Launching
satellites into
space could soon be
easier and cheaper
than ever before,
thanks to research
at The University of
Queensland.
UQ’s Centre for
Hypersonics is
planning a
three-stage
transformational
space project called
SPARTAN, designed to
deliver satellites
weighing up to
500kgs into orbit
and allowing them to
be monitored
nationally or
internationally.
Chair of
Hypersonic
Propulsion Professor
Michael Smart said
the program aimed to
take advantage of
dramatic growth in
the small satellite
market.
“This is a
once-in-a-generation
opportunity for
Australia’s
hypersonic industry
to join the space
community,”
Professor Smart
said.
“Currently, there
are about 1265
satellites orbiting
in space, but the
cost to launch a
single satellite is
astronomical.
“Our project aim
is to reduce this
cost and make it
more economically
viable for smaller
nations and
organisations to
launch their own
satellites and
monitor their own
space activity
through the
development of a
reusable space
launch system.”
Stage one of the
system consists of
an Austral Launch
Vehicle (ALV), a
reusable rocket
booster that lifts
the upper stages of
the rocket to
scramjet take-over
speed of Mach five,
before flying back
to base using wings
and propellers.
The second stage
SPARTAN scramjet
will fly like a
plane up to Mach 10,
releasing the final
rocket/satellite
that stays in space,
before it too
returns to base.
The combination
of the ALV and
SPARTAN allows 95
per cent of the
system to be
reusable.
“If successful,
SPARTAN has the
potential to change
the current paradigm
of tossing away
spacecraft after
each launch,”
Professor Smart
said.
Partnering with
Australian-based
company Heliaq
Advanced
Engineering, the
team is developing
sub-scale versions
of the ALV and
SPARTAN as
technology
demonstrators.
It is expected
that a subscale
demonstrator (ALV-0)
with a three-metre wingspan
will be flown by the
end of 2015.
“It will take off
like a normal
aircraft, stow the
wings and then
redeploy them,”
Professor Smart
said.
“This test flight
will focus on the
slow speed handling
to prove that this
prototype can
actually work.
“We are trying to
concentrate on the
new things, not the
classic rocketry
things that have
been done before.”
A follow-on
rocket-powered
demonstrator is also
planned, but is
still in the funding
stages.
