AbstractThe development of any future reusable launch vehicle (RLV) shall aim at a significant reduction of the payload transportation costs. One of the most expensive systems for any RLV is the thermal protection system (TPS), which protects the vehicle from the high thermal loads during re-entry. EADS ST is developing and qualifying TPS components and technologies for a wide range of applications and temperatures. As a part of the German National technology research programme ASTRA, these technologies were used for a TPS pre-design of the suborbital Hopper (Fig. 1) as a reference RLV system. On the basis of aerothermal re-entry loads determined by computational fluid dynamics methods, temperatures and heat loads during re-entry were determined for the entire vehicle. According to those findings, one or more possible TPS concepts were then pre-selected for the various vehicle areas according to the maximum temperatures. After the final selection (using trade-offs when necessary), a conservative estimate for expected TPS mass was established.
Technologies for thermal protection systems applied on re-usable launcher
Acta Astronautica ; 55 , 3-9 ; 529-536
2003-01-01
8 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Technologies for thermal protection systems applied on re-usable launcher
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2004
|Technologies for thermal protection systems applied on re-usable launcher
Online Contents | 2004
|SPACE - ESA pursues quest for re-usable launcher
Online Contents | 2000
|Re-usable satellite launcher hinges on hybrid engine
Tema Archive | 1985
|