SBIR Phase I: Novel Reusable Launch Platform: Two-Body Separation Under Unique Aerodynamic Circumstances

这一小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响和商业潜力在于它对低地球轨道经济增长和刺激空间技术创新的积极影响。对卫星发射日益增长的需求目前受到现有轨道发射服务的低可用性、灵活性和高成本的瓶颈的限制。由这种先进的飞行分离系统实现的轨道交付服务将使发射响应能力达到一个新的水平，从而降低成本，更大的合同灵活性，并且无需昂贵的发射基础设施即可实现每日发射，大大加快了卫星服务提供商的上市时间并增加了他们的盈利能力。低成本和频繁的近地轨道访问将使无处不在的互联网接入、5G功能和有价值的地球观测技术成为可能。这些发射服务的灵活性和降低的成本将有助于保持美国在空间技术发展和空间研究的前沿地位。该技术将为美国武装部队提供一个反应灵敏、安全、灵活和可用的太空门户，从而增强侦察、观察、通信和情报能力。此外，它将代表最环保的发射交付服务，与地面发射相比，能够减少三倍（3倍）的二氧化碳排放。SBIR第一阶段项目旨在展示飞行中飞机/火箭分离的创新概念，其中火箭从运载飞机的顶部发射，而不是广泛使用的从下面发射。这种新型分离系统是先进的空射轨道交付系统的核心创新，将大大降低专用卫星发射的成本，最大限度地减少推进和结构要求，并实现轨道交付的灵活性和精度，同时显着减少空间发射操作的碳足迹。提出的概念将是第一个商业上可获得的顶载空中发射服务。第一阶段项目的目标是建立一个分离系统的原型，并在一次亚轨道试飞中对其进行验证。主要的技术挑战是确保改进后的分离系统的设计能够在广泛的实际飞行条件下工作。这项技术将通过更好地理解分离事件时的空气动力学行为和改进设计方法的发展来实现，该方法考虑了所有相关的设计参数及其空气动力学影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact and commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is in its positive influence on both the growth of the Low Earth Orbit economy and stimulation of innovation in space technology. The growing demand for satellite launches is currently limited by a bottleneck of low availability, flexibility, and high cost of existing orbital launch services. Orbital delivery services enabled by this advanced in-flight separation system will enable a new level of launch responsiveness leading to lower costs, much greater contractual flexibility, and the availability of daily launches without the need for costly launch infrastructure, greatly accelerating time-to-market for satellite service providers and increasing their profitability. Low cost and frequent access to Low Earth Orbit will enable ubiquitous internet access, 5G capabilities, and valuable Earth observation technologies. The flexibility and reduced cost of these launch services will help maintain the United States' position at the forefront of space technology development and space research. The technology will provide the US Armed Forces access to a responsive, secure, flexible, and available gateway to space that will boost reconnaissance, observation, communication, and intelligence capabilities. Moreover, it will represent the most ecofriendly launch delivery service available, able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by three times (3x) compared to ground launch.This SBIR Phase I project seeks to demonstrate an innovative concept of in-flight aircraft/rocket separation in which the rocket is launched from the top of the carrier aircraft, instead of the widely used launch from beneath. This new separation system is the core innovation enabling an advanced air-launched orbital delivery system that will dramatically reduce the cost of dedicated satellite launch, minimize propulsion and structural requirements, and enable orbital delivery flexibility and precision, while significantly reducing the carbon footprint of space launch operations. The proposed concept will be the first top-carry air-launch service commercially available. The goals of the Phase I project are focused on building a prototype of the separation system and validating it in a sub-orbital test flight. The main technical challenge is to ensure that the design of the improved separation system will work under a broad range of real flight conditions. This technology will be achieved by research leading to a better understanding of aerodynamic behavior at the separation event and the development of an improved design methodology that considers all relevant design parameters and their aerodynamic effects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.