The SpaceLoft XL is a

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

developed by

private spaceflight Private spaceflight is spaceflight or the development of spaceflight technology that is conducted and paid for by an entity other than a government agency. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Unio ...

company

UP Aerospace UP Aerospace, Inc. is a private spaceflight corporation headquartered in Denver, Colorado. UP Aerospace provides sub-orbital transportation for corporate, military and educational payloads, via their SpaceLoft XL sounding rocket launch vehicles ...

. The rocket is capable of lofting a 79 lb (36 kg) payload to a

sub-orbital A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital re ...

trajectory with an

apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any ellip ...

of about 71.5 miles (115 km). It takes only 60 seconds to cross the

Kármán line The Kármán line (or von Kármán line ) is an attempt to define a boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space, and offers a specific definition set by the Fédération aéronautique internationale (FAI), an international record-keeping ...

(the official "edge of space" at 100 km). All launches are sub-orbital, so that they do not complete one orbital revolution. Launches are conducted from the company launch facility at

Spaceport America Spaceport America, formerly the Southwest Regional Spaceport, is an FAA-licensed spaceport located on of State Trust Land in the Jornada del Muerto desert basin north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and southeast of Truth or Consequences. With V ...

Upham, New Mexico Upham is an inhabited, unincorporated community and place in Sierra County, New Mexico, United States. It has gained recognition for being near the site for the Spaceport America facility being developed by the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. This ...

Description

The rocket is 20 feet (6 m) long and 10 inches (25 cm) in diameter, and consists of a single stage powered by a single

solid fuel Solid fuel refers to various forms of solid material that can be burnt to release energy, providing heat and light through the process of combustion. Solid fuels can be contrasted with liquid fuels and gaseous fuels. Common examples of solid fuels ...

rocket engine. Typical flights last about 13 minutes, with more than 4 minutes of

weightlessness Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G. Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fi ...

. The rocket is reportedly capable of reaching up to 225 km (140 miles) altitude, though its standard apogee is closer to 115 km (71 miles). To give an idea about the cost and time requirements of the rocket, in 2021 a SpaceLoft XL suborbital mission contracted by

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

cost $1 million and took 11 months to realize from contract signing to flight (15 months from concept to flight).

Launches

The first launch, SL-1 was made at 2:14 p.m. local time (20:14 UTC) on September 25, 2006, from Spaceport America. During its maiden flight, it experienced an "unexpected aerodynamic effect" and crashed in the New Mexico desert after reaching only 40,000 feet (12 km). The second launch, SL-2 originally scheduled for October 21, 2006, was successfully carried out on April 28, 2007, at 8:56 a.m. local time (14:56 UTC). UP Aerospace president Jerry Larson had said the rocket was assembled and had been on the launch rail since Tuesday (24 April). The primary payload, ''Celestis Legacy'', consisted of cremated human remains including those of

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Gordon Cooper Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper Jr. (March 6, 1927 – October 4, 2004) was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force pilot, and the youngest of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first human spac ...

and

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

actor

James Doohan James Montgomery Doohan (; March 3, 1920 – July 20, 2005) was a Canadian actor, author and soldier, best known for his role as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the television and film series ''Star Trek''. Doohan's characterization of the Scottish ...

, whose ashes were also on board the ill-fated

Falcon 1 Falcon 1 was a small-lift launch vehicle that was operated from 2006 to 2009 by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer. On 28 September 2008, Falcon 1 became the first privately-developed fully liquid-fueled launch vehicle to go into orbit ...

when it malfunctioned in August 2008. As of 13 September 2021, UP Aerospace has conducted a total of 19 launches, including 14 with SpaceLoft XL rockets, most of which have been successful. The third launch, which was conducted at 14:00 UTC on 2 May 2009, carrying student experiments and the ''Discovery'' payload for Celestis, had an electronic anomaly causing an early separation and failed to reach the correct apogee. To date, the highest altitude achieved by the rocket was reached by SL-9, which set a Spaceport America altitude record of 77.25 miles (124 km) on October 23, 2014.{{Citation needed, date=March 2022

References

Sounding rockets of the United States

Description

Launches

See also

References