Semper Fly: Marines in Space

The Sustain program is not only risky, it also requires the cooperation of researchers from multiple branches of the armed forces that are currently developing relevant technologies. The Sustain system will consist of two stages: a launch craft and a lander. In recent years, NASA, the Air Force and the Navy have created programs to develop new RLVs that will use multi-stage systems and a combination of rockets and hypersonic air-breathing boost engines. Vehicles now in development that could be adapted for a Marine carrier aircraft-the first-stage launcher that will carry the actual spaceship-include the hypersonic aircraft Falcon, which skirts the upper atmosphere; the Boeing X-51 and Lockheed Martin Rattlrs (Revolutionary Approach to Time-Critical Long-Range Strike) hypersonic engine testbeds; and the supersecret two-stage spacecraft Hot Eagle. It´s this constellation of programs, along with aviation designer Burt Rutan´s two-stage spaceplanes, that will ultimately yield Sustain´s RLV transport.

Falcon, a $100-million Air Force program intended for low-orbital operations from a runway, is the centerpiece. The first two Falcon vehicles-long, wedge-shaped craft-are under construction by a Lockheed Martin team in Palmdale, California, and are slated to begin testing in 2008.

Rough Landing

At the core of Sustain is the lander-the actual vehicle in which a squad of 13 Marines [see photo gallery] and their gear will float through space, reenter the atmosphere, and come down right on top of their adversaries. The closest thing to a Sustain lander actually flying today is Rutan´s SpaceShipOne, built by Scaled Composites in Mojave, California. In October 2004, SpaceShipOne piggybacked to 40,000 feet on a carrier aircraft and then boosted to 69 miles with its own rocket and landed like an airplane. This singular feat, perhaps more than any other accomplishment by industry or researchers, has energized proponents of Sustain. â€Just a scaled-up version of that would do this [Sustain] mission,†said thenâ€Air Force general S. Pete Worden while observing the launch. A lander based on SpaceShipOne would be bigger, tougher and armed-and reconfigured for longer flights, as opposed to the up-and-down trajectory that SpaceShipOne flies-but the basic concept is broadly the same.

Worden, who had heard one of Lafontant´s early Sustain pitches, is now director of the NASA Ames Research Center in California, where he is one of Sustain´s biggest allies. It was the avuncular Worden who lobbied Darpa for help with Sustain. Darpa declined to participate; these days, the agency is focused on near-term projects to support fighting in Iraq. But its position could change, Worden thinks. â€If the Air Force pursues this and shows more feasibility, Darpa might be a future player,†he says.

Although a fully evolved lander remains far off, key technologies related to propulsion and heat shields for both the carrier and the lander are well-advanced. These aim to make RLVs such as Sustain robust, responsive and reusable. â€One of the critical aspects of Sustain is ultimately the ability to access space with aircraft-like operations,†says Wassink, who is in charge of investigating technologies that could be adapted for Sustain. â€It does us no good to have the ability to get anywhere on the globe within two hours if it takes us days to get ready.â€