"What's innovative about our newly-patented launch concept, said Ken Hampsten, AFRL's launch tube inventor, "is that it can add a unique space launch capability to existing military cargo aircraft."

Hampsten explained that this could possibly avoid costly development of specially modified carrier launch aircraft and expensive construction of new runways, launch pads, and vehicle processing facilities. The modular launch tube could be designed to reconfigure the aircraft from space launch to normal cargo modes in less than a day.

"Virtually all aircraft and ground support systems are already in place to support this innovative rapid launch concept. It could be a quick and cheap way to send supplies up to the International Space Station," addded Hampsten.

Microsatellites are a concept the Air Force Research Laboratory is investigating for implementation in the future. Microsatellites are categorized as weighing less than 100 Kg (about 220 pounds) and can operate individually or be in clustered formations or constellations. Many microsatellite concepts range between 40 to over 200 microsats in low-Earth-orbit, unlike today's large single satellites flying alone.

To make them effective and efficient, microsatellites will need to be launched in a series of low-cost, high-flight-rate missions. As a result, the lab has been exploring launch concepts capable of low flight cost, high reliability, and quick ground turn-around times. "And the launch tube method is specifically designed to fit that bill," said Hampsten.

Simply, a small expendable or reusable launch vehicle, possibly the two-stage reusable spaceplane depicted above, would be ejected using the pneumatic tube integrated into the inside of the cargo bay of a C-141B, C-5A, or C-17A aircraft, using modified cargo doors.

With the aircraft flying at 35,000- 40,000 feet around 530 miles per hour, the tube would expel the vehicle out of the back of the aircraft over the ocean.

By combining the airborne launch tube with the unique design features of the spaceplane shown above, the overall system could lower the vehicle's propulsion system orbital velocity requirements by up to ten percent.

Basically, this would be accomplished through a head start in altitude and speed, implementing a first-stage vacuum nozzle and advanced variable geometry wing technology, said Hampsten.

The upper stage, equipped with a much smaller version of a payload bay similar to the Space Shuttle, would take the satellite to orbit, deploy it, and return to earth, possibly using a parafoil technique for ground landing, similar to NASA's flight tested X-38 reentry lifting body/parafoil experimental recovery vehicles. After separation, the booster is designed to glide back to land for recovery as well.

Hampsten leads AFRL's Space Vehicles Directorate's Advanced Space Transportation Branch at Kirtland Air Force Base and is responsible for flight-testing innovative launch systems as well as creating and evaluating concepts that can improve the responsiveness and lower the cost of getting payloads safely into space.

[NOTE: An image supporting this release is available at http://www.vs.afrl.af.mil/News/01-10.html Community
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