Initiative from DARPA: launching satellites from aircrafts

Despite the fact that the technology of launching satellites into Earth’s orbit is constantly being improved, it is worth all this is still a lot of money. But the U.S. Agency Defense Advanced Research Projects (DARPA) proposes to significantly reduce these costs through to launch satellites … from aircrafts.

Several years ago the whole world laughed at the initiative of billionaire Richard Branson and his company, Virgin Galactic launch space shuttles from flying at high altitude aircraft. The world was wrong, and the first private spaceport Spaceport America has been recently put into operation, and commercial operations with him will begin  in 2012 year. Something similar offers and Agency Defense Advanced Research Projects United States of America. That’s just the same way it is going to launch into orbit but not space tourists, and the defense, navigation and communication satellites. The technology of this process is virtually the same as for Virgin Galactic. First up in the sky aircraft carrier. After rising to a certain height, it is separated from the shuttle to the satellite inside. The shuttle is flying this even higher, and then shoots a satellite, launching it into geostationary orbit. The shuttle is not returned to Earth and burns up in the dense atmosphere. On assurances of DARPA, the technology of launching satellites will save more than 30 percent of the amount needed to start now. That is, the U.S. budget will save about $ 2 billion a year. In addition, the launch of satellites to aircraft to avoid the delays associated with bad weather at the cosmodrome. And in general the use of the add for this process will no longer be necessary – aircraft can take off from any airfield, although the military, even though civil. Agency Defense Advanced Research Projects has already committed to the development of this technology 145 million U.S. dollars that testifies to serious intentions in this plan.