Fenix Space Towed Glider Air Launch System (TGALS)

[TomcatViP]

Dear all,

This thread to discuss the curious Air launch model proposed by Fenix Space,, a San Bernadino company in California.

The TGALS technique uses a business jet-class aircraft to tow a remotely piloted glider with a launch vehicle mounted underneath it. Once released at about 40,000 feet, the glider uses its own small rocket motor to execute a pull-up maneuver, releasing the launch vehicle for ignition at an elevated flight path angle. After release, the glider returns to the airfield to be stored for the next mission.

NASA Armstrong Develops Tech to Bring Space Launch to Any Airport - NASA

A NASA-developed space launch system is attracting interest from companies that need to launch satellites in orbit. This same launch system could also develop

www.nasa.gov

Website (inactive yet): https://www.fenixspace.com/

IMOHO, the idea that this launch system could provide any benefits is flaw. The extra mass and drag that needs to be compensated by the towing aircraft in effect size down the gliders performances, hence the payload that can be really launched. The only advantage comes from the automation while this doesn´t really need a tether and a towing a/c.

 

[Archibald]

Scratching my head in disbelief. This sounds like Generation Orbit, except done the wrong way. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Orbit_Launch_Services
Not that Generation Orbit is particularly enthralling in the first place, as a miniature Launcher One with minuscule payload... what happened to Launcher One, by the way ? oh wait... they were serious ? let me laugh even harder (Bender Rodriguez meme intensifies).

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n5E7feJHw0


Sure dude, the bizjet is not carrying the rocket, so it is safer (you sure ?) and unmodified. Yeeeaaaaaah. What could possibly go wrong towing a glider with a rocket ticking bomb underneath ? at takeoff ? and aborted takeoffs ? and near the speed of sound, at high altitude ?

Or, alternatively... why not rent a Global Hawk drone, hang a rocket beneath its wing or centerline, and ditch the bizjet altogether ?

I do hope Phoenix bizarro coupling won't turn into ashes, because reborn might be difficult - whatever their name says (I'll see myself out).

 

[Michel Van]

After reading the proposal:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwSts2s4ba4

 

[Archibald]

That one, too. I use both interchangeably.

 

[riggerrob]

During one public lecture, Burt Rutan also talked about pitching the glider to a steep nose-up attitude just before releasing the rocket. This would convert kinetic energy into an extra vertical boost to sling-shot the rocket upwards.
Compare the shallow release angle of aero-towed sailplanes launched via aero-tow versus the steep nose-up attitude of winch launched sailplanes.