NOTE: We plan to eventually update this page with among other things some details about the series of four flight tests conducted with the prototype RLV Prospector 7 vehicle during an 11-month period.
GSC's primary ongoing effort is its partnership with California State University Long Beach (CSULB) in the California Launch Vehicle Education Initiative (CALVEIN) [see Kimbo Rockets for a summary of earlier GSC projects]. Primary objectives of this initiative are to help prepare the next generation of California-based launch vehicle design engineers, while also supporting technology and infrastructure development. This initiative first got started in early 2001 and by June had conducted two static fire tests and the flight test of the school's Prospector 1 vehicle (also known internally as Kimbo VI). The next vehicle – the Prospector-2 – underwent an acceptance static fire test on the same MTA Vertical Test Stand-2 that previously was used for Microcosm’s AFRL-sponsored Scorpius stage. The same day (Dec. 1, 2001), GSC also launched its Kimbo-IX-EC vehicle. It was equipped with a CSULB digital telemetry experiment based on amateur packet radio technology that had been recommended by Stanford. Two months later, Prospector 2 flew and once again a successfully recovery was achieved. This vehicle carried a deployable payload developed by students from Stanford University’s Space Systems Development Lab (SSDL) – the same group that is playing a leading role in nanosat development.
Since the Prospector 2 flight, GSC and CSULB have focused on two primary research activities. The first involves the development of an ablative aerospike thrust chamber, with the objective of conducting the first-ever powered flight-test of such an engine. The CALVEIN team’s first aerospike static fire test verified the ignition sequence, but experienced a structural failure in the central plug component. After a redesign, the next version of the engine demonstrated nominal operation in another static fire test conducted in June 2003.
Consequently, the team refurbished the aerospike engine and mounted it to the P-2. When the vehicle took flight on 22 September 2003, it represented the first known powered flight of a liquid propellant aerospike engine. This was followed three months later by a second aerospike flight test using the Prospector 4 vehicle. The P-4 incorporated several modifications to both the aerospike engine and recovery system to address anomalies observed in the P-2 flight. The result was a full engine burn-to-depletion and complete vehicle recovery.
Since then, the team has focused on preliminary development of a Nanosat Launch Vehicle for delivering 10 kg payloads to Low Earth Orbit. R&D tasks have fallen into two parallel paths. The first involves static fire testing of the LOX/propylene propellant combination that has been baselined for both NLV stages. The second involves testing of full-scale, low-fidelity prototypes of various NLV elements. The Prospector 5 represented the initial such test vehicle, specifically the first stage. The Prospector 6 in turn featured the re-furbished P-5 stage, in combination with an interstage element and a second stage simulator, to implement a full-scale, low-fidelity prototype of the full-scale NLV. Key accomplishments with the P-6 included stage separation, recovery of both the first stage/interstage and second stage simulator/payload fairing assemblies and successful operation of three student payloads.
Last Updated: 02 March 2007