Posted on 10/12/2005 5:14:12 PM PDT by Boundless
The rear of the aircraft yawned open, and at the prompt of "five, four, three, two, one, green light," the loadmasters released the restraints and a 65-foot rocket slid out the back of the aircraft beginning its descent to the desert floor.
The rocket drop was a test mission -- the first of a series dubbed the Falcon Small Launch Vehicle program. The program is a joint venture between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Air Force. It is designed to develop a new method of putting a 1,000-pound payload into low-Earth orbit.
This first test was the successful drop of an inert version of a QuickReach Booster rocket filled with water to increase its weight to 50,000 pounds -- about two-thirds the weight of an actual booster.
(Excerpt) Read more at af.mil ...
Actually, this is a test flight for the dropping of a 50,000 pound MOAB on Hassad's neighborhood..If you are currently in the neighborhood and see a giant airplane flying over, don't bother to call 911..
Is there a large price diferential, perhaps? Maybe DARPA likes the idea of using an unmodified C-17, versus a modified B-52. Speculation, only, here.
I just tried to read the AF.mil site and can't get in.
Must be that Cogent vs Level3 feud thing going on.
10/7/2005 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- Soaring 6,000 feet above the sun-baked California desert, a pair of Edwards aircraft -- a C-17 Globemaster III shadowed by a C-12 Huron observer aircraft -- carried out an unusual mission with an even more unusual cargo recently.
The rear of the aircraft yawned open, and at the prompt of "five, four, three, two, one, green light," the loadmasters released the restraints and a 65-foot rocket slid out the back of the aircraft beginning its descent to the desert floor.
The rocket drop was a test mission -- the first of a series dubbed the Falcon Small Launch Vehicle program. The program is a joint venture between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Air Force. It is designed to develop a new method of putting a 1,000-pound payload into low-Earth orbit.
This first test was the successful drop of an inert version of a QuickReach Booster rocket filled with water to increase its weight to 50,000 pounds -- about two-thirds the weight of an actual booster.
To compensate for the difference in weight and the center of gravity, the aircraft was put on autopilot at the moment of the release, said Maj. Landon Henderson, a 418th Flight Test Squadron test pilot.
"Fifty-thousand pounds going out the back is a pretty big change," he said.
Major Henderson said this flight was doubly exciting for him. Not only was the mission “fun,” but it was also his final flight here.
The test vehicle is also the longest article ever dropped from a C-17.
Another unique aspect of this mission was the method of getting the test vehicle out of the C-17. In most airdrops, the cargo is strapped to pallets, and the whole package is ejected from the aircraft.
"For this test, a system of rollers was developed to guide the inert rocket out of the aircraft," said Chris Webber, a 418th FLTS test project engineer. "This was quite an exciting event. It ended up going out very clean ... but there's always that anticipation of the unknown."
The Falcon SLV program is ultimately aimed toward affordable space lift. The current price of launching a rocket payload can be $20 million or more. Completion of the Falcon project should reduce that price tag to less than $5 million.
Dr. Steve Walker, DARPA's program manager for the Falcon SLV, said the developing capability will give U.S. forces a huge advantage because of its affordability and flexibility.
The affordability of the system is enhanced by its simplicity, DARPA officials said. Since traditional rockets launch from the ground, a complicated and expensive rocket nozzle must be used to compensate for altitude variation.
"Because the rocket is launched at altitude, it takes advantage of higher performing and extremely simple nozzles, which can be optimized for the higher altitude condition," Dr. Walker said. "Also, propane fuel can be self pressurized at that altitude, so no turbopumps or pressure feed systems are required to force propellant into the combustion chamber."
Another advantage to launching a satellite by air is the launch location and time is limitless. Currently, rocket launches are dictated by the location of launch facilities and many other factors including weather. By putting the system on a C-17, there is no limit to geographic location, and the aircraft can fly away from or above the weather.
"The Airlaunch rocket can be flown anywhere in the world in any unmodified C-17," Dr. Walker said. "This capability can be used by other services, especially the Army, to put tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites into low-Earth orbit. These tactical satellites could be used and controlled by combatant commanders, supplying the frontline warfighter with in-orbit ISR capability."
This first test, dropping a mock-up rocket from 6,000 feet, was designed to test the safety of the release system, program officials said. Future drops will be at increasingly higher altitudes, ultimately testing the drop of a live rocket, which will launch at altitude after leaving the aircraft.
http://www.af.mil/media/photodb/photos/051007-F-0000Z-001.jpg
> I just tried to read the AF.mil site and can't get in.
> Must be that Cogent vs Level3 feud thing going on.
Same story is reported on Aero-News Network at:
http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=2438ae1a-c4e5-451c-b793-f3219af9d91d&
Cool.
Thanks!
Wonder if anyone else is getting "Page Cannot be Found"?
I couldn't get into PC Worlds website last night either.
Cogent and Level3 better resolve their issues soon.
The aircraft having to go on autopilot at the moment of release is neat.
50K pounds lighter, the plane has to have bounced upward slightly from that.
Thanks!
Seems like a reasonable assumption...
Re your #2:
"...this is a test flight for the dropping of a 50,000 pound MOAB on Hassad's neighborhood.."
Dream on.
Bush et al didn't have the cahunnas to use one in Iraq when the "elite" republican guard was all bunched up waiting for it - not even one "daisy cutter" that I'm aware of.
So Saddamn's finest, having been spared the wrath of an invader who might have really expected to "win" a real "war", just obligingly melted into the backwaters and allyways, and are now picking us off one, two, or five at a time with roadside and islammokazi bombs.
And at this point I very much doubt that our ever so sensitive Leader will dare "offending" anyone in the "Arab Street" by starting to use such weapons anywhere else.
And Jihaddistan knows it, too.
Hasaad, IMHO, is pretty safe, as is the Iatolla Humaenni, for the foreseeable future.
Unless, perhaps, they cross Israel once too often.
But even Israel seems to be suffering from a testosterone drain these days.
What gives?
IIRC, good reconnaissance satellites like KH series are MUCH heavier than 1000 lbs.
I think it may have something to do with the military uses of UN-MODIFIED C-17's ....
My comment was meant to be facetious. Dropping MOABs is not a decision made by Bush. I'll go with Franks judgment on how to fight a war. I think he did a great job. Syria will collapse politically once we are pointed that way. Right now, we don't need a second front in Iraq. Once Iraq is stable, we will deal with Syria and once Syria has collapsed, we can address Iran without worrying about our rear or flanks. Iran will collapse politically, also IMO.
> Maybe DARPA likes the idea of using an unmodified C-17,
> versus a modified B-52. Speculation, only, here.
If they just need some surge launch capacity, just give
the funding to OSC and have them convert another TriStar
or two.
On the other hand, if this works, as it seems it will,
using a C-5 might provide a substantial boost in booster
size and payload over either the C-17 or L-1011/Pegasus.
A big advantage the USAF has over OSC, by the way, is
that the lifter need take off with only enough fuel to
hit a tanker (plus mission-abort margin), increasing
payload. It might take several hits to reach launch
altitude, with the a/c never carrying more than minimal
fuel.
"Fifty-thousand pounds going out the back is a pretty big change.."
ummm, can I nominate this as understatement of the year?
snicker, snicker....
It's been done with ICBMs and C-5s.
There are some pictures of the ICBM/C-5 drops here:
http://forums.military.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/4841993461/m/4920000620001/r/6140092620001
Looks like it was over 30 years ago.
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