An artist’s rendition of GOLauncher 1. Photo: Generation Orbit Launch Services

[Via Satellite 08-05-2015] Generation Orbit Launch Services (GO) received a Phase 2 Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory, Aerospace Systems Directorate (AFRL/RQ) for continued development of GOLauncher 1, a single-stage air launched liquid rocket vehicle.

Through the contract, GO will work with partners Calspan Corporation, Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems and Ventions on the preliminary design of GOLauncher 1, as well as design, build, and test of an integrated, hardware-in-the-loop engineering development unit for the rocket vehicle.

GOLauncher 1 is designed to fly suppressed trajectories for hypersonic flight research applications. The development of this vehicle feeds directly into GOLauncher 2, a larger launch vehicle designed to carry small satellites to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

“The next phase of this program will allow us to not only continue design work on the vehicle, but also bring hardware manufacturing and software development together in the product development cycle much earlier than is typically done in complex aerospace systems,” said A.J. Piplica, principal investigator on the effort. “Through this early integration and testing of hardware and software, we’ll be able to validate the assumptions we’ve made throughout the conceptual design process, demonstrating the performance, cost, and reliability of the vehicle well before flight.”