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U.S. Army eyeing 'nanomissile' launcher
On Aug 15, 2:46*pm, Jochem Huhmann wrote:
Pat Flannery writes: I'll say this for them; if they can actually get something 12 feet tall to put a usable payload weight into orbit, my hat's off to them - particularly if it's surface launched. Nature is betting against it. If you can get above most of the atmosphere before launching (air launch) it may be doable. It even may be useful. * * * * Jochem Well, the Pegasus rocket uses the Stargazer (a modified L-1011) aircraft to launch it: http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Publ...gasus_fact.pdf Does the Army have any similar aircraft? Or would they have to outsource the "mothership" job? |
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U.S. Army eyeing 'nanomissile' launcher
On 8/15/2010 1:46 PM, Jochem Huhmann wrote:
Pat writes: I'll say this for them; if they can actually get something 12 feet tall to put a usable payload weight into orbit, my hat's off to them - particularly if it's surface launched. Nature is betting against it. If you can get above most of the atmosphere before launching (air launch) it may be doable. It even may be useful. Considering that they have gotten kinetic kill vehicles down to very light weight, I'd like to know what altitude a vehicle that could put a satellite into LEO could reach with a KKV fired vertically for ASAT work? For some comparison, the Thor IRBM couldn't put anything into orbit without a upper stage being added, but when used in a direct ascent ASAT role could toss a W-49 nuclear warhead up to a max altitude of 700 km: http://www.astronautix.com/craft/proam437.htm This shows the warhead as weighing around 1,660 pounds: http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/.../Allbombs.html Given that info, the "nanomissile" might have pretty formidable direct ascent ASAT capabilities in regards to altitude with a lightweight KKV as its payload. Pat |
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U.S. Army eyeing 'nanomissile' launcher
On 8/15/2010 6:25 PM, wrote:
Well, the Pegasus rocket uses the Stargazer (a modified L-1011) aircraft to launch it: http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Publ...gasus_fact.pdf Does the Army have any similar aircraft? Or would they have to outsource the "mothership" job? The military has been doing tests on a C-17A Globemaster II as a booster launch aircraft: http://www.airlaunchllc.com/index.htm There's also been interest shown in carrying a booster aloft under a military derivative of Virgin Galactic's White Knight II. Once it gets down to only 12 feet long, a lot of different aircraft could theoretically carry it, including a F-15 going Mach 2 in a zoom climb at over 60,000 feet...which would really help its total abilities in regard to needed delta-V. In fact, if it wasn't too heavy, a F-15 might be able to carry two aloft at once for simultaneous launching (one from under either wing, or along the lower outer fuselage sides where the bombs go in the F-15E Strike Eagle); since only a light fuel load would need to be carried by the Eagle to do this, more weight could be devoted to the nanomissiles. Pat |
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U.S. Army eyeing 'nanomissile' launcher
On 8/16/2010 1:32 AM, Pat Flannery wrote:
Scott Lowther has some new info on it on his blog: http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=6835 Including artwork and a video simulation. Pat |
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U.S. Army eyeing 'nanomissile' launcher
Pat Flannery wrote in news:CKadndbz4JxPePXRnZ2dnUVZ_q-
hdakotatelephone: On 8/16/2010 1:32 AM, Pat Flannery wrote: Scott Lowther has some new info on it on his blog: http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=6835 Including artwork and a video simulation. Okay, the information in the video makes a lot more sense. --Damon |
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U.S. Army eyeing 'nanomissile' launcher
Has a lot in common with the multi-pod pressure-fed design of the
Microcosm Scorpius, and also with the F-15-launched satellite vehicle, two concepts AFRL has played with but was never able to fund to completion. See the papers from the Conference on Small Satellites on both. I worked a bit on the F-15, partially inspired by 1958's NOTSNIK, before it morphed into the hopelessly impractical RASCAL (a program which prompted a cost analyst I know to say, "They're smoking crack.") I provided AFRL with the NOTSNIK data I accumulated in the course of writing The First Space Race. There was a post-RASCAL AFRL investigation into a version of the original idea, using an F-15 or F-22, but I don't think it ever made it past the paper stage. The air-launched, five-stage NOTSNIK, which would have worked with some more testing and funding (rather than posting its actual record, most likely getting one shaky orbit out of six launches), weighed 930kg and was the smallest satellite launcher to date. Matt Bille Author, The First Space Race: Launching the World's First Satellites www.mattwriter.com |
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U.S. Army eyeing 'nanomissile' launcher
On Aug 16, 3:32*am, Pat Flannery wrote:
On 8/15/2010 6:25 PM, wrote: Well, the Pegasus rocket uses the Stargazer (a modified L-1011) aircraft to launch it: http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Publ...gasus_fact.pdf Does the Army have any similar aircraft? *Or would they have to outsource the "mothership" job? The military has been doing tests on a C-17A Globemaster II as a booster launch aircraft:http://www.airlaunchllc.com/index.htm AirLaunch LLC is, I believe, kaput. Once it gets down to only 12 feet long, a lot of different aircraft could theoretically carry it, including a F-15 going Mach 2 in a zoom climb at over 60,000 feet...which would really help its total abilities in regard to needed delta-V. In fact, if it wasn't too heavy, a F-15 might be able to carry two aloft at once for simultaneous launching (one from under either wing,... Boeing has looked at an unmanned F-15 carrying a sizable solid rocket space booster/global range strike missile on its back. The Israelies have also looked at a similar-role but smaller multi-stage missile carried underneath. |
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