Technion students developed a satellite launch system from the Hercules aircraft

Students in the Faculty of Aeronautics and Space Engineering at the Technion developed a system for launching satellites from a "Rhinoceros" ("Hercules") aircraft. The project was carried out under the guidance of the aerospace industry personnel and under the supervision of Dr. Benny Landkoff from the Technion

Students in the Faculty of Aeronautics and Space Engineering at the Technion developed a system for launching satellites from a "Rhinoceros" ("Hercules") aircraft. The project was carried out under the guidance of the aerospace industry personnel and under the supervision of Dr. Benny Landkoff from the Technion.
"One of the most difficult problems for the State of Israel in launching satellites is the necessity to launch west instead of east, because of our neighbors to the east," explained Dr. Landkoff. "The launch site is also very expensive and Israel even suffers from dependence on other countries, because it launches its communication satellites as a "hitchhiker" on other countries' launchers."
The students came to solve all these problems. They came to the solution of launching the satellite from a "Rhinoceros" plane at a high altitude. He leaves the belly of the plane, from its back door, while "sitting" in a cradle and attached to parachutes. When the parachutes open, they activate the satellite launcher engines in two stages. The parachutes fall into the sea and the satellite is launched to the east.
"The aerial launch frees us from a launch site and hangars in foreign countries that launch satellites and just as importantly - it enables the launch to the east and not the west," explains Dr. Landkoff. "The only limitation of the solution brought by the students is the size of the satellite. Only small communication satellites can be launched this way - 250-300 kilograms".
The project of the students - Vadim Indelman, Gil Bar Hillel, Amir Giladi, Michael Klotz, Yonit Raz and Daniel Shoch - earned them first place in a project competition held recently as part of the annual conference for aeronautics and space, where the 50th anniversary of the aerospace industry was also celebrated.
So far, only the US has tried to develop a similar system, called "Pegasus", and it did succeed in launching satellites from the nose of a "Boeing" 747 plane. The project did not progress due to its high cost.
"The Hercules is an old and reliable workhorse that is in the service of dozens of countries in the world," says Dr. Landkoff. "The cost of launching it is relatively low and efficient, so there is a chance of success for the implementation of the solution proposed by our students, all of whom are fourth year students."