The United States is working to develop technology to launch satellites from fixed-wing aircraft. So is Israel

Just in case China blinds us, takes out communications or the Russians lend a hand to Iran ….

QUIK LAUNCH………..

Gertz:

The United States is working to develop technology to launch satellites from fixed-wing aircraft. So is Israel.

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has called for outside help to produce a prototype of a system that could launch satellites of up to 100 pounds, or 30 kilograms, from aircraft.

Officials said Israel has sought U.S. assistance in a similar program.

“Current small satellite payloads can cost up to $30,000 per pound to launch, which is unsustainable over the long haul,” DARPA program manager Mitchell Burnside Clapp said. “Even when our increasingly capable small satellites are launched, they are obliged to go to orbits selected by the primary payload on current launchers, rather than to the orbits their designers and operators would prefer.”

Clapp said the Airborne Launch Assist Space Access, or ALASA, program sought to reduce the cost of a satellite flight to less than $1 million. He said the program would focus on the launch of miniature satellites.

Several state-owned Israeli defense contractors, including Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, were working on an airborne satellite-launch system meant to rapidly and cheaply fire miniature and micro-satellites into space.

Under the Israeli program, a small reconnaissance satellite would be fired into space from such platforms as an F-15 fighter-jet or Boeing 747 aircraft. Officials said Israel was preparing for the first test flights by 2013.

“The vision is for an aircraft to carry the small satellite and its host-booster either inside the aircraft or externally,” DARPA said. “Within a day of being called up, a satellite launch mission could be conducted from a runway anywhere in the world. Another advantage is the flexibility of an aircraft to deliver a satellite into any desired orbit at any time.”

The Pentagon project seeks technology and techniques for propellant systems, in-flight liquid oxygen production, motor case materials, flight controls, nozzle designs, thrust vectoring, throttling, mission planning techniques and airspace clearance procedures. DARPA has already set a Dec. 20, 2011 deadline to submit solutions.

“The program conducted initial trade studies and a market/business case analysis in FY 2011,” the Pentagon agency, which did not cite Israel, said.

“In November 2011, the Design Risk Reduction phase began with performers developing both system designs and enabling and enhancing technologies. A second phase, planned for 2013 to 2015 will include build and flight testdemonstration of this new capability.”