Session
Session IX: Launch Systems
Abstract
UP Aerospace (UP) and AeroAstro have teamed to produce a quick launch capability for space component testing in a sub-orbital environment. Designed for commercial endeavors, this quick launch capability has a time span of concept-to-flight measured in weeks, not months or years. As more products are developed for microspace, space component testing will become an important part of the business case for commercial sub-orbital launch vehicles. In August 2006, UP and AeroAstro will launch the inaugural flight from the New Mexico Spaceport. This first flight of the UP vehicle, SpaceLoftXL, will carry an early version of AeroAstro’s Miniature Star Tracker (MST), verifying operation in a launch environment via post-mission recovery of its solid state data recorder. The entire project from payload design to testbed software development to vehicle integration took only 10 weeks. Importantly, this flight will be repeated in October 2006 with different payloads, demonstrating quick turnaround and the commitment and capability of UP and AeroAstro to provide regular, reliable, and repeatable low-cost access to space. We show here how the lessons learned in 20+ years of microspacecraft experience have been translated into this launch effort, achieving performance and cost levels needed to make regular, repeated launches attractive to business.
The First New Mexico Spaceport Launch: UP Aerospace and AeroAstro Team Together to Provide Regular and Repeatable Launches for Space Component Testing.
UP Aerospace (UP) and AeroAstro have teamed to produce a quick launch capability for space component testing in a sub-orbital environment. Designed for commercial endeavors, this quick launch capability has a time span of concept-to-flight measured in weeks, not months or years. As more products are developed for microspace, space component testing will become an important part of the business case for commercial sub-orbital launch vehicles. In August 2006, UP and AeroAstro will launch the inaugural flight from the New Mexico Spaceport. This first flight of the UP vehicle, SpaceLoftXL, will carry an early version of AeroAstro’s Miniature Star Tracker (MST), verifying operation in a launch environment via post-mission recovery of its solid state data recorder. The entire project from payload design to testbed software development to vehicle integration took only 10 weeks. Importantly, this flight will be repeated in October 2006 with different payloads, demonstrating quick turnaround and the commitment and capability of UP and AeroAstro to provide regular, reliable, and repeatable low-cost access to space. We show here how the lessons learned in 20+ years of microspacecraft experience have been translated into this launch effort, achieving performance and cost levels needed to make regular, repeated launches attractive to business.
