Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

The US military’s advanced research division is working on a new program that would make it possible to launch a satellite directly from the underbelly of a jet fighter, potentially providing an innovative, quicker, and less expensive way of putting a payload into orbit.

According to Engadget, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Airborne Launch Assist Space Access (ALASA) program is developing small rockets capable of carrying probes up to 100 pounds in size into orbit with the assistance of a standard military aircraft.

The project has been in the works since 2011, but DARPA has just recently released a video that demonstrates exactly how the takeoff procedure will work. The aircraft will carry the mission’s launch vehicle down a regular runway. Once it becomes airborne, the LV will separate from the plane and ignite its first-stage booster, sending the payload into orbit, CBS News explained.

Fast, easy, and cheap – The McDonalds of rockets

The technology is said to be similar in nature to the Pegasus rocket, which DARPA helped Dulles, Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corporation develop in 1990. However, ALASA uses a different type of propulsion system and is designed to transport smaller, less expensive satellites. Since it is a reusable system, it could also help governments and space agencies save money.

In fact, Engadget said that a typical SpaceX launch costs approximately $55 million and is considered inexpensive for a large rocket mission, and ALASA will only run an estimated $1 million. Furthermore, while it can take several years to schedule a launch under the current government system, DARPA’s innovative new program could complete a mission in just 24 hours.

During last week’s 18th Annual Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington, DC, Bradford Tousley, director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, provided an update on the progress of the ALASA project. He noted that the Phase 1 design had been completed, and that Boeing would be the prime contractor for Phase 2, which would include 12 orbital launch tests involving an integrated prototype system.

“We’ve made good progress so far toward ALASA’s ambitious goal of propelling 100-pound satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) within 24 hours of call-up, all for less than $1 million per launch,” Tousley explained in a statement. “We’re moving ahead with rigorous testing of new technologies that we hope one day could enable revolutionary satellite launch systems that provide more affordable, routine and reliable access to space.”

More launch locations

In addition to making it cheaper and easier to launch Defense Department satellites, ALASA helps solve another problem – the limited number of available launch locations. By creating an expendable launch vehicle that uses conventional jet fighters as a reusable first stage, the system would get to high altitude and release the LV, which then carries to payload into orbit.

Mitchell Burnside Clapp, DARPA program manager for ALASA, explained that the new launch system “seeks to overcome the limitations of current launch systems by streamlining design and manufacturing and leveraging the flexibility and re-usability of an air-launched system.”

“We envision an alternative to ride-sharing for satellites that enables satellite owners to launch payloads from any location into orbits of their choosing, on schedules of their choosing, on a launch vehicle designed specifically for small payloads,” he added. The first ALASA flight demonstration is slated for later this year, followed by the first orbital launch test in early 2016.

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