Boeing wins DARPA contract for small air-launch system
Posted: Sat, Mar 29, 2014, 9:29 AM ET (1329 GMT)
Boeing this week unveiled its design for an air-launch system after winning a contract from DARPA to develop it. DARPA awarded a $30.6-million contract Monday to Boeing to develop the Air Launch Assist Space Access (ALASA) system for launching small satellites; the contracts also includes two options valued at a combined $74 million. Boeing released details of the design on Friday, which involves a rocket deployed from an F-15 aircraft that can place satellites weighing up to 45 kilograms into low Earth orbit. The rocket's unique design features engines mounted near the nose of the vehicle, allowing them to be used throughout the ascent to orbit as propellant tanks behind it are expended. That approach, the company believed, will allow it to lower launch costs by two thirds. A demonstration launch of the ALASA system is planned for fiscal year 2015. Boeing, along with Lockheed Martin and Virgin Galactic, won initial contracts from DARPA in 2012 to study their ALASA concepts.
Boeing this week unveiled its design for an air-launch system after winning a contract from DARPA to develop it. DARPA awarded a $30.6-million contract Monday to Boeing to develop the Air Launch Assist Space Access (ALASA) system for launching small satellites; the contracts also includes two options valued at a combined $74 million. Boeing released details of the design on Friday, which involves a rocket deployed from an F-15 aircraft that can place satellites weighing up to 45 kilograms into low Earth orbit. The rocket's unique design features engines mounted near the nose of the vehicle, allowing them to be used throughout the ascent to orbit as propellant tanks behind it are expended. That approach, the company believed, will allow it to lower launch costs by two thirds. A demonstration launch of the ALASA system is planned for fiscal year 2015. Boeing, along with Lockheed Martin and Virgin Galactic, won initial contracts from DARPA in 2012 to study their ALASA concepts.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Friday, October 24
Cedar Park OKs $1 million in incentives to support Firefly Aerospace expansion, 300 new jobs
Austin (TX) American-Statesman — 7:45 am ET (1145 GMT) Defense giants Airbus, Thales and Leonardo announce space merger to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink
CNBC — 7:45 am ET (1145 GMT) Experts: US Needs Whole-of-Government Approach to Match China in Cislunar
Air and Space Forces Magazine — 7:42 am ET (1142 GMT) European defence giants strike satellite alliance to challenge Musk’s SpaceX
The Daily Telegraph — 7:41 am ET (1141 GMT) Debrief: Competition Intensifies Between China’s SpaceX Challengers
Aviation Week — 7:41 am ET (1141 GMT) |
