Construction Progress

In this installment of Rainier Aerospace News & Updates, development is going smoothly for the upcoming launch vehicle. Construction of the 1st redesigned RLV is nearing completion at the company's Moses Lake Flight Center 1 facility, and will be 1 of 2 RLV's to be built at Flight Center 1 before Rainier Space & Launch Systems Division finishes it's move to the recently finished Flight Center 2 and all future vehicles and missions will take place there.

RLV Rebranding & Updated Rocketplane Family Plans

The RLV has been confirmed to be re-branded as the Endeavor, as the design is after all an evolution of the Endeavor in the first place, so it's only natural to keep it named the Endeavor. Rainier Aerospace also has plans for more rocketplanes, and a new designation system has been developed. So far there are 4 planned rocketplanes, all varying in sizes, number of engines, and payload launching capabilies, but they will all be termed "RLV", with another letter following that designates their payload capabilities. The new vehicles include:

RLV-L Endeavor (Light)
RLV-M Eagle (Medium)
RLV-H Young (Heavy)
RLV-UH Enterprise (Ultra Heavy)

While the basic Eagle design has already been in the works for awhile and is undergoing a redesign following the Endeavor, the research & early designing has started for the latter 2 vehicles which are planned to compete directly with ULA and SpaceX and exceed the capabilities of the Endeavor & Eagle.

Early Launch Manifest Developed For First Few Endeavor Missions

The launch & mission manifest for the Endeavor has recently been updated and now includes several test missions, including unpowered glider flight, sub-orbital, orbital, and finally hypersonic tests. The manifest also includes at the end, the first commercial mission the Endeavor will fly for a customer that isn't Rainier Aerospace and isn't privately funded by Rainier Aerospace like the past missions. While the mission won't be an orbital or even sub-orbital mission, it will be a hypersonic mission funded by DARPA and the goals of the mission include having the vehicle survive mach +5 flight intact and be recovered safely. With the Boeing XS-1 Phantom Express cancellation, DARPA has shown some interest in the Endeavor, since the Endeavor from the very start even before DARPA interest had similar design & mission goals to the XS-1 Phantom Express, being an ultra-low cost launch system that has fast turn-around times and highly re-usable. The first iteration of the Endeavor wasn't able to hit hypersonic speeds as it was rather large, but the updated RLV Endeavor design is far more efficient in fuselage & wing sizing, as well as weight, and according to simulations, is capable of flying up to Mach 5 in the atmosphere. Here is the very-early launch manifest for the Endeavor. Dates, launch sites, and recovery methods are still being worked out, but it gives a peak into the future for the Endeavor.

Code:
A = Atmospheric Mission
B = Vacuum/Sub-Orbital Mission
C = Vacuum/Orbital Mission

1 = Air Launch
2 = Vertical Land Launch
3 = Vertical Sea Launch

TEST-2A1
Date: TBD
Launch Site: Air Launch One; Moses Lake, WA
Recovery Method: Glide-back to runway at KMWH (Grand Co Intl Airport)
Mission: Atmospheric air-launched unpowered glide-back test flight of the redesigned RLV-L Endeavor

TEST-3B1
Date: TBD
Launch Site: TBD
Recovery Method: TBD
Mission: First powered air-launch test to the vacuum of space but not to orbit.

TEST-4A1
Date: TBD
Launch Site: TBD
Recovery Method: TBD
Mission: Air-launch test to Mach +5 hypersonic speeds; possible destruction of vehicle.

TEST-5B1
Date: TBD
Launch Side: TBD
Recovery Method: TBD
Mission: Sub-orbital air-launch test with inactive 2nd-state OMV attached.

TEST-6C1
Date: TBD
Launch Site: TBD
Recovery Method: TBD
Mission: First air-launch attempt at getting the OMV into orbit and deploying a dummy 250kg-boiler plate above 150km.

DARPA Hypersonic Survivability Demo Mission (HyperDemo)
Date: TBD
Launch Site: TBD
Recovery Method: TBD
Mission: 2nd Air-launch test to Mach +5 hypersonic speeds and 1st contracted commercial mission of the RLV-L Endeavor for Rainier Aerospace. It will be funded by DARPA as a demo mission instead of being privately funded by Rainier Aerospace like the past missions before it. The goal of this mission is to have the vehicle survive Mach +5 flight and be recovered safely.

Air Launch Two Conversion Nearing Completion

Air Launch Two will be the 2nd air-launching aircraft for Rainier Aerospace, and unlike Air Launch One which is a Boeing 747-400BCF, Air Launch Two is being converted from a Boeing 747-400F. The reason for the usage of a 747-400F instead of another BCF is so Air Launch Two can carry more logistics support & equipment such as mobile cranes for mounting the launch vehicle on the back of the 747 when away from their primary Moses Lake base, which Air Launch One doesn't have a large cargo nose-door like the 747-400F, so it requires either a C-5 or An-124 to carry larger support equipment separately. Air Launch Two is meant to be more integrated & independent in it's support, ferry, & air-launching roles of the launch vehicles. Air Launch Two is planned to be used for missions away from Moses Lake while Air Launch One will fly missions from Moses Lake.

That's all for this update installment. Strong tailwinds & happy flying! To conclude the update, here are some nice shots of Air Launch One in FSX:

Air Launch One at Moses Lake Flight Center 1

Air Launch One rocketing out of Moses Lake

Air Launch One over the Yakima Training Center conducting simulated air launches. Fittingly, the company's namesake Mt. Rainier is in the background.

Air Launch One on final approach into Moses Lake.