Successful Demonstration of RLV-type Operations
November 30, 2005
(mirror of GSC's
website)
A joint industry /
academic / government team lead by Garvey Spacecraft Corporation
and California State University, Long Beach conducted the successful
launch, recovery, refurbishment and re-launch on 29 October
2005 of the Prospector 7 test vehicle within a period of just
3.5 hours. All field site activities, including set-up,
flight ops and post-test processing, took place over a 24-hour
time frame.
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| P-7 Undergoing Preparation for First
Flight Test |
P-7 Leaving the Launch Rail on the
First Flight Test - photo by J. Mullin |
P-7 About to Land After First Flight
Test - photo by B. Rotty |
P-7 Undergoing Final Refurbishment
for the Second Flight Test |
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| Second P-7
Flight of the Day - photo by J. Mullin |
P-7 Under
Parachute for the Second Time - photo by J. Mullin |
P-7 About
to Land Again - photo by J. Mullin |
P-7 Post-Landing
Retrieval Underway |
The Air Force Research
Laboratory's Propulsion Directorate branch at Edwards Air Force
Base sponsored this RLV demonstration project through a Phase
I SBIR contract to GSC, with CSULB participating as a major
subcontractor. The project's objective during this initial phase
has been the demonstration and evaluation of design and processing
factors associated with rapid turn-around RLV operations, with
a test goal of conducting two flights within a single 24-hour
period. This work builds upon the experiences and metrics for
vertical take-off liquid propellant rocket systems that were
previously established by the SDIO / McDonnell Douglas / NASA
Delta Clipper prototype RLV test program, during which a turn-around
of 26 hours between flights was achieved in June 1996.
Flight
videos:
GSC and CSULB developed
the P-7 over a period of six months. Its design is derived from
the Prospector 5 and 6 test vehicles that the team previously
developed and flew as early steps towards an operational nanosat
launch vehicle (NLV). Testing took place on the Koehn dry lake
bed outside the town of Mojave, CA, with site support services
provided by the Friends of Amateur Rocketry, Inc.
In addition to evaluating
RLV operations, the P-7 project also provided flight opportunities
for a number of university payloads. These included a data logger
from Montana State University and a prototype of the Poly-Picosat
Orbital Deployer (P-POD) developed by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
These two experiments flew on both flights, with the P-POD actually
deploying a number of simulated "CubeSats."
The CALVEIN team and
AFRL are now updating their plans to re-use this hardware in
future NLV-related flight testing. The next phase of testing
presently envisions expanding the altitude and velocity objectives
while still retaining responsive launch times and reusable technology.
For additional information about
either the CALVEIN project and/or the cooperative program between
CSULB and Garvey Spacecraft Corporation, please contact the following
project representatives:
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