The Boeing Small Launch Vehicle, or SLV, is an
air-launched three-stage-to-orbit
launch vehicle
A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...
concept aimed to launch small
payloads
Payload is the object or the entity which is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of ...
of into
low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...
. The program is proposed to drive down launch costs for
small satellites as low as per launch ($7,000/kg) and could be fielded by 2020.
[
]
History
In July 2012,
DARPA
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.
Originally known as the Adv ...
awarded Boeing a US$4.5 million contract to further refine the system concept as a part of the
DARPA ALASA program.
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]
Description
The first stage of the three-stage launcher would be an air-launched
supersonic aircraft
A supersonic aircraft is an aircraft capable of supersonic flight, that is, flying faster than the speed of sound (Mach number 1). Supersonic speed, Supersonic aircraft were developed in the second half of the twentieth century. Supersonic airc ...
accelerating to a speed of at , while the second stage would be a
hypersonic
In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that exceeds 5 times the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above.
The precise Mach number at which a craft can be said to be flying at hypersonic speed varies, since in ...
waverider aircraft which would accelerate the vehicle to at an altitude of . Both of the first two stages would be
reusable to reduce launch cost, and both stages would carry only fuel, and obtain their oxygen for combustion from the
Earth's atmosphere
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...
.
[
The third stage would be powered by a ]rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
, roughly long, to complete the acceleration of the payload to orbital velocity.
The carrier aircraft is projected to be a Scaled Composites White Knight Two.[
]
Specifications
*First-stage: length, wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...
, supersonic aircraft
A supersonic aircraft is an aircraft capable of supersonic flight, that is, flying faster than the speed of sound (Mach number 1). Supersonic speed, Supersonic aircraft were developed in the second half of the twentieth century. Supersonic airc ...
hypersonic aircraft
Hypersonic flight is flight through the atmosphere below altitudes of about 90 km at speeds greater than Mach 5, a speed where dissociation of air begins to become significant and high heat loads exist. Speeds of Mach 25+ have been achieved ...
; "Overall airframe construction would be of graphite-epoxy, with an integral conformal liquid methane tank to supply the vehicle’s circular combustion scramjet. Thermal protection
A thermal cutoff is an electrical safety device (either a thermal fuse or thermal switch) that interrupts electric current when heated to a specific temperature. These devices may be for one-time use (a thermal fuse), or may be reset manually or ...
would be a ceramic matrix composite material
A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...
."[
*Third-stage: diameter, long, solid propellant rocket.][
*Payload: diameter, long payload bay, carrying up to to ]low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...
.[
]
See also
* X-51 WaveRider hypersonic
In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that exceeds 5 times the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above.
The precise Mach number at which a craft can be said to be flying at hypersonic speed varies, since in ...
test vehicle flown at at on a single test mission in May 2013.
References
{{Reflist
Proposed space launch vehicles