Pegasus?

Joann Evans in his last post sent me a url regarding Pegasus. The web
page had several pages of Pegasus, and the now civilian aircraft used
to launch it.

Could a scaled up Pagasus be used to send a person into LEO like an
orbital capable X-15? Be a cheap and cheerful way to get two people
into space or to the ISS in sort of like a tandem Gemini capsule.


Christopher
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Kites rise highest against
the wind - not with it."
Winston Churchill

Rand Simberg wrote:

...and that person
would have to be foolish enough to go up on a vehicle that was all
solids...

Then you oppose the use of solids in ejection seats and launch escape
towers? :-)

Jim Davis

(Christopher) wrote in message ...
Joann Evans in his last post sent me a url regarding Pegasus. The web
page had several pages of Pegasus, and the now civilian aircraft used
to launch it.

Could a scaled up Pagasus be used to send a person into LEO like an
orbital capable X-15? Be a cheap and cheerful way to get two people
into space or to the ISS in sort of like a tandem Gemini capsule.


Pegasus XL can only get about 300 kg into an ISS orbit, so you would
have to scale your vehicle up by a factor of 15 or so to handle
the mass of a Gemini-class capsule. Problem is, Pegasus XL weighs
23,130 kg at launch, so your scaled up vehicle would weigh nearly
347 metric tons - way beyond the payload capability (or even the
total mass) of any commercial aircraft.

- Ed Kyle

In article ,
Christopher wrote:
Could a scaled up Pagasus be used to send a person into LEO like an
orbital capable X-15?

There has been at least one proposal for a Pegasus-launched capsule.
Space and mass are tight, and accelerations are uncomfortably high, but it
is probably possible. That's for *one* man, mind you.

Be a cheap and cheerful way to get two people
into space or to the ISS in sort of like a tandem Gemini capsule.

If you want two men or you want to reach the ISS orbit, or both, you're
going to need a considerably larger vehicle. This goes beyond what is
reasonable for even an improved Pegasus.

In principle, you can scale Pegasus up, but it's a whole new launcher with
new solid motors -- not a small development job. Moreover, anything much
heavier than the existing Pegasus won't fit on the existing carrier
aircraft, although you can go somewhat larger by switching aircraft. You
would be better off dumping the Pegasus heritage and designing the new
launcher from scratch, though. (Most notably, few people would now use
solid motors in a launcher designed for manned flight.)

Of course, as Gary Hudson has pointed out, the USAF has a bunch of retired
Titan II ICBMs -- essentially the same rocket that launched Gemini --
sitting in storage. If you want to launch a Gemini...
--
MOST launched 1015 EDT 30 June, separated 1046, | Henry Spencer
first ground-station pass 1651, all nominal! |

(ed kyle) wrote in message . com...
(Christopher) wrote in message ...
Joann Evans in his last post sent me a url regarding Pegasus. The web
page had several pages of Pegasus, and the now civilian aircraft used
to launch it.

Could a scaled up Pagasus be used to send a person into LEO like an
orbital capable X-15? Be a cheap and cheerful way to get two people
into space or to the ISS in sort of like a tandem Gemini capsule.


Pegasus XL can only get about 300 kg into an ISS orbit, so you would
have to scale your vehicle up by a factor of 15 or so to handle
the mass of a Gemini-class capsule. Problem is, Pegasus XL weighs
23,130 kg at launch, so your scaled up vehicle would weigh nearly
347 metric tons - way beyond the payload capability (or even the
total mass) of any commercial aircraft.


Oops. Not quite correct. The largest 747s and the upcoming
double deck Airbus can gross 400 tons or more. But I was
correct that their payload capacities are much less than
347 tons.

- Ed Kyle

h (Rand Simberg) wrote in message . ..
On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 09:42:27 GMT, in a place far, far away,
(Christopher) made the phosphor on my monitor
glow in such a way as to indicate that:

Joann Evans in his last post sent me a url regarding Pegasus. The web
page had several pages of Pegasus, and the now civilian aircraft used
to launch it.

Could a scaled up Pagasus be used to send a person into LEO like an
orbital capable X-15? Be a cheap and cheerful way to get two people
into space or to the ISS in sort of like a tandem Gemini capsule.

It would probably need a larger carrier aircraft, and that person
would have to be foolish enough to go up on a vehicle that was all
solids, and has a poor reliability record. Not to mention the fact
that it wouldn't be cheap. You wouldn't get me on it.

I agree with you about the incombatibility of main solid motors
and crewed flight. And you are correct that Pegasus has a less
than stellar reliability record (comparable to Titan IV overall).
However, I wanted to point out that Pegasus, after a rocky start,
has turned into a reasonably reliable launcher in recent years,
with 21 consecutive successes since its last failure in 1996.

- Ed Kyle

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 00:58:59 GMT, Joann Evans
wrote:

Christopher wrote:

Joann Evans in his last post sent me a url regarding Pegasus. The web
page had several pages of Pegasus, and the now civilian aircraft used
to launch it.

Could a scaled up Pagasus be used to send a person into LEO like an
orbital capable X-15? Be a cheap and cheerful way to get two people
into space or to the ISS in sort of like a tandem Gemini capsule.

'His?' Hmmm....

Your a woman, hmmm.




Christopher
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Kites rise highest against
the wind - not with it."
Winston Churchill

"Christopher" wrote ...
On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 00:58:59 GMT, Joann Evans
wrote:

'His?' Hmmm....

Your a woman, hmmm.

What's a with the accent?/mario brothers

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 11:02:28 +0100, "Paul Blay"
wrote:

"Christopher" wrote ...
On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 00:58:59 GMT, Joann Evans
wrote:

'His?' Hmmm....

Your a woman, hmmm.

What's a with the accent?/mario brothers

If it was it's an North Western English accent.



Christopher
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Kites rise highest against
the wind - not with it."
Winston Churchill

Could a scaled up Pagasus be used to send a person into LEO like an
orbital capable X-15?
Maybe. But don't forget, Peg doesn't take it's wings to orbit, they're part
of the first stage. Only a tiny fourth stage makes orbit and it'd have to be
big enough to carry wings, heat shielding, docking port, maneuvering motors and
landing gear.
But the principle of air launching people into orbit will probably be de
rigeur soon.
^
//^\\
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