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Air Launch To Orbit
Air launch to orbit (ALTO) is the method of launching smaller rockets at altitude from a heavier conventional horizontal-takeoff aircraft, to carry satellites to low Earth orbit. It is a follow-on development of air launches of experimental aircraft that began in the late 1940s. This method, when employed for orbital payload insertion, presents significant advantages over conventional vertical rocket launches, particularly because of the reduced mass, thrust, cost of the rocket, geographical factors and natural disasters. Air launching has also been developed for sub-orbital spaceflight. In 2004 the Ansari X Prize $10 Million purse was won by a team led by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites, launching the SpaceShipOne from the purpose-built White Knight carrier aircraft. Advantages The principal advantage of a rocket being launched by a high flying airplane is that it needs not fly through the low, dense atmosphere, the drag of which requires a considerable amount of extra work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lockheed TriStar Launches Pegasus With Space Technology 5 , in Sunnyvale, California
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Lockheed (originally spelled Loughead) may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Lockheed Corporation, a former American aircraft manufacturer * Lockheed Martin, formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta ** Lockheed Martin Aeronautics ** Lockheed Martin Space Systems * Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company People * Flora Haines Loughead (1855-1943), American writer, farmer, miner * The brothers who founded the original Lockheed Corporation: ** Allan Loughead (1889–1969), American aviation pioneer ** Malcolm Loughead, American aviation pioneer Other uses * Lockheed (comics), a Marvel Comics character * Lockheed Martin Transit Center Lockheed Martin Transit Center (signed as simply Lockheed Martin station on many signs) is a light rail and transit bus station operated by Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), located in Sunnyvale, California. This station is s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multistage Rocket
A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage is attached alongside another stage. The result is effectively two or more rockets stacked on top of or attached next to each other. Two-stage rockets are quite common, but rockets with as many as five separate stages have been successfully launched. By jettisoning stages when they run out of propellant, the mass of the remaining rocket is decreased. Each successive stage can also be optimized for its specific operating conditions, such as decreased atmospheric pressure at higher altitudes. This ''staging'' allows the thrust of the remaining stages to more easily accelerate the rocket to its final speed and height. In serial or tandem staging schemes, the first stage is at the bottom and is usually the largest, the second stage and subseq ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center
The NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. Its primary campus is located inside Edwards Air Force Base in California and is considered NASA's premier site for aeronautical research. AFRC operates some of the most advanced aircraft in the world and is known for many aviation firsts, including critical support for the first crewed airplane to exceed the speed of sound in level flight with the Bell X-1, highest speed ever recorded by a crewed, powered aircraft (North American X-15), the first pure digital fly-by-wire aircraft (F-8 DFBW), and many others. AFRC also operates a second site in Palmdale, Ca. known as Building 703, once the former Rockwell International/ North American Aviation production facility, next to Air Force Plant 42. There, AFRC houses and operates several of NASA's Science Mission Directorate aircraft including SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy), a DC-8 Flying Laboratory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Generation Orbit Launch Services
Generation Orbit Launch Services (GO) is an American aerospace company based in Atlanta, Georgia that is developing the technology for launch services for small payloads. The air-launch approach developed by GO and its partners offers flexible launch capabilities, poised to reduce fixed infrastructure needs, launch costs, and the time from contract signature to launch for government and industry customers alike. History GO was founded on April 25, 2011 as a subsidiary company of SpaceWorks Enterprises, Inc. In 2013, GO competed in the NewSpace Business Plan Competition (BPC), winning first place and the $100,000 prize. The BPC was administered by the Space Frontier Foundation and held at Stanford University. Following the Business Plan Competition, GO was selected in September 2013 for NASA's Enabling eXploration and Technology (NEXT) contract, with an award of $2.1 million. GOLauncher family Generation Orbit is developing the GOLauncher family, a series of high-speed flight an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ARCA Space Corporation
Romanian Cosmonautics and Aeronautics Association ( ro, Asociația Română pentru Cosmonautică și Aeronautică), also known as ARCAspace, is an aerospace company based in Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania. It builds rockets, high-altitude balloons, and unmanned aerial vehicles. It was founded in 1999 as a non-governmental organization in Romania by the Romanian engineer and entrepreneur Dumitru Popescu and other rocket and aeronautics enthusiasts. Since then, ARCA has launched two stratospheric rockets, four large scale stratospheric balloons including a cluster balloon and was awarded two governmental contracts with the Romanian government and one contract with the European Space Agency. ARCASpace is currently developing a three-stage, semi-reusable steam-powered rocket called EcoRocket and in 2022 has shifted its business model to Asteroid mining. History 1999–2004: Demonstrator rocket family ARCA was established as ''Romanian Cosmonautics and Aeronautics Association'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scaled Composites Stratolaunch
The Scaled Composites Model 351 Stratolaunch or Roc is an aircraft built by Scaled Composites for Stratolaunch Systems to carry air-launch-to-orbit (ALTO) rockets. It was announced in December 2011, rolled out in May 2017, and flew the first time on April 13, 2019. The aircraft features a twin-fuselage design and the longest wingspan ever flown, at , surpassing the Hughes H-4 Hercules flying boat of . The Stratolaunch is intended to carry a payload and has a maximum takeoff weight. It should release its rocket at . The company ceased operations in May 2019, shortly after the first flight, and placed all company assets, including the aircraft, for sale by June 2019. In October 2019, Cerberus Capital Management acquired Stratolaunch Systems, including the Stratolaunch aircraft. Stratolaunch announced in December 2019 that it would now be focusing on offering high-speed flight test services. The Stratolaunch has flown eight times through 2022. History Early development ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NOTS-EV-1 Pilot
The NOTS-EV-1 Pilot, better known as NOTSNIK (pronounced nots''nik'' a play on "sputnik") was an expendable launch system and anti-satellite weapon developed by the United States Navy's Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, United States Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS). NOTSNIK began as an in-house project using available NOTS funds. The Advanced Research Projects Agency later supplied some funds for the program. The program involved creating transistorized sensors to detect nuclear explosions from the Operation Argus tests. Ten were launched during July and August 1958, all of which failed. It was the first air-launched rocket to be used for an orbital launch attempt; however, none was recorded as having reached orbit. Following the third orbital launch attempt a NOTS engineer at the tracking station in Christchurch, New Zealand reported receiving a weak signal from the spacecraft; This was never confirmed, and the launches were not catalogued as having reached orbit. The Pilot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LauncherOne
LauncherOne is a two-stage orbital launch vehicle developed and flown by Virgin Orbit that began operational flights in 2021, after being in development from 2007 to 2020. It is an air-launched rocket, designed to carry smallsat payloads of up to into Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), following air launch from a carrier aircraft at high altitude. The rocket is carried to the upper atmosphere on a modified Boeing 747-400, named '' Cosmic Girl'', and released over the Pacific Ocean. Initial work on the program was done by Virgin Galactic, another Virgin Group subsidiary, before a separate entity — Virgin Orbit — was formed in 2017 to complete development and operate the launch service provider business as a separate entity from the passenger-carrying Virgin Galactic business. The first successful flight was on 17 January 2021, which delivered a payload of 10 CubeSats to low Earth orbit (LEO). Two additional launches also successfully made it to orbit. LauncherOne was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virgin Orbit
Virgin Orbit is a company within the Virgin Group which launch service provider, provides launch services for small satellites. On January 17, 2021, their ''LauncherOne'' rocket successfully reached orbit for the first time, and successfully deployed 10 cubesats. The company was formed in 2017 to develop the air-launched LauncherOne rocket, launched from a modified Boeing 747 aircraft named Cosmic Girl (aircraft), Cosmic Girl; this tandem had previously been a project of Virgin Galactic. Based in Long Beach, California, Virgin Orbit has more than 300 employees led by president Dan Hart, a former vice president of government satellite systems at Boeing. Virgin Orbit focuses on small satellite launch, which was one of three capabilities being focused on by Virgin Galactic. These capabilities are: human spaceflight operations, small satellite launch, and advanced aerospace design, manufacturing, and test. On 30 December 2021 Virgin Orbit became a publicly traded company (symbol VO ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orbital ATK
Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) was a sector (business segment) of Northrop Grumman from 2018 through 2019. It was formed from Orbital ATK Inc. a company which resulted from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alliant Techsystems in 2015. Orbital ATK was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018. Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems designed, built, and delivered space, defense, and aviation-related systems to customers around the world both as a prime contractor and as a merchant supplier. It had a workforce of approximately 12,000 employees dedicated to aerospace and defense including about 4,000 engineers and scientists; 7,000 manufacturing and operations specialists; and 1,000 management and administration personnel. With Northrop Grumman's reorganization of its divisions effective January 1, 2020, NGIS was split, with most of the sector merging with other Northrop Grumman businesses into a new Space Systems sector. History A merger of Orbital S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems
Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) was a sector (business segment) of Northrop Grumman from 2018 through 2019. It was formed from Orbital ATK Inc. a company which resulted from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alliant Techsystems in 2015. Orbital ATK was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018. Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems designed, built, and delivered space, defense, and aviation-related systems to customers around the world both as a prime contractor and as a merchant supplier. It had a workforce of approximately 12,000 employees dedicated to aerospace and defense including about 4,000 engineers and scientists; 7,000 manufacturing and operations specialists; and 1,000 management and administration personnel. With Northrop Grumman's reorganization of its divisions effective January 1, 2020, NGIS was split, with most of the sector merging with other Northrop Grumman businesses into a new Space Systems sector. History A merger of Orbital S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
