Launch Vehicle First Stage Reusability

Launch Vehicle First Stage Reusability: a study to compare different recovery options for a reusable launch vehicle

Rozemeijer, Mark (TU Delft Aerospace Engineering)

Zandbergen, B.T.C. (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Aerospace Engineering

2020-12-01

In order to make access to space cheaper, the first stage of a launcher can be recovered. For this research, different options are investigated to make the cost per flight cheaper. Two vehicles are investigated going to two different orbits. The results show that recovering the complete stage is better for vehicles that have a lower separation velocity. When the separation velocity is higher, recovering only the engine is better. The best results are obtained when using a Ringsail parachute and a Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator. The design for these systems is optimised using a surrogate optimisation algorithm that reduces the computation time. The set target of 30% cost savings could not be achieved, but cost savings of at least 20% were achieved for both vehicles.

Launchers
Optimisation Algorithms
Surrogate-based optimization
Reusability

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:5cf403e0-5621-486c-8f41-6d0dbbe0f37f

Student theses

master thesis

© 2020 Mark Rozemeijer