A comparative analysis of methods for air-launching vehicles from earth to sub-orbit or orbit

Abstract

A variety of air-launched sub-orbital and orbital vehicles are demonstrated and others have been proposed recently by different organizations. The purpose of this article is three-fold: (a) to identify benefits of air-launching vehicles for space missions; (b) to categorize airlaunched vehicles with respect to how they are integrated to their carrier vehicle; (c) to identify benefits and shortcomings of these methods. Our analysis study shows that air-launching provides mobility and deployment advantages over surface launching. It can also provide performance advantages over surface launching. However, many air-launch concepts proposed require advance technologies that are currently not available.