For $1 million that's a small rocket. The only benefit to airplane launched rocket is any orbit anytime, very nice in the spy world too :)

Also, likely not much of a secondary payload so you're likely buys all of the rocket unlike jumping on as cheap ballast to a big rocket.

Just give the free Kerbal space program game a spin and you'll realize how easy it is to get 400km high but very very hard and lots of fuel to get to orbit... Which is the point of satellites!

Interesting article though!

On Friday, February 6, 2015, Bryce Salmi bstguitarist@gmail.com wrote:

This has existed for a long time. There's not much new.

The rocket equation tells you that you need lots of fuel to send mass to orbit. That is referred to as delta V, change in velocity. LEO is about 17,500 mph, this jet gets to maybe 1,000 mph?

Most rockets are not big because they can be, they are big because they have to be.

This project isn't actually getting to orbit yet. Is it actually 1 million in cost to get there or is that before profit? Then you're talking more like 3-4 million at minimum.

Bryce

On Friday, February 6, 2015, Jacob Tennant <jakewf8s@gmail.com javascript:;> wrote:

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This seems so smart that I don't know why they haven't done this already.

http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/06/darpa-alasa-video/?utm_source=Feed_Classi...

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On 2/7/15, Gus gus@8p6sm.net wrote:

On 02/06/2015 10:56 PM, Bryce Salmi wrote:

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This has existed for a long time. There's not much new.

The idea of using an F-15 as a launch platform has been around for decades. The Starwars program planned to use this technique to shoot down enemy satellites in wartime. And that was back when Reagan was in the Whitehouse.

<snip>

The feasibility of this was demonstrated in a test conducted nearly 30 years ago. An F-15 launched a small rocket and it destroyed a defunct satellite.

73s

Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL