BIG
SKY, Montana - University-built space payloads may get a lift from deactivated intercontinental ballistic missiles
that are now on a trajectory for the scrap heap.
The idea is to utilize the
Peacekeeper missile, phased out under mutual nuclear arms reduction agreements
inked between U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir
Putin.
The
missile's Cold War mission came to an end earlier this week, after serving 19
years as a key part of U.S. nuclear deterrence strategy. The mothballing of the
Peacekeeper is part of a reduction in U.S. missile forces from 6,000 to between
1,700 and 2,200. Russia's Putin agreed to pursue a similar course of action.
The
Peacekeeper began its development back in 1979, and some nine years later
became fully operational. According to the U.S. Air Force, each Peacekeeper was
built at a cost of about $70 million. The deactivation is estimated to save the
Air Force more than $600 million through 2010.
Peacekeeper
was designed to carry up to 10 independently targeted warheads. But now they
could be tipped with student-built research gear.
Lawmaker support
Rather
than mothballing and ultimately destroying dozens of the Peacekeeper missiles, Republican Congressman Dennis
Rehberg of Montana is championing steps to use the weapons to lob university
payloads into orbit.
Rehberg
advanced the idea during the Inland Northwest Space Alliance (INSA) Space Policy Institute
meeting, held here September 16-18 that involved NASA officials, academia and
industry experts.
The Missoula-based INSA is
a private group created by the University of Montana in 2003. The group is
focused on broadening space-related research and commercial applications,
particularly in the inland northwest.
"Wouldn't it be better to
take the same amount of money and those missiles to provide the opportunity for
the university system to shoot them up into space," Rehberg said, armed not
with warheads but student experiments. "Wouldn't that make a lot more sense?"
Business sense - Russian
style
Rehberg said that there's
no reason for the U.S. government or the Department of Defense to destroy the
rockets - typically done by junking them up on the ground.
"Because, ultimately,
they're going to be destroyed under the non-proliferation treaties that we've
signed," Rehberg told SPACE.com. "We have the opportunity to do this as
efficiently and effectively as possible. Don't spend the money on destruction
of the missiles. Let's use them to get some research done and provide an
opportunity for the university system," he explained.
The lawmaker serves on the
Energy and Water Development, Military Quality of Life, and Foreign Operations
Appropriation Subcommittees. Rehberg said that he is teaming with fellow
congressmen, Chet Edwards of Texas and Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, to
delve into the Peacekeeper use within the arena of non-proliferation.
The idea of using surplus
Cold War weaponry to hurl student satellites into orbit is not new. Just ask
the Russians. U.S. university payloads, among other groups, have found home on
the Dnepr booster under contract with ISC Kosmotras, a Russian and Ukrainian
rocket-for-hire company.
Kosmotras was founded in
1997, converting retired R 36-M ballistic missiles into the silo-launched
Dnepr space booster. The R 36-M is known to the West by its NATO classification
-- the SS-18 missile.
Enter Minotaur IV
Scott
Schoneman, manager of mission development for Orbital Sciences Corp. in
Chandler, Arizona, detailed the firm's focus on the Peacekeeper as a new
addition to the U.S. Air Force's Orbital/Suborbital Program (OSP). He manages
the company's Orbital/Suborbital Program within the Launch Systems Group.
Orbital
Sciences, headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, has already developed the four-stage
Space Launch Vehicle (SLV) Minotaur rocket using a combination of U.S.
government-supplied Minuteman II motors and Orbital space launch technologies.
A
new addition to Orbital's line of space launch vehicles is the OSP-2 Minotaur
IV Space Launch Vehicle. That booster melds elements of government-furnished
and decommissioned Peacekeeper boosters with technologies from the group's Pegasus,
Taurus, and OSP Minotaur line of launch vehicles.
The
Minotaur IV consists of three Peacekeeper solid rocket stages, a commercial
Orion 38 fourth stage motor and subsystems derived from Orbital's already established
space launch boosters. Under a 10-year contract with the U.S. Air Force Space
and Missile Systems Center, Orbital is developing and would operate the Minotaur
IV vehicle to launch U.S. government-funded satellites into low-Earth orbit.
Schoneman
said that the Peacekeeper-based Minotaur IV would be capable of being launched
from multiple spaceports: California, Florida, Alaska, and from
Virginia-situated Wallops Island.
Minotaur
IV would be able to loft payloads on the cheap, Schoneman said, making it the
lowest costing ride into low Earth orbit of "any existing, real, small launch
vehicle."
Concerning
the rocket's use to haul student payloads - given a backlog of university
payloads ready for rides -- Schoneman advised that the launcher would enable
universities to, hopefully, acquire good science..."but at least get them flown
and not have hangar queens sitting around."
Educational benefits
"Using
the Minotaur IV to launch a number of university payloads is an excellent use
of decommissioned Government assets, allowing us to provide a low cost,
reliable launch that will also provide great educational benefits to the
students involved," Schoneman added.
When
will the Minotaur IV be ready for action?
Orbital
is on contract to provide a Minotaur IV launch, Schoneman said, to loft the first
Space Based Space Surveillance satellite for the U.S. Air Force Space and
Missile Center. But due to funding constraints of the overall spacecraft
development, the launch
has been pushed beyond the original 2007 launch date, he said.
"However,
we are about to hold the Preliminary Design Review for the Minotaur IV
configuration," Schoneman told SPACE.com. "Given the advanced state of
development, along with the proven heritage and maturity of the constituent
elements of the launch vehicle, we could realistically be capable of launching
within 18 months of receiving funding of an additional mission."
Hands-on experience
The INSA meeting showcased
a growing and sophisticated array of university small satellites. But for
years, finding affordable rides into Earth orbit for the home-grown satellites
has been elusive.
Students as the "feedstock
of the future" was a recurring theme during the INSA confab.
Moreover, student access to
space is a critical piece to training the next generation workforce, emphasized
David Klumpar, Research Professor and Director of the Space Science and
Engineering Laboratory at Montana State University in Bozeman.
"It's
important to have folks coming out of our colleges and universities that have
direct, hands-on experience," Klumpar told SPACE.com. "It isn't good
enough to do design studies that don't result in hardware," he said.
Klumpar
said something must be done to deal with the retiring aerospace community that
the nation now faces. Having students design, build, and then fly their
hardware is vital to help counter this issue, because "it's where the rubber
meets the road," he added.
That
view is backed by INSA CEO and founder George Bailey. He senses that student
access to space is part of a much larger issue of the nation's wellbeing.
"Student-led
payloads have stalled...and it's putting our country at a national security risk.
Getting student payloads back in space is a way to develop the next generation
of space scientists and aerospace engineers," Bailey concluded.
advertisement
