If we have spacecraft that go like this, why can't we have spacecraft that go LIKE THIS?!
Hey flight-suits thanks for stopping by DNews, I'm Trace!
On December 15, NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System --or CYGNSS -- launched into
Low-Earth orbit on a weird launch vehicle… this one.
Horizontal?
Wtf?
Why do we launch everything like THIS and not like THIS?
When you picture rockets… you probably think the Space Shuttle, Apollo's Saturn V, SpaceX's
Falcon, Blue Origin's New Glenn, and Orbital ATK's Antares, or maybe just model rockets
at home -- regardless, they're all vertical takeoff launches, but why?
In 2013, there were 81 space launches and a handful of failures; in 2014: 92 launches
with 90 reaching orbit successfully.
Vertical chemical rockets are risky and expensive.
But, according to the FAA, flight controllers handle 50,000 flights every day.
So why not "launch" sideways?
First, we have!
In 1963, NASA strapped a tiny plane called an X-15 to the bottom of a B-52.
Once they achieved altitude, they sent the pilot just barely into space.
These projects were essential in learning how to enter and exit space, how to design
pressure suits for pilots, how air friction could heat up the surface of a vehicle…
and so many other things.
Then, in the late-1980s, Orbital Sciences engineer Dr. Antonio Elias updated his old
design and ended up incepting the design of Pegasus -- which is the launch you saw at
the top of this video.
Pegasus launches from the belly of a mothership, the Lockheed L-1011, and it's been used since
1990.
Put simply, the L-1011 lifts the Pegasus to the regular cruising altitude of about 40,000
feet (12,200m), and drops it!
Then the delta-style wings and the rocket shoot it toward space reaching low-earth orbit
in about 10 minutes.
These horizontal systems have a few advantages!
For example, the atmosphere at about 40,000 feet (12,200m) is thinner which means less
friction and potentially less fuel, airplanes can move the rocket above the weather avoiding
some of those launch challenges, and because you can fly the payload anywhere you don't
need a launchpad!
In this case, the Pegasus launched over the Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii
and Australia.
Unfortunately, a DARPA study found when you factor in the cost of the launch vehicles,
it can make them more expensive.
In the end, airplane-style launches versus vertical launches have different goals.
To escape Earth's gravity, a rocket needs to go 7 miles per second or 25,000 mph (11,176
m/s).
The fastest airplane ever built?
That X-15, and it only hits 4,520 mph (2,020 m/s).
Shooting straight up is the quickest way to reach escape velocity, and can carry a lot
of mass on it's way.
The Space Launch System, that NASA is developing, can carry almost 70,000 kilograms.
The Pegasus can only carry 443 kilograms.
That being said, the Pegasus isn't the end-all of horizontal flight.
The Stratolaunch system by Vulcan aerospace will use a six-engine airplane and could fly
to 40,000 feet (12,200m) and launch a full-size SpaceX Falcon9!
The plane would need a wingspan longer than a football field… wider than the statue
of liberty is tall.
It's crazy.
More realistically, a NASA project is in the works that uses tracks (similar to roller
coasters at theme parks, but ridiculously fast).
These could be used to propel winged spaceplane.
Though at the moment they're only thinking about drones.
If you want to launch people you could think of the SpaceShipOne, which carried the first
human on a commercial spaceflight in 2004.
It hooks onto the belly of a specialized plane called the White Night.
As commercial spaceflight expands, you'll probably see more of these horizontal launches
in the future.
So, why don't we launch from airplanes?
We do!
Just, not that often.
Wondering why it's so hard to launch rockets sometimes?
Amy and I have that answer here.
Which is your favorite?
The booming excitement of a ground-based launches, or the screaming freefall of an air launch?
Let us know in the comments, make sure you subscribe
so you get more DNews and thanks for watching.