Low-Cost, Reliable Spacelift for Small Satellites using a Peacekeeper ICBM Derived Space Launch Vehicle and Multi Payload Adapters

Low-Cost, Reliable Spacelift for Small Satellites using a Peacekeeper ICBM Derived Space Launch Vehicle and Multi Payload Adapters

The Air Force Rocket Systems Launch Program (RSLP) is charged with the storage and reutilization of surplus Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). This responsibility places RSLP in a unique position to support small Research and Development satellites by providing low-cost, reliable access to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The greatest challenge for small R&D satellites is to obtain a ride to orbit and stay within budget. It is common for the cost of a ride to orbit to be twice the cost of the satellite itself. Many groups are trying to reduce the large cost of a ride to orbit. Early commercial Small Launch Vehicles (SLVs) were relatively inexpensive but the cost of a launch service quickly grew by a factor of 2-3. NASA and the Air Force have been supporting initiatives to develop a true low-cost SLV for over ten years. While some of these initiatives show great promise, none have succeeded in producing a true low-cost launch vehicle (around 500 lbm to orbit for under $5 million). RSLP’s access to surplus boosters allows it to produce lower cost SLVs. These boosters represent the highest cost component for the launch vehicle hardware. Typically, boosters represent 90% of the cost of launch vehicle hardware. Surplus ICBM boosters, integrated into launch vehicles using modern avionics, offer a way to shave 30%-50% off the cost of comparable launch vehicles composed of new commercial boosters. While these cost savings do not result in a true low-cost SLV, they do represent a significant cost savings and serve as an excellent interim capability until a truly low-cost SLV is developed. RSLP has used surplus Minuteman I and Minuteman II boosters to support target and sub-orbital launch missions for over 30 years. RSLP has been using surplus boosters, coupled with new commercial boosters to support the launch of U.S. Government R&D satellites since 1998. In 1998, RSLP supported its first orbital mission by launching an R&D satellite using a Peacekeeper ICBM Stage 1 to replace the Castor 120 booster on a Taurus SLV. This strategy saved the satellite customer about $6M. RSLP developed the Minotaur SLV under the Orbital Suborbital Program (OSP). The Minotaur SLV is composed of the first two stages of a Minuteman II ICBM, a modified Pegasus Stage 2, Stage 3, avionics section, and fairing. Despite the fact that two of the four rocket motors on the Minotaur stack are commercial motors, the use of Minuteman II motors resulted in a SLV with a 50% increase in payload capacity for a launch cost that is about 60% that of a comparable SLV. The inaugural flight of Minotaur in January 2000 lofted five small satellites, including four student projects, into LEO. This mission not only demonstrated that the Minotaur design was viable, it also served as an example of how to achieve true low-cost rides to orbit (around $4M per satellite) by leveraging relatively low-cost launch vehicles assembled from surplus motors with Multi-Payload Adapters (MPAs) that allow several payloads to share the launch vehicle cost. Since that mission, RSLP in cooperation with the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/VS), located at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, have developed several payload adapters for use on Minotaur and the new Peacekeeper SLV (PKSLV). This paper will focus on a scheme to use the large capacity and low cost of the PKSLV coupled with two new payload adapters to provide reliable, low-cost spacelift for the R&D satellite community. PKSLV provides about three times the lift capacity of Minotaur for about the same mission cost. This cost saving results from the fact that PKSLV uses only one, relatively inexpensive, commercial motor along with the first three Peacekeeper ICBM motors, a new manufacture interstage, proven Minotaur avionics, and the proven Taurus 92” fairing. This launch vehicle can lift over 2200 lbm to a 400 nm Sun synchronous orbit. It has a generous payload volume with a dynamic envelope of over 80” in diameter and over 120” long. This launch vehicle configuration could lift eight 300 lbm satellites into a two-year polar orbit for around $20M. This equates to a spacelift cost of about $2.5M per satellite. A more typical mission would be to carry a primary satellite payload massing around 1000 lbm along with three 300 lbm secondary satellites carried to a similar orbit. The primary satellite’s share of the launch costs would be around $10M with each payload contributing about $3.3 M each. This scenario results in a ride to orbit for the primary satellite that is about one-half the cost of a solo lift on a comparable SLV. The lift costs for the secondary payloads result in a savings of over $15M each payload over the cost of a solo ride to orbit. The keys to achieving these low lift costs are a relatively large SLV with lower launch costs coupled with a payload adapter that can fly several payloads using the available spacelift to maximum efficiency. Innovative multi-payload management schemes coupled with low-cost satellite manufacturing methods complete the equation for cheap, reliable spacelift to orbit.