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SPACE TECHNOLOGY
July 2007
Experimental Rockets Boost Expectations of Lower Costs
By Breanne Wagner
 The Air Force is working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and NASA to develop simpler and less expensive launch vehicles. The project is part of a wide-ranging effort to lower the cost of deploying satellites in space.
The program is called Falcon, or Force Application and Launch from the Continental United States. It began in May 2003. The goal is to develop a vehicle that can send 1,000 pounds to low-earth orbit for less than $5 million — based on a frequency of 20 flights per year for 10 years.
The Air Force and DARPA are focusing on two options for its Falcon vehicle: Space Exploration Technology’s Falcon 1 rocket and AirLaunch LLC’s QuickReach booster.
Space Exploration Technology, known as SpaceX, is the brainchild of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. Musk built his Falcon 1 booster — named after the Millennium Falcon in “Star Wars” — with his own funds before DARPA embarked on the Falcon program.
SpaceX, like its competitor AirLaunch, was one of nine firms that initially received contracts for Falcon’s first phase. SpaceX also has secured contracts with other governments, including one with the Malaysian space agency, Musk said.
The company conducted two test launches, the first in March 2006 and the second in March of this year. The rocket failed to reach orbit in both tests.
SpaceX is under contract to launch the TacSat-1 satellite for the Naval Research Laboratory in October. The mission will cost $7 million.
Falcon 1 was originally scheduled to fly in 2004 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., but complications altered plans. The rocket was grounded because officials were afraid it would crash into a nearby billion-dollar satellite. The vehicle was relocated for future launches to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The Government Accountability Office cautioned that transferring flight tests to the distant locale might drive up costs, but Musk said he disagreed.
If the Falcon 1 had to be flown by a C-17 military transport aircraft, the cost would be significant, but the rocket is being moved by ship, which is less expensive, Musk said.
Kwajalein is a “great location” for a space launch, he said. The atoll is sparsely populated and not as restrictive as other spaceports. At Vandenberg, it is much more difficult to schedule launches because it is in a highly populated area, Musk said.
SpaceX’s next five planned missions will originate either from Kwajalein or Cape Canaveral in Florida, he said.
Falcon 1’s liquid fuel is composed of kerosene and oxygen, which is more cost effective than using a mix of solid and liquid substances, Musk said. Using these propellants, it costs $50,000 to refuel the rocket for every flight, he said. Once the rocket is in the “ready state,” it can be launched in 70 minutes.
The second vehicle that DARPA is funding is unlike most traditional rockets — it does not launch vertically from the ground.
AirLaunch LLC’s QuickReach booster is carried to altitude inside the cargo bay of a C-17 or other large aircraft.
AirLaunch was awarded a contract worth $17.8 million in late 2005 to develop a rocket under the Falcon program.
An experiment in April marked the end of the contract’s second phase and also the completion of its 40th test fire, said Debra Facktor Lepore, AirLaunch president.
The rocket is powered by a combustion process called VaPak burn, which uses liquid oxygen and propane, Lepore said. This technique is especially effective at an altitude of 30,000 feet, the level at which the C-17 carrying the booster will fly, Lepore said. The vehicle is small enough so it can fit inside an airplane.
“A typical rocket engine has a turbo pump to ignite and mix the propellant … the QuickReach booster has no turbo pumps and very few moving parts,” Lepore said.
During drop tests, the booster was put inside the cargo hold of a C-17 and as the aircraft nose was turned up exactly six degrees, gravity pulled the vehicle out the aft door.
The company chose to use the C-17 Globemaster as its “launch pad” because of the aircraft’s sound maintenance record and quick responsiveness, Lepore noted. The rocket is also compatible with the C-5 Galaxy or any large cargo aircraft.
It could even be used with commercial airplanes, such as a 747 or DC-10 in a “belly launch” fashion, where the rocket would be fastened underneath the plane, Lepore said.
AirLaunch officials are guardedly optimistic that they can meet DARPA’s original launch goal of $5 million per flight.
Lepore said she expects to conduct a flight demonstration by 2010, the goal date set by the National Space Transportation Policy.
These experimental rockets give the Air Force hope that it can attain “operationally responsive space” capabilities. Rapidly deployable rockets have a shorter life, but they can be built faster and at relatively low costs, said Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark H. Owen, a space requirements official.
The accomplishments in the Falcon program could help mature new projects and give program managers more options to improve the acquisition process, noted a GAO report.
AirLaunch and SpaceX could pave the way for other entrepreneurs in the budding market for “operationally responsive” launch vehicles, GAO said. “Building low-cost, responsive satellites and launch vehicles could create opportunities for small, innovative companies to compete for Defense Department contracts and thereby increase competition and broaden the space industrial base.”
Please email your comments to BWagner@ndia.org
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