Air Launch
Written by Tega Jessa
Picture of SpaceShipOne
As the technology driving aeronautics advances, we are constantly trying to find ways to do spaceflight better, faster, and cheaper. This is especially important as the world is now in the throes of a global recession that is causing many nations to cut space program budgets. Trying to find ways to cut costs one of the methods being considered to make space missions cheaper is to make launches more affordable and efficient. One method now being researched is air launches or specifically air launches to orbit.
You may be familiar with this type of launch if you saw Superman Returns and saw the scene where Superman saves a space shuttle and a 757 after a failed launch. This method is basically launching a space craft off the back of a flying air craft. It is already being tested by companies such as Air Launch LLC. The biggest cost of a traditional launch is the fuel. It takes a lot of fuel just to get a spacecraft to escape the Earth’s atmosphere and its gravitational pull. This translates into millions when considering the number of missions and the rising cost of producing fuel across the board. Air launches solve this problem by using novel ways to get the space craft as far up into the atmosphere as possible before launching it into space. This makes a lot of sense since aeronautics for atmosphere based aircraft has already advanced enough to allow most aircraft to reach the middle to upper layers of the atmosphere.
If an effective and reliable form of air launch can be implemented, it would be a huge cost saving measure for space programs world wide.
Air launches are mainly used by the military as a method of firing missiles and launching air craft such as unmanned drones. The real advances for spacecraft air launch to orbit has so far come from the private sector. The main vehicle of these advances is competitions like the Ansari X-prize, a $10 million dollar contest that gives awards to private person and companies that come up with new innovations in technology. The winning entry for the 2004 competition the SpaceShipOne by Space composites was the first space vehicle to be successfully launched from the back of an aircraft. Due to its success, other companies like Air Launch LLC are already working on refining and improving upon the process. NASA has also shown interest.
Universe today has other articles about this subject that might interest you. One article is about another launch attempt by Virgin Galactic. You can also see an article about NASA's attempt at air launch to orbit.
If you want learn more about how the process works here are great links one is the Illini Space Jet website. One paper on the site in particular really explains the benefits.
You might also want to listen to this astronomy cast on advanced propulsion systems.
Filed under: Astronomy
Tags: air launch, air launch to orbit, NASA, propulsion, spacecraft, SpaceShipOne
