The Advanced Concepts Office at NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center conducted a study of two configurations of a three-stage, inline, liquid propellant small launch vehicle concept developed on the premise of maximizing affordability by targeting a specific payload capability range based on current and future industry demand. The initial configuration, NESC-1, employed liquid oxygen as the oxidizer and rocket propellant grade kerosene as the fuel in all three stages. The second and more heavily studied configuration, NESC-4, employed liquid oxygen and rocket propellant grade kerosene on the first and second stages and liquid oxygen and liquid methane fuel on the third stage. On both vehicles, sensitivity studies were first conducted on specific impulse and stage propellant mass fraction in order to baseline gear ratios and drive the focus of concept development. Subsequent sensitivity and trade studies on the NESC-4 concept investigated potential impacts to affordability due to changes in gross liftoff mass and/or vehicle complexity. Results are discussed at a high level to understand the impact severity of certain sensitivities and how those trade studies conducted can either affect cost, performance, or both.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Small Launch Vehicle Concept Development for Affordable Multi-Stage Inline Configurations


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    JANNAF Propulsion Meeting ; 2014 ; Charleston, SC, United States


    Publication date :

    2014-05-19


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Small Launch Vehicle Concept Development for Affordable Multi-Stage Inline Configurations

    Beers, Benjamin R. / Waters, Eric D. / Philips, Alan D. et al. | NTRS | 2013



    Small Launch Vehicle Concept Development for Affordable Multi-Stage Inline Configurations

    B. R. Beers / E. D. Waters / A. D. Philips et al. | NTIS | 2014


    Small Launch Vehicle Concept Development for Affordable Multi-Stage Inline Configurations

    Beers, Benjamin R. / Waters, Eric / Philips, Alan et al. | AIAA | 2013


    Small Launch Vehicle Concept Development for Affordable Multi-Stage Inline Configurations

    Beers, Benjamin R. / Waters, Eric D. / Philips, Alan D. et al. | NTRS | 2014