AirLaunch has completed a key drop test of a smaller version of a booster rocket that its partner company Transformational Space, or t/Space, plans to offer NASA for resupplying the International Space Station. A mock-up of the two-stage, liquid oxygen/propane-powered QuickReach booster was released from the cargo bay of a US Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III on 29 September.
The test validated that the smaller QuickReach booster can be dropped by a C-17A without damaging the air
craft as it falls away, says AirLaunch chief executive David Gump, who also founded t/Space. QuickReach is being tested under the Falcon programme sponsored by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Falcon project calls for a 22,300kg (50,000lb) booster to launch a payload of less than 680kg into orbit. A larger version of the booster, weighing 127,000kg, is being designed for the ISS resupply requirement. T/Space’s temporary launch plan is to carry the booster inside a Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy or beneath a modified Boeing 747.
STEPHEN TRIMBLE/LAS CRUCES
Source: Flight International
