The Streaker is a rocket invented by SpaceDev. It is designed to be a low-cost launch vehicle. [1] [2]
SpaceDev, the world's first commercial space exploration company, [3] was founded in 1997 by Jim Benson, as a result of a merger between Integrated Space Systems of Southern California and a defunct publicly traded corporate shell. [4] In August 1998 SpaceDev acquired all patents, intellectual property, test results, and documents that had been produced by the bankrupt American Rocket Company (AMROC). Some of these documents would later be used to create the SpaceDev Streaker. [3]
In April 2003, SpaceDev announced the creation of the Streaker as part of a propulsion program based on the hybrid motor of the SpaceShipOne, a vehicle created by Scaled Composites. [5] SpaceDev also received an Air Force Research Laboratory contract to develop the SpaceDev Streaker Hybrid Upper Stage rocket, one of two used in the vehicle. [1] [3] The Streaker was expected to undergo first launch in 2007–08. [6]
The Streaker is propelled using High Performance Mass Fraction hybrid common core boosters, which will use HTPB and nitrous oxide as fuel. The two motors involved in this system are the Hybrid Upper Stage motor and the SpaceDev Streaker Small Common Booster motor, which will produce 20,000 and 120,000 pounds of thrust respectively. Both motors are used in the SpaceDev Dream Chaser. [1] [3] Other important components include a Common Core Booster and a hybrid transfer stage. [6]
The Streaker is designed to offer quick response launches of payloads in the 1,102-pound class to low Earth orbit but can support loads of up to 2,204 pounds. [1] [3] The goal of the Streaker is to achieve a launch cost of under US$5,000,000 per launch. [6] An additional SpaceDev facility was built in Poway, California in order to design and test the Streaker. [1] [3]
A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were used in warfare by the Arabs, Chinese, Persians, Mongols, and Indians as early as the 13th century.
A hybrid-propellant rocket is a rocket with a rocket motor that uses rocket propellants in two different phases: one solid and the other either gas or liquid. The hybrid rocket concept can be traced back to the early 1930s.
Delta is an American versatile family of expendable launch systems that has provided space launch capability in the United States since 1960. Japan also launched license-built derivatives from 1975 to 1992. More than 300 Delta rockets have been launched with a 95% success rate. Only the Delta IV Heavy rocket remains in use as of November 2020. Delta rockets have stopped being manufactured in favor of Vulcan.
Titan IV was a family of heavy-lift space launch vehicles developed by Martin Marietta and operated by the United States Air Force from 1989 to 2005. Launches were conducted from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
SpaceDev, a part of the "Space Systems Business" of Sierra Nevada Corporation, is prominent for its spaceflight and microsatellite work. It designed and built components for the hybrid rocket motors for Paul Allen's Tier One suborbital SpaceShipOne space program operated by Scaled Composites. It is also developing micro- and nano-satellites, a small expendable launch vehicle, the SpaceDev Streaker, and has designed a piloted suborbital and orbital spaceship of its own, the SpaceDev Dream Chaser, in collaboration with NASA.
Dream Chaser is an American reusable lifting-body spaceplane being developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems. Originally intended as a crewed vehicle, the Dream Chaser Space System is set to be produced after the cargo variant, Dream Chaser Cargo System, is operational. The crewed variant is planned to carry up to seven people and cargo to and from low Earth orbit.
A liquid rocket booster (LRB) uses liquid fuel and oxidizer to give a liquid-propellant or hybrid rocket an extra boost at take-off, and/or increase the total payload that can be carried. It is attached to the side of a rocket. Unlike solid rocket boosters, LRBs can be throttled down if the engines are designed to allow it, and can be shut down safely in an emergency for additional escape options in human spaceflight.
James William Benson was an American aerospace entrepreneur who founded SpaceDev, a commercial satellite and satellite component development company, and the Benson Space Company, a civilian spaceflight venture focused on commercial space tourism.
Ares I was the crew launch vehicle that was being developed by NASA as part of the Constellation program. The name "Ares" refers to the Greek deity Ares, who is identified with the Roman god Mars. Ares I was originally known as the "Crew Launch Vehicle" (CLV).
Founded in 1985 by George A. Koopman, Bevin McKinney and Jim Bennett, veterans of Starstruck Inc., the American Rocket Company, or AMROC, was a California-based company that developed hybrid rocket motors.
The Castor family of solid-fuel rocket stages and boosters built by Thiokol and used on a variety of launch vehicles. They were initially developed as the second-stage motor of the Scout rocket. The design was based on the MGM-29 Sergeant, a surface-to-surface missile developed for the United States Army at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Thor was a US space launch vehicle derived from the PGM-17 Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile. The Thor rocket was the first member of the Delta rocket family of space launch vehicles. The last launch of a direct derivative of the Thor missile occurred in 2018 as the first stage of the final Delta II.
The Delta IV Heavy is an expendable heavy-lift launch vehicle, the largest type of the Delta IV family. It is the world's second highest-capacity launch vehicle in operation, behind SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, and closely followed by CASC's Long March 5. It is manufactured by United Launch Alliance (ULA) and was first launched in 2004. ULA will retire the Delta IV Heavy in 2024. As of March 2022, three flights remain.
Rocket propellant is the reaction mass of a rocket. This reaction mass is ejected at the highest achievable velocity from a rocket engine to produce thrust. The energy required can either come from the propellants themselves, as with a chemical rocket, or from an external source, as with ion engines.
The Space Launch System is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle under development by NASA since 2011. The first launch, designated Artemis 1, is scheduled for a period between 19 September and 4 October 2022 from Kennedy Space Center. It replaces the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles, which were cancelled along with the rest of the Constellation program, a previous program aimed to return to the Moon. The SLS is intended to become the successor to the retired Space Shuttle, and the primary launch vehicle of NASA's deep space exploration plans through the 2020s. Crewed lunar flights are planned as part of the Artemis program, leading to a possible human mission to Mars. The SLS is being developed in three major phases with increasing capabilities: Block 1, Block 1B, and Block 2. As of August 2019, SLS Block 1 launch vehicles are to launch the first three Artemis missions and five subsequent SLS flights are planned to use Block 1B, after which all flights will use Block 2.
Pegasus II, also known as Thunderbolt, was an air-launched orbital rocket under development in 2012–2015 by Orbital Sciences Corporation for use by Stratolaunch Systems.
Vulcan Centaur is a two-stage-to-orbit, heavy-lift launch vehicle that is under development by the United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2014 with an initial flight expected no earlier than December 2022. It is principally designed to meet launch demands for the U.S. government's National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program for use by the United States Space Force and U.S. intelligence agencies for national security satellite launches. The maiden flight is slated to launch Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lunar lander for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
Liquid Fly-back Booster (LFBB) was a German Aerospace Center's (DLR's) project concept to develop a liquid rocket booster capable of reusing for Ariane 5 in order to significantly reduce the high cost of space transportation and increase environmental friendliness. LFBB would replace the existing solid rocket boosters, providing main thrust during the liftoff. Once separated, two winged boosters would perform an atmospheric entry, fly back autonomously to the French Guiana, and land horizontally on the airport like an aeroplane.
The Unified Launch Vehicle (ULV) is a family of modular expendable launch vehicles, currently under development by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). This vehicle is designed to replace the PSLV, GSLV Mk I/II and GSLV Mk III with a single family of launchers.
OmegA was a medium to heavy-lift launch vehicle concept that spent several years in development by Northrop Grumman during 2016–2020, with that development substantially funded by the U.S. government. OmegA was intended for launching U.S. national security satellites, as part of the U.S. Department of the Air Force National Security Space Launch (NSSL) replacement program.