Orbital Pegasus - Manual

Small-Class
Overview
Pegasus was specifically developed to provide cost-effective access to space for the small satellite
community. The Pegasus air-launch system is the industry’s workhorse, providing launch services for
technology demonstration, scientific investigation, remote sensing and communications missions. The
three-stage Pegasus boosts small satellites weighing up to 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) into low-
Earth orbit. Pegasus is carried aloft by an L-1011 carrier aircraft to approximately 40,000 feet (12,000
meters) over open ocean, where it is released and then free-falls in a horizontal position for five seconds
before igniting its first stage rocket motor. In a typical mission Pegasus delivers its payload into orbit in a
little over ten minutes.
System Features
• Inertially guided three stage solid rocket propulsion
• Horizontal satellite integration and simplified launch operations
• Carrier aircraft provides on-board payload monitoring and control
• Air-launched mobility enables launch from anywhere, worldwide:
- Demonstrated launch capability from U.S. Air Force Western Range (WR), Eastern Range (ER),
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Canary Islands and Kwajalein launch sites
- Flight-proven with a demonstrated success record:
- 42 missions conducted
- 28 consecutive fully successful missions
• Flexibility to support unique user needs
World's leading small-class space
launch vehicle.
42 missions conducted; flawless record
since late 1996.
Launches conducted from California,
Virginia, Florida, the Canary Islands
and the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall
Islands.
Pegasus "Firsts"
• World's first privately developed space
launch vehicle.
• Maiden 1990 mission marked the
first all-new, unmanned space launch
vehicle developed in the U.S. in more
than 20 years.
• First winged vehicle to accelerate to
eight times the speed of sound.
• First air-launched rocket to place
satellites into orbit, using its carrier
aircraft as an "air breathing reusable
first stage."
FACTS AT A GLANCE
Pegasus
®
Patented Air Launch System
Pegasus in flight
LAUNCH
VEHICLE