|
UP Aerospace is a private spacecraft company
in the U.S. that was founded in October, 2004.
UP Aerospace is Americas affordable space
launch resource. It has a fleet of space-flying
sounding rockets that they use to provide
low-cost space access to businesses and the
educational/collegiate sector. They are the
first rocket company to make it affordable
to launch significant-size payloads and sophisticated
experiments into space. UP Aerospace provides
complete payload recovery and a wide range
of tracking, telemetry and avionics options.
The UP Aerospace rockets are named
the SpaceLoft and the SpaceLoft XL. The company
will be launching these rockets at New Mexicos
Southwest Regional Spaceport (SRS). The SRS
was built from January - August 2006. New
Mexicos SRS is the first launch area for private
spacecraft. Virgin Galactics SpaceShipTwo;
will launch there, too.
The inaugural launch of the SpaceLoft XL
rocket is scheduled for August 14, 2006. The
company has the capability to launch up to
30 flights annually. The first launch will
include more than 40 experiments from middle
schools, high schools and NASA Explorer Schools
across the United States (Connecticut, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, California, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee,
New York). Some of the universities that have
payloads are the University of Colorado, Central
Connecticut State University and Brown University.
The new era of private spacecraft exploration
is the era of private spacecraft companies
that are making access to Space affordable.
The catalyst for the new era began when the
Ansari X PRIZE contest was announced on May
18th, 1996. This contest was a $10 million
prize to jumpstart the space tourism industry
through competition among the most talented
entrepreneurs and rocket experts in the world;
The Ansari X PRIZE was awarded to the privately
financed team that designed the first private
spaceship to successfully launch three humans
to a sub-orbital altitude of 62 miles (the
definition of Space) on two consecutive flights
within two weeks. There were 27 international
teams competing to win this prize. The $10
million prize was won on October 4th, 2004
by Burt Rutan and the Mojave Aerospace Ventures
team. Their SpaceShipOne spacecraft climbed
to 367,442 feet 70 miles high. This flight
showed that private industry can build a workable
vehicle for sending paying passengers to Space.
The UP Aerospace SpaceLoft rocket is a scale
version of the actual rocket. Never before
has Estes identified with what is happening
in the real world for teachers and students
in our educational line of rockets. One of
the new features that will be included in
this Rocket LAB Pack(12 pack) is a Lesson
Guide for this rocket ($15.00 value). The
SpaceLoft is an E2X rocket kit that is similar
to the Gnome rocket. It is taller than the
Gnome and costs the same as the Gnome bulk
pack. Students will be able to learn about
a real rocket, then build and launch their
own SpaceLoft rocket. It will be available
October 2006.
Specifications:
Length: 12.5" (26.0cm)
Diameter: 0.54" (13.8mm)
Weight: 0.4oz (12g)
Max Altitude: 834ft (254m)
Recovery: Streamer
Fins: Plastic
Engines: 1/2A3-2T, 1/2A3-4T, A3-4T, A10-3T
|
