocket powered hypersonic vehicles from altitudes of 35,000 feet, closer to test flying its Talon A hypersonic vehicle.  And it moves the world closer to hypersonic flying at speeds of Mach 6 and more.  This will eventually include commercial passenger planes traveling at six times the speed of sound or 4,570 mph.  That would enable passengers to fly long distance air travel at warp speeds. Aviation Technologies Deployed Roc is a highly sophisticated payload release system specifica

Test Flight for Hypersonic Flying by World's Largest Plane

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  Stratolaunch's Roc Carries a Hypersonic Vehicle to 23,000 Feet                                                  Source:  Stratolaunch Major Moves Toward Hypersonic Commercial Flying at Mach 6 The world's largest airplane, California-based Stratolaunch's Roc, with a wingspan longer than a football field, just aced a major test flight while carrying a hypersonic prototype plane.  The success is important on a number of levels.  It moves Stratolaunch, whose mission is to launch small, autonomous, rocket powered hypersonic vehicles from altitudes of 35,000 feet, closer to test flying its Talon A hypersonic vehicle.  And it moves the world closer to hypersonic flying at speeds of Mach 6 and more.  This will eventually include commercial passenger planes traveling at six times the speed of sound or 4,570 mph.  That would enable passengers to fly long distance air travel at warp speeds. Aviation Technologies Deployed Roc is a highly sophisticated payload release system specifica

Germany's Volocopter Flying Taxi Milestone

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   Rome's Vertiport at Fiumicino International Airport                                                  Source:  Volocopter 1st Piloted eVTOL Flight in Italy German electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle startup Volocopter has just successfully completed its first crewed public test flight in Rome.  The flying taxi launched from a new vertiport at Rome's Fiumicino International Airport.  The test was designed to showcase both the Volocopter flying taxi and Rome's 1st vertiport. It also provided the public with a new perspective on how urban air mobility vehicles might effectively work to ferry passengers between the city of Rome and Fiumicino Airport.  The Airport is planning to go fully commercial and operational with the vertiport, which will be a first for Italy.  Volocopter expects to be fully operational in Rome, Singapore and elsewhere with flying taxi services in 2024.  What The Flight Achieved The Volocopter 2X did a figure 8 in the skies over Rome at

SpaceX, Starship & Elon Musk

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  Starship Performs Well, Then Explodes on Landing                                                                                Source:  SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Learns and Moves Forward SpaceX's Starship launch vehicle is the centerpiece of CEO Elon Musk's dreams to take humanity on affordable trips to the Moon and Mars.  On December 9, 2020, the Starship prototype launched for a test flight.  The vehicle performed well and reached an altitude of  41,000 feet - it's highest as of that date.  And it performed record setting, acrobatic flips in the air before landing.  The test flight went perfectly until the landing, when the test vehicle blew up in a fiery explosion.  No one was hurt.  Entrepreneur/inventor/CEO Elon Musk had a uniquely scientific take on the episode.  He learned from the fiery landing, made conclusions based on data the test provided and found ample reasons to move forward.  His reactions provide insights into the way one of America's most successful inn

SpaceX Starship High Flying Test

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  CEO Elon Musk's Starship to Mars Source:  SpaceX Flight Test to 40,000 Feet Starship is Space X CEO Elon Musk's space vehicle designed to carry humans to the Moon and Mars.  The prototype has been tested twice before in so-called "hop" tests to 500 feet.  This week, Musk has been cleared by the FAA to test the vehicle at 40,000 feet, an altitude higher than most planes climb.   Musk Downplaying the Critical Test Interestingly, Musk is downplaying the critical test of the vehicle's aerodynamic design and flight capabilities.  He's calling it a learning experience. On the SpaceX website, Musk said "With a test like this, success is not measured by reaching specific objectives but by how much we can learn."  He predicts a 30% chance of its reaching 40,000 feet. Starship is SpaceX's Centerpiece to Travel to Mars & the Moon Starship is Musk's next generation, reusable launch vehicle.  It is the centerpiece of Musk's plans to make space t