Israeli ALSLVs
 

Hello All,

Luke Strawwalker's postings about the proposed B-58 Hustler-launched modified Minuteman ICBM that could have intercepted satellites of carried spy satellites inspired me to post some material on air-launched SLVs (Satellite Launch Vehicles) that I've been compiling. Several nations are looking into this launch method, including Israel. Their need for it is particularly strong, since their geographic location and their neighbors' hostile relations with them necessitate launching their satellites westward over the Mediterranean Sea, which reduces their Shavit SLV's payload capability by nearly half. Also:

Israel would like to enter the international launch market, but the retrograde-only orbits that are available from their territory are a barrier to this, especially for orbiting geosynchronous satellites. Therefore, they have been evaluating options for air-launching both small and large satellites. For orbiting small satellites, they are studying a vehicle that would be based on their Black Sparrow ballistic target, which is launched from F-15 fighter jets. For putting large satellites into orbit, they would launch their Shavit and Shavit 2 SLVs from a Boeing 747, over the Indian Ocean. The aircraft would execute a climb and "pushover," reaching the desired launch angle before releasing the Shavit rocket. One variant of this plan would use a Shavit without its first stage. In addition:

Below are links to material (including photographs and some drawings) on the Black Sparrow (as well as the Blue Sparrow and Silver Sparrow) ballistic target, and on the Shavit and the Shavit 2; all of these vehicles would make good scale model rockets. In two accompanying postings below this one, I will include articles (with links) on Israel's air-launch SLV studies and those of other nations. Here are the links:


Black Sparrow

http://www.rafael.co.il/marketing/S...FILES/2/622.pdf
http://www.mod.gov.il/pages/homa/blackSp.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUWX5tY3Kdw
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/black_sparrow.htm


Blue Sparrow

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...-target-215388/
http://www.rafael.co.il/marketing/S...FILES/9/519.pdf
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...-target-223009/
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/blue_sparrow.htm


Silver Sparrow

http://www.rafael.co.il/marketing/S...ILES/1/1171.pdf


Shavit and Shavit 2

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/shavit.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavit
http://www.astronautix.com/fam/shavit.htm
http://www.b14643.de/Spacerockets_1...ption/Frame.htm
http://www.iai.co.il/14471-15689-en..._Launchers.aspx
http://www.iai.co.il/sip_storage/FILES/8/35368.pdf


I hope this information will be helpful.

From: http://www.spacenews.com/article/is...e-shavit-rocket

"Israel Studies Airborne Launch Scheme for Shavit Rocket"

By Barbara Opall-Rome | Jul. 22, 2011

TEL AVIV, Israel — Faced with a requirement for heavier military spy satellites, Israeli planners have devised an airborne launch concept in which the country’s indigenously built Shavit 2 rocket would be released from a modified Boeing 747 aircraft in international airspace high above the Indian Ocean, sources here said.

Launching far from Israel’s congested airspace and hostile neighbors is emerging as the most likely of several options under review here to preserve Israel’s ability to deploy its most sensitive national security satellites aboard domestically built rockets.

Under the new option gaining traction within some sectors of Israel’s defense and space establishment, the Shavit 2 would be carried under the fuselage of a specially adapted 747 airliner, flown to the Indian Ocean, and launched from altitudes of about 12,000 meters eastward in the direction of Earth’s rotation.

Unlike the U.S. Pegasus rocket, which is dropped bomb-style from an L-1011 carrier aircraft and then maneuvers itself into its launch trajectory, the Israeli concept calls for the Boeing host aircraft to hurl the wingless Shavit 2 into its designated flight path. Sources here say the Israel Air Force aims to do this by pitching the carrier aircraft up to a steep acrobatic performance-style angle to put the space launch vehicle into its required trajectory.

“On a technical level, it’s doable, but it wouldn’t be a comfortable ride in the aircraft at launch,” an Israeli space launch expert here said.

Supporters of the so-called Boeing-boost concept concede myriad technical, operational and potentially diplomatic hurdles ahead, not least of which is how to make an emergency landing with a 31-ton, solid-fueled rocket aboard, assuming Israel could find a nation willing to authorize the landing.

The option also would demand a significant escort package of fighter, refueling and support aircraft to ensure safety and provide tracking and telemetry of the rocket’s flight path. Beyond the budgetary and logistics demands, the escort package risks attracting attention from Africa-based terror groups who might seek to target the aircraft, sources here said.

Nevertheless, they insist that the Boeing-boost option avoids the risk and expense of developing a completely new rocket for launch from Israel’s traditional Palmachim site south of Tel Aviv. Moreover, an Israeli-owned carrier aircraft constitutes sovereign territory, obviating the need for government-to-government agreements or waivers from the Missile Technology Control Regime, which would be required for alternatives such as launching from the territory of another nation.

“Beyond the obvious cost savings involved, it will be a lot easier to explain this [the Boeing-boost concept] compared to a home-based launch of an entirely new ICBM-class [rocket] whose second stage could drop over Tunisia,” another Israeli space expert said.

“It’s not simple, but it may be the best option,” said Tal Inbar, head of Israel’s Fisher Institute Space Research Center. Aside from allowing Israel to preserve its indigenous launching capability, the air-launched option imposes no limits on ultimate inclination of the satellite’s orbit and almost doubles the lifting capacity of the ground-launched Shavit 2, he said.

To avoid launching over enemy countries in the region, Israel launches all of its satellites westward over the Mediterranean, in the opposite direction of Earth’s rotation. Because launches in this direction do not get the added boost provided by Earth’s rotation — some refer to it as a slingshot effect — there is a performance penalty of up to 40 percent, defense and industry sources said.

And given a new Israel Air Force requirement for next-generation spy satellites weighing 700 kilograms — nearly double that of the current Ofeq series of spacecraft — Israel will have to reclaim every bit of lost lift capacity and then some, sources here said.

Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, commander of the Israel Air and Space Force, confirmed the new requirement for significantly larger satellites planned for debut after 2020. He said he was aware of the air-launched option and others under review, but cautioned against overly ambitious undertakings.

“There is a requirement. But I require many things. Will they all become reality? … This whole idea is a little above the pay grade of the [Israel Air Force] alone; this would have to be endorsed as a national-level project,” Nehushtan said.

In a mid-July interview, Nehushtan noted that his service does not own a Boeing 747. “I suppose there’s time to make these decisions. Right now, it seems to me as something out of range, but then again, I don’t want to presume to prejudge it,” he said.

Other sources here say representatives of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Aviation Authority and legal experts have been informally briefed on the concept. In parallel, the Defense Ministry’s Research and Development Directorate is working on a request for proposals to Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. and Rafael Ltd. for a feasibility study of the air-launched option.

When asked if Washington or other pro-Western nations might object to Israel’s notional plan to fly a rocket halfway around the world for launching above the Indian Ocean, a senior U.S. State Department official said no, provided that Israel notifies relevant authorities. “As long as the [the rocket] is being launched from an Israeli aircraft; the [rocket] remains in Israeli jurisdiction; and is launched in international airspace following requisite declarations, there should be no grounds for complaints,” the official said.

He noted that Israel would have to specify geographic safety zones and periods of time when the launch would likely take place, as well as places where the first two rocket stages would likely drop off. Such so-called notices to mariners and notices to airmen could be made over a period of days to account for last-minute glitches or bad weather.

IAI, prime contractor for the three-stage Shavit 2 and sole builder of the nation’s military spy satellites, declined comment on the Boeing-boost and other future launch options. As for Rafael, whose Space Propulsion Directorate produces the Shavit’s third stage and has become an industry leader in small hydrazine thrusters, company chairman Ilan Biran said he is waiting to see tangible spending.

“Do we view the space sector as important? Yes. But beyond all the talking, is the Air Force or Ministry of Defense putting any money into such an exotic [research and development] venture?” said Biran, a retired major general and former director-general of the Defense Ministry.

He added, “Real programs like active air and missile defense systems are much more tangible and still in need of funding. Better to focus on the bread before talking about the exotic desert you may never get to eat.”

In addition to the Boeing-boost option, other proposals to preserve Israel’s ability to launch heavier satellites include development of an entirely new rocket much larger than Shavit 2 or adapting the Shavit 2 for sea-based launches in international waters.

Yet another option that has fallen out of favor lately involves launching Shavit 2 from foreign sites such as Brazil’s Alcantara Launch Center, the French-operated Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, or even Italy’s dormant San Marco Platform in Kenya.

From: http://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...-of-age-385811/ (the online article contains hotlinks in its text)

"Air launch systems begin to come of age"

by David Todd

An ageing Airbus A300, currently used to train astronauts in zero-g flight, is about to find another use as the first stage of a new air-launched space vehicle.

The brainchild of Swiss Space Systems, the plan is for the jetliner to be capable of carrying a Dassault-designed reusable space plane called Soar on its back. On release, the vehicle will climb into suborbital space and launch a third orbital stage with a satellite payload of up to 250kg (550lb) into low Earth orbit (LEO) before gliding back to earth for a runway landing.

The project is just one of a number of new air launch concepts under development. Whether dropped from below, released from above, or dragged from the inside of a large transport aircraft or bomber, air-launched launch vehicles have many technical and operational advantages over their ground-launched brethren.

For example, flying shallow trajectories at altitude (sometimes using wings) can minimise drag and gravity losses. Launching at altitude lessens the compromise on a rocket's nozzle design and expansion ratio, improving its overall efficiency.

Starting from a high altitude also saves the energy needed to reach that level, while a carrier aircraft's speed can also make its own beneficial contribution to the initial launch velocity.

With no launch pad to refurbish, infrastructure costs can be minimised, as can weather delays. Likewise, reflected acoustic vibrations are negated. By flying due east - as close to the equator as possible - air launches can also get the best of the Earth's spin boost for low-inclination orbital attempts.

Alternatively, given the restrictions of some nations' geography, air launching can be an effective way of removing such limitations.

Orbital Sciences's three-stage solid-fuel Pegasus launch vehicle remains the only air-launched orbit-capable design to achieve operational status.

Most air launch concepts - and there have been almost too many to list - have either remained as paper projects or have become infinitely delayed as a result of technical problems or funding issues.

However, as Pegasus XL, and its Lockheed L-1011 TriStar carrier aircraft, draw towards the end of their careers, there has been renewed interest in using a new generation of air-launched vehicles to put payloads into orbit.

As old hands at air launching, Orbital Sciences is designing a rocket to be the launching element of Stratolaunch, an ambitious new project requiring construction of one of the largest aircraft ever built.

Its launch vehicle design is not yet finalised, but is thought likely to lean heavily on the basic aerodynamics of the Pegasus design. However, to remain competitive, the company will probably use liquid propellants over solid fuels, with a wing closer to the rear to control the ascent. The planned rocket is expected to be capable of launching 6,100kg into LEO, more than 10 times the payload capability of the Pegasus.

Space tourism operator Virgin Galactic publicly announced in July 2012 that it would be designing a small satellite launcher, dubbed the LauncherOne. This would be dropped by the company's carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo and be able to carry payloads of up to 225kg to low inclination LEO and up to 100kg to near-polar Sun-synchronous orbits.

Several customers have already signed for launches, and industry stalwarts Surrey Satellite Technology Limited and Sierra Nevada Space Systems are designing custom satellites for the launcher. Flights are expected to begin in 2016.

Not to be outdone, Virgin Galactic's main space tourism competitor Xcor intends to modify its Lynx II suborbital space plane with an external dorsal pod to carry a two-stage microsatellite launcher.

Boeing is in the middle of conducting an 18-month study of technologies for transporting small satellites in air-launched rockets under a $4.5 million contract from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency called the Airborne Launch Assist Space Access.

In addition, the company is studying an air-dropped Small Launch Vehicle concept that uses two reusable air-breathing stages and a rocket-powered expendable stage to place 50kg payloads into orbit.

Constrained by direction limitations, Israel is again exploring the concept, re-examining the air launching of a Shavit 2 vehicle by dropping it from beneath a Boeing 747.

Israel is also interested in launching smaller 100kg satellites from F-15 fighter aircraft, using a launch vehicle based on the Rafael-produced Black Sparrow target missile.

Japan has been intrigued by air launch systems and started a technology development programme called Air Launch System Enabling Technology, examining methods of air launching satellite launch vehicles. The country has also conducted studies in "Nanolaunchers", small launch vehicles carried by fighter jets that are able to launch very small satellite payloads.

Some of the new round of air launch projects may yet prove too difficult to develop or require too much financing to proceed.

Nevertheless, innovative air launch concepts are now probably much more likely to reach fruition than in the past. This is because of a growing perceived need for rapid response launches, the availability of already-developed "stage zero" carrier aircraft and technological developments arising from suborbital space tourism operations.

Wouldn't it be easier to launch a Shavit from a ship?


Bill

They considered that, as well as using Italy's dormant San Marco platform off the coast of Africa (which launched several Scout-boosted satellites and numerous sounding rockets). Since their primary consideration is launching spy satellites and other military satellites, the air-launch option would provide greater secrecy and surprise. Also, air-launching would increase the Shavit's payload capability, and the whole launch operation could be conducted more quickly (in a day or less), which would be attractive to commercial satellite customers as well as to Israeli military satellite users.