F-15 Satellite Launch: ALASA (Airborne Launch Assist Space Access) Concept 2015 DARPA

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“DARPA’s Airborne Launch Assist Space Access program (ALASA) seeks to propel 100-pound satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) within 24 hours of call-up, all for less than $1 million per launch. The current ALASA design envisions launching a low-cost, expendable launch vehicle from conventional aircraft. Serving as a reusable first stage, the plane would fly to high altitude and release the launch vehicle, which would carry the payload to the desired location. The program is moving ahead with rigorous testing of new technologies that one day could enable revolutionary satellite launch systems that provide more affordable, routine and reliable access to space.”

Public domain film from DARPA.

see also: Smallest Launch Vehicle: “Multipurpose Nanomissile System” 2010 US Army

Airborne Launch Assist Space Access, or DARPA ALASA, a current program of the US defense technology agency DARPA “designed to produce a rocket capable of launching a 100-pound satellite into low Earth orbit for less than $1 million.” The program was conceived, then announced in 2011, and funded development work began in 2012…

Background

Traditional launch methods of satellites are too costly to put small payloads into orbit without a larger payload accompanying it to make the launch worth the expense. Current launches of sub-100-pound satellites are performed as “piggyback payloads” on launches of much larger spacecraft… In addition, range costs of operating from ground-based infrastructure have escalated as they have aged, accounting for up to 35 percent of the launch cost… The first air-launched rocket to put a satellite into orbit was the Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus on 13 June 1990, but it was deployed from a heavily modified and expensive Lockheed L-1011 airliner. The ALASA program’s objective is to use an unmodified aircraft platform (except for software) that does not have to be dedicated to the mission to place a 100 lb satellite into orbit that requires only 24 hours notice to integrate and launch the payload, with the ability to re-plan the launch in flight and relocate the aircraft to any civilian airport or military airfield in a crisis situation, while using onboard GPS/inertial position reporting rather than ground-based radar tracking…

A program solicitation was announced in 2011, and six companies were awarded contracts in July 2012…

In March 2014, Boeing won the large US$32–104 million phase 2 ALASA contract from DARPA. Boeing will use their F-15E Strike Eagle fighter to carry the ALASA rocket up to 12,000 m (39,000 ft), then release the 7.3 m (24 ft) rocket to ignite and carry itself into orbit. Using a modified fighter-jet to launch the rocket would increase satellite launch sites from four locations (Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida; Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia; and Kodiak Island, Alaska) to any available runway. The cost to put a 45 kg (99 lb) microsatellite into orbit is targeted at $1 million, a decrease of 66 percent. A demonstration launch is hoped for in FY 2015.

The F-15E launch vehicle will require no modifications to launch the ALASA payload, not even software, because the rocket will use the same communications protocols as a typically mounted weapons system. This enables the aircraft to continue flying other missions as a cost benefit over being specialized. The rocket will also feature new design technologies to lower complexity and costs. It will be powered by a monopropellant, a combination of nitrous oxide and acetylene, and mixed together in one propellant tank slightly below room temperature; the propellant choice is a dramatic simplification of the complexity of the rocket vehicle. Rocket design is also unconventional, mounting four engines just below the payload for use on the first and second stages, with propellant tanks below the engines dropping away once exhausted to avoid the expense and complexity of separate sets of engines for the first two stages. DARPA plans to develop a second, smaller launch system called the Small Air Launch Vehicle to Orbit (SALVO) to understand operations cost, demonstrate new technologies like battery-powered pumps for the rocket’s engines, and provide overall program before ALASA is launched. SALVO is to launch in spring 2015, six to nine months before the first ALASA flight in late 2015. 12 flights are to be conducted through mid-2016 from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida over the Atlantic Ocean; after completion, the program will seek to transition to an operational customer…