The Discovery Flight will be launched into space from Spaceport America, New Mexico on board an UP Aerospace SpaceLoft® XL rocket. After flying in space, the spacecraft will return to Earth, landing by parachute at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The spacecraft will follow a trajectory similar to NASA’s early Mercury manned spaceflights in the 1960s, and to our 2007 Legacy Flight, which UP Aerospace also launched on board a SpaceLoft XL from Spaceport America. The spacecraft flies what is called a “suborbital flight” because, while the spacecraft flies in space, it does not orbit the Earth.
UP Aerospace diagram depicting the SpaceLoft XL suborbital trajectory (Click on the diagram to enlarge -- You'll be taken to another Web page)
As you can see from the trajectory diagram above, the total flight time is around 15 minutes – and boy do I believe it! I remember watching the 2007 launch from Spaceport America and, compared to the launch of more massive rockets, it went up in a flash! I’m no rocket scientist, but I know when NASA’s space shuttle’s engines ignite it takes a few seconds for the shuttle to lift off the pad and clear its launch tower. But the SpaceLoft XL really hauls: Perhaps its smaller size and mass allows for greater acceleration compared to larger launch vehicles….
In any event, if you’re joining us at Spaceport America on Saturday, don’t take your eyes off the SpaceLoft XL during the last seconds of the countdown to launch: If you blink, you’ll miss it – well, almost!
The SpaceLoft XL rocket that launched our 2007 Legacy Flight into space
While it’s fast, the SpaceLoft XL is well-designed and well-built. Quoting from the UP Aerospace Web site, the SpaceLoft XL, “is a single-stage, unguided, sub-orbital launch vehicle designed to provide highly reliable, low-cost access to space. The vehicle’s mil-spec, solid rocket motor design is space flight proven, backed by two years of intensive ground qualification testing. The system offers numerous advantages including minimal on-pad effort and simplified pre-launch and launch operations.”
The rocket is 20 feet (6.1 m) tall, with a maximum diameter of 10.4 inches (26.4 cm). Its maximum lift-off weight (including payload) is 789 pounds (354 kg). It can launch up to 110 pounds (50 kg) of payloads to an altitude of 72 miles (116 km), although the rocket can fly as high as 140 miles (225 km) with lower-mass payloads.
Of course, spacecraft and their payloads are subject to a variety of forces during flight. Aerodynamic heating is the main source of heat. Quoting again from UP Aerospace’s Web site: “The [spacecraft’s] airframe greatly disperses the thermal energy; maximum internal temperature is thus unlikely to exceed 150 degrees F [66 degrees C], with 80 – 120 degrees F [27 – 49 degrees C] the typical temperature range.”
The SpaceLoft XL also has a transponder on board that begins operating at the T- 60 minute mark (prior to lift off), and continues transmitting until the spacecraft is retrieved by UP Aerospace after it parachutes to White Sands Missile Range.
The UP Aerospace recovery team in 2007 posing next to the SpaceLoft XL that had carried the Legacy Flight into space
Tomorrow I discuss the education-related payloads that will be on Saturday’s launch.
