AbstractThe paper provides a survey about the technical development trends and alternatives in the launch vehicle area.The traditional solution is the multistage expendable launch vehicle. The American STS with the reusable winged Shuttle is the first step towards a reusable system. While the launch cost of an expendable system comprises about 70% hardware cost, the STS (Shuttle) has reduced the hardware cost per flight to some 50%. A fully reusable vehicle would come down to less than 30%.The technical development trends as engine performance, stage mass ratio, vehicle payload ratio, etc. are discussed and the requirements for fully reusable two-stage and single-stage vehicles shown. For each launch vehicle concept examples are presented which have been conceived in the past 20 years.It is shown how the trend to fully reusable systems will allow to reduce the launch cost. As final and most cost-effective solution the single-stage winged vehicle will probably evolve for manned space transportation and small payloads, while for heavy cargo transportation the unmanned single-stage ballistic vehicle seems to be the most advantageous concept.
Launch vehicle evolution - from multistage expendables to single-stage reusables
Acta Astronautica ; 14 ; 159-166
1986-01-01
8 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Reusables vs. Expendables: to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Beyond
Springer Verlag | 2000
|NTIS | 2001
|Incontinence Care - Single-Use Products vs Reusables
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1993
|Springer Verlag | 2005
|Expendables cover the spectrum (decoy countermeasure)
Tema Archiv | 1990
|