The SpaceLoft XL is a
sounding rocket 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 Un ...
company
UP Aerospace. 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 ell ...
of about 71.5 miles (115 km). It takes only 60 seconds to cross the
Kármán line (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 in
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. Thi ...
.
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 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 fie ...
.
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 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 spa ...
and
Star Trek 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 Scottis ...
, 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 private spaceflight, privately-developed fully liquid-fueled launch vehi ...
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
See also
*
Sounding rocket
*
List of UP Aerospace launches
*
Black Brant rocket
The Black Brant is a family of Canadian-designed sounding rockets originally built by Bristol Aerospace, since absorbed by Magellan Aerospace in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Over 800 Black Brants of various versions have been launched since they were first ...
*
Skylark (rocket)
Skylark was a family of British sounding rockets. It was operational between 1957 and 2005.
Development of the Skylark begun during the early 1950s at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), which approached the Royal Society with an offer ...
References
Sounding rockets of the United States