UP Aerospace and Los Alamos lab achieve successful suborbital launch at Spaceport America

Written by Copernical Team Tuesday, 12 November 2024 05:58

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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 12, 2024

UP Aerospace successfully launched its SpaceLoft-20 rocket on Nov. 8, marking the company's second suborbital mission this year from Spaceport America. The flight, conducted for Los Alamos National Laboratory, aimed to test new technologies and components through its Cyclone-1 payload. "Congratulations to both UP Aerospace and Los Alamos," said Scott McLaughlin, Executive Director of the N

UP Aerospace and Los Alamos lab achieve successful suborbital launch at Spaceport America
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 12, 2024

UP Aerospace successfully launched its SpaceLoft-20 rocket on Nov. 8, marking the company's second suborbital mission this year from Spaceport America. The flight, conducted for Los Alamos National Laboratory, aimed to test new technologies and components through its Cyclone-1 payload.

"Congratulations to both UP Aerospace and Los Alamos," said Scott McLaughlin, Executive Director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. "We are happy that Spaceport America can enable connections and launches between local entities like these two great organizations."

The research mission supported Los Alamos's goal of assessing system performance in simulated missile launch environments to aid its work on the nation's nuclear stockpile. "The primary mission of the Laboratory is ensuring the safety, security, and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile," stated Stephen Judd, Los Alamos's mission manager. "To do this successfully requires flight testing to determine how things perform in environments similar to those experienced during a missile launch."

Flight tests like these are essential for understanding how systems react to different physical conditions, including acceleration, pressure, speed, and temperature. The payload was monitored after it detached from the rocket at apogee and transmitted telemetry data throughout its descent.

UP Aerospace, a tenant at Spaceport America since 2006, has conducted multiple successful suborbital missions. Los Alamos National Laboratory, having participated in three previous flights since 2021, plans to extend its testing program with four more missions set from late 2024 to fall 2025.