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| Successful Flight Test Of Prospector 6 NLV Development Vehicle |
| 2005-05-26 |
| Mojave Test Area CA (SPX) May 24, 2005 I think you mean the Mojave Spaceport, don't you? The successful launch and recovery of the Prospector 6 (P6) test vehicle on Saturday, 21 May 2005 represents another important milestone for the joint industry/academic team that is working to develop a low-cost Nanosat Launch Vehicle (NLV) that will be dedicated to delivering 10 kg payloads to low Earth orbit. Cool. Projected cost/kg? The partially reusable P6 is a full-scale, low-fidelity prototype of the two-stage, pressure-fed NLV and is serving as a pathfinder for evaluating new vehicle technologies and efficient field site operations. Designed and built by Garvey Spacecraft Corporation (GSC) and California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) under the California Launch Vehicle Education Initiative (CALVEIN), the 26.7 foot-long P6 consists of a refurbished NLV first stage prototype (the Prospector 5 that flew last December), an interstage, a second stage simulator and a graphite/epoxy composite payload fairing. |
| Posted by:mojo |
#1
It depends. I was under the impression that the "Mojave Spaceport," regulatorily speaking, was the airport facility there, which is licensed for HTHL vehicles like SS1, SS2 (should it be built), or Xerus (ditto). Since this is a vertically launched orbital launcher, it might have launched from a test range instead. Currently launch site regulation and licencing is kinda complicated. One reason for going with air launch is to sort of get around the situation. | |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2005-05-26 19:22 |