DARPA Selects Delta Velocity For Rapid MicroSat Launcher

ROCKET SCIENCE

DARPA Selects Delta Velocity For Rapid MicroSat Launcher Study

let's try that one again

Leesburg - Apr 23, 2002
Delta Velocity, a space launch services company located in Northern Virginia, said Monday that it has been awarded a Phase I Study contract with the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the design of a lower cost, reusable, rapid launch system for small satellites.

The study phase of the Responsive Access Small Cargo Affordable Launch (RASCAL) program, to be completed within 9 months, is valued at approximately $1.25 million. The program concept uses a modified fighter aircraft as the reusable first stage and a two-stage expendable rocket vehicle for launching the satellite into low earth orbit.

Delta Velocity and its program team that includes Allied Aerospace Industries, Inc., ATK Tactical Systems, Athena Technologies, CSA Engineering, Advanced Project Research Inc. (APRI) and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center was selected primarily for its demonstrated ability to rapidly develop innovative, lower cost, and reliable launch systems. Delta Velocity, with extensive experience in the development and operation of small launch vehicles, is the team leader.

"Delta Velocity and each of our teammates is well known within the industry as having expertise specifically applicable to development of a low cost, rapid response launch system," said Joseph Padavano, president of Delta Velocity.

"The combination of our team's demonstrated innovation and our proven track record in successfully developing small space transportation systems provides DARPA with a high level of confidence in our ability to perform and deliver a superior system design that meets all of the agency's requirements," he added.

The objective of the RASCAL program is to develop a rapid response, low cost method for placing small satellites into earth orbit. The study phase of the program will be followed by design and development phases. This will culminate in a flight demonstration where the RASCAL system will be used to launch two small satellites within a 24-hour period.

In production, RASCAL is expected to cost about $750,000 per mission. This capability will enable the rapid deployment of a new breed of small satellites with superior remote sensing and imaging technology.

RASCAL will enable satellites to be launched into orbit within an hour and begin returning images to earth immediately, providing a dramatic new capability for the DoD as well as for commercial users. It is anticipated the first RASCAL launch will take place in 2006.

Delta Velocity is a privately held company with demonstrated experience in the design, analysis, fabrication and operation of space transportation systems including launch and orbit transfer vehicles for commercial, civil, military and international customers.

MICROSAT BLITZ

Cadets Complete Testing On FalconSat-2 Model

Albuquerque - Apr 18, 2002
After two weeks of recent testing on the qualification model of the FalconSAT-2 satellite at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M., cadets on the FalconSAT-2 Small Satellite team here are now preparing to build the actual flight model that is scheduled to be launched aboard NASA's Space Shuttle STS-114 in January 2003.

Microspace Vs. Terror

Herndon - Feb 26, 2002
Linoleum. 15 years of watching teachers etch chalk on blackboards, watching black minute hands on round white faces tick, sitting on plastic, writing on that amoeba-like blob of formica protruding out from the vicinity of my cramped right elbow, feet planted on Linoleum.

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