Location
Radisson Resort at the Port, Convention Center, Jamaica Room
Start Date
2-5-2002 2:00 PM
End Date
2-5-2002 5:00 PM
Description
Just a few minutes after noon on April 5th, 1990, a rocket took off into the sky and changed how America perceived small space launch vehicles. The initial flight of Pegasus, dropped from a B-52B aircraft flown from Edwards Air Force Base was a success. Since that time Pegasus has conducted 31 missions, launching more than 70 satellites for government and commercial customers and has flown from 7 different “launch” sites using 5 different Ranges.
This paper will document the history of Pegasus. It will be a historic look into the need that prompted Orbital Sciences Corporation to investigate small space launch vehicles and will cover the concept behind Pegasus and the major technical trades and market forces that changed its course of design. The paper will show how customer inputs into the operational requirements for small satellite launching resulted in capabilities inherent in the current Pegasus XL launch vehicle and Orbital’s L-1011 Orbital Carrier Aircraft. It will also briefly cover how Pegasus has been modified to support other classes of missions by using it as the basis for several derivative launch vehicles – the Taurus launch vehicle, the Orbital/Suborbital Program Space Launch Vehicle,
Paper Session III-C - Pegasus - History of the First Successful Air-Launched Space Vehicle
Radisson Resort at the Port, Convention Center, Jamaica Room
Just a few minutes after noon on April 5th, 1990, a rocket took off into the sky and changed how America perceived small space launch vehicles. The initial flight of Pegasus, dropped from a B-52B aircraft flown from Edwards Air Force Base was a success. Since that time Pegasus has conducted 31 missions, launching more than 70 satellites for government and commercial customers and has flown from 7 different “launch” sites using 5 different Ranges.
This paper will document the history of Pegasus. It will be a historic look into the need that prompted Orbital Sciences Corporation to investigate small space launch vehicles and will cover the concept behind Pegasus and the major technical trades and market forces that changed its course of design. The paper will show how customer inputs into the operational requirements for small satellite launching resulted in capabilities inherent in the current Pegasus XL launch vehicle and Orbital’s L-1011 Orbital Carrier Aircraft. It will also briefly cover how Pegasus has been modified to support other classes of missions by using it as the basis for several derivative launch vehicles – the Taurus launch vehicle, the Orbital/Suborbital Program Space Launch Vehicle,
