A Practical Solution to Near-Term Reusable Launch Vehicles

Paper number

IAC-05-D2.4.10

Author

Dr. Masafumi Miyazawa, Shizuoka University, Japan

Year

2005

Abstract

Many studies have been performed on near-term SSTO vehicles to date, but we have not yet found a feasible solution in terms of technology, schedule and cost aspects.  The critical barrier still unresolved lies in the high technology requirements dictated by the law of nature.
In the present study, we re-evaluated the propulsion and structural performance improvements above the current level technology to realize SSTO vehicles with finite payload weights.  The results show that the near-term SSTO is impractical even if it is barely realized, since the payload efficiency is too low to be meaningful as a transportation system.
To explore better solutions to efficient near-term reusable space transportation systems, we analyzed flight performance capabilities for partially-reusable vehicle candidates with ballistic configurations.  The basic idea is to reuse only those portions that are worth making efforts to recover and reuse.
The present study indicates a great advantage of the partially-reusable vehicle over the fully-reusable vehicle in performance, schedule and safe operation.  We also discussed overall criteria for selecting hardware to be recovered.

Abstract document

IAC-05-D2.4.10.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-05-D2.4.10.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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