Hypersonic rocket prototype passes vital NASA flight tests

A new air-launched rocket prototype which could pave the way for widespread hypersonic aircraft has passed vital tests.

Working with the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Centre in California, Generation Orbit Launch Services (GO) completed three successful flight tests of the GO-1TA testbed aboard a space agency C-20a plane.

The GO-1TA is a prototype model of the GO1, a planned single stage rocket which will carry experimental payloads from next year. Its developers hope it will offer an “affordable” platform for high-altitude and high-speed research in fields from astronomy to biology.

The liquid fuel-propelled rocket could help investigate re-entry physics and the effects of micro-gravity on various experiments, GO said. The company also hopes the booster will let researchers test hypersonic flight technology such as autonomous controls and high-temperature composite structures, at “substantially” lower costs than previously available.

The space agency plane flew three times with the mounted GO-1TA testbed, which has the same mass properties and outer surface as the new rockets. Data from the tests, including a demonstration of the booster’s unique launch procedure, will help validate models and inform the GO1’s ongoing design and development.

“This public-private partnership… helped to advance a commercial air-launch system for delivering small payloads which will someday benefit the nation's space and hypersonic needs,” said Ron Young, manager for NASA’s Flight Opportunities programme.