Flight Testing of a New Earth-to-Orbit Air Launch Method

Sarigul-Klijn, Marti; Sarigul‐Klijn, Nesrin; Morgan, Bob; Tighe, Jim; Leon, Arnaldo; Hudson, Gary; McKinney, Bevin; Gump, David

doi:10.2514/1.18559

Cited by 13 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…(1) Design compromises of the air-launched rocket, requirement for storable propellant, carrier aircraft crew safety [47], additional structural weight due to additional load direction of horizontally carried rocket [48], result in rocket weight reduction of only 15% out of maximal 28%.…”

Section: The Critic Of the Air Launch Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Low-Cost Launch Assistance System for Orbital Launch Vehicles

Nizhnik¹

2012

International Journal of Aerospace Engineering

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The author reviews the state of art of nonrocket launch assistance systems (LASs) for spaceflight focusing on air launch options. The author proposes an alternative technologically feasible LAS based on a combination of approaches: air launch, high-altitude balloon, and tethered LAS. Proposed LAS can be implemented with the existing off-the-shelf hardware delivering 7 kg to low-earth orbit for the 5200 USD per kg. Proposed design can deliver larger reduction in price and larger orbital payloads with the future advances in the aerostats, ropes, electrical motors, and terrestrial power networks.

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Section: The Critic Of the Air Launch Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Low-Cost Launch Assistance System for Orbital Launch Vehicles

Nizhnik¹

2012

International Journal of Aerospace Engineering

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“…However, most air-launch studies consider the use of aircraft [19][20][21][22][23]. Due to the lack of previously published analyses of optimization concerning balloonlaunched low-altitude sounding rockets, this paper has the aim of showing such a close-to-optimal rockoon configuration in terms of commercial use.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility of a low-cost sounding rockoon platform

2016

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The interference aerodynamics caused by the wing elasticity during store separation

Yang

2016

Acta Astronautica

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Air-launch-to-orbit is the technology that has stores carried aloft and launched the store from the plane to the orbit. The separation between the aircraft and store is one of the most important and difficult phases in Air-launch-to-orbit technology. There exists strong aerodynamic interference between the aircraft and the store in store separation. When the aspect ratio of the aircraft is large, the elastic deformations of the wing must be considered. The main purpose of this article is to study the influence of the interference aerodynamics caused by the elastic deformations of the wing to the unsteady aerodynamics of the store. By solving the coupled functions of unsteady Navier-Stokes equations, six degrees of freedom dynamic equations and structural dynamic equations simultaneously, the store separation with the elastic deformation of the aircraft considered is simulated numerically. And the interactive aerodynamic forces are analyzed. The study shows that the interference aerodynamics is obvious at earlier time during the separation, and the dominant frequency of the elastic wing determines the aerodynamic forces frequencies of the store. Because of the effect of the interference aerodynamics, the roll angle response and pitch angle response increase. When the store is mounted under the wingtip, the additional aerodynamics caused by the wingtip vortex is obvious, which accelerate the divergence of the lateral force and the lateral-directional attitude angle of the store. This study supports some beneficial conclusions to the engineering application of the air-launch-to-orbit.

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Flight Testing of a New Earth-to-Orbit Air Launch Method

Cited by 13 publications

References 1 publication

A Low-Cost Launch Assistance System for Orbital Launch Vehicles

A Low-Cost Launch Assistance System for Orbital Launch Vehicles

Feasibility of a low-cost sounding rockoon platform

The interference aerodynamics caused by the wing elasticity during store separation

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