The San Bernardino, Calif.-based KST has been conducting the EXD program in cooperation with NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and the Air Force Flight Test Center under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory, formerly the USAF Phillips Laboratory.

NASA Dryden is providing KST with equipment, facilities, research pilots, engineering services, and flight test operations support for the EXD program under a no-funds-exchange Space Act Agreement. As the Responsible Test Organization (RTO), NASA Dryden also is responsible for flight safety.

During the last year, KST jointly participated in the ground and flight tests of its Eclipse Tow Launch Technology using modified, USAF-supplied QF-106A aircraft, along with a USAF Flight Test Center-supplied C-141A tow aircraft at Edwards AFB. The tests have demonstrated the viability of the Eclipse Tow Launch Technology, and have confirmed that a supersonic delta-wing aircraft can be towed safely.

Under the SBIR contract, the QF-106A has been modified to incorporate tow provisions to link it to the C-141A tow aircraft. The QF-106A delta-wing aircraft represents a scaled version of the delta-wing KST family of Reusable Aerospace Planes, which the company is developing for commercial operation. The C-141A two aircraft represents a commercial jet aircraft such as a Boeing 747 , which KST will modify to tow its Astroliner Aerospace Plane.

The Astroliner, a delta-wing vehicle slightly larger than the Space Shuttle, will accommodate payload weights up to 10,000 lbs. utilizing a second-stage liquid propellant propulsion system. Smaller payloads and lower orbits will be handled with a more cost-effective solid propulsion second stage. The Astroliner will begin commercial operations by mid-2001.

Under the Eclipse Tow Launch Technology, KST will use a modified aircraft to tow the Astroliner from a conventional runway to a launch altitude of 20,000 feet. At launch altitude, the main rocket engine is ignited, the tow line is released, and the Astroliner climbs to the designated payload deployment altitude of approximately 400,000 feet.

Following deployment from the Astroliner, the expendable second stage is ignited and delivers the customer's satellite into the desired orbit. After the spacecraft and second stage separation, the stage will be programmed to reenter the atmosphere to avoid leaving debris in orbit.

The Astroliner reenters the atmosphere and, after having decelerated to subsonic speeds, starts its air-breathing (jet engine) propulsion system. It then flies to a designated conventional runway as a piloted aircraft.

Last May, KST was issued a U.S. patent for ``Space launch vehicles configured as gliders and towed to launch altitude by conventional aircraft.''

According to its inventor, Michael Kelly, KST president and chief executive officer, ``Our Eclipse tow launch technique, coupled with the launch vehicle's reusability, substantially lowers the cost and increases flexibility well beyond that for fixed-site, expendable or weight-limited airborne launch systems.''

Motorola has awarded KST a $89 million contract to launch 20 communications satellites into orbit for the Iridium satellite-based, global personal communications system, which Motorola is developing at its Satellite Communications facility in Chandler, Ariz.

``As KST's flagship, the Astroliner will provide a cargo delivery service,'' said Kelly, ``ranging from deploying satellites and delivering intercontinental packages. In the long run, development of reliable and low-cost space transportation also will enable the general public to travel in space.''

By this December, KST will introduce into operation its first aerospace plane , the Sprint, which will provide sub-orbital services to half of the existing $80 million sub-orbital market.

KST has licensed Eclipse Space Lines of San Bernardino to conduct operational flight services for the Sprint Aerospace Plane using the KST patented Eclipse Tow Launch Technology. The Sprint's services are being marketed by Microgravity Corp. of San Diego for use by universities, pharmaceutical companies and computer chip manufacturers seeking sub-orbital services for micro-gravity experiments.

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