The Air Force has given a $2.7 million award to SpaceDev—the outfit that provided the rocket motor for SpaceShipOne—to develop a large hybrid rocket motor that can produce about 100,000 pounds of thrust. A prototype motor is to be test fired next year. Oh, the 100K thrust is about nine times the capability of the SpaceShipOne motor.
The Air Force in October carried out a homeland defense mission, with jets including F-16 Fighting Falcons, in Alaska’s remote Aleutian Islands to show a base there could safeguard the northern regions.