HobbySpace - Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Information

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RLV & Space Transport Information
Part 2 - RLV Projects Outside US + RLV Technology

Hopper
Germany's reusable sub-orbital Hopper design.

Japans Reusable Vehicle Test (RVT) series.

Current RLV Projects Outside of USA

Past RLV Projects...
Chinese RLV(?):
- Chinese Manned Space Program at Mark Wade's Encyclopedia
- Articles:
Europe:
- Europe and Space Tourism - VEGA Group: review paper presented at a space tourism meeting on 7 June 2006 sponsored by the Royal Aeronautical Society.
- Europe joins space tourism race - TimesOnline - June.10.07
- ACTS ((Advanced Crew Transportation System) - joint ESA/Russia program
- Next generation launchers - ESA
  - IXV: the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (pdf)
    - Is this the first Crew Space Transportation System demonstrator? - Hyperbola - Apr.29.08
  - NGL Prime awarded future launcher contracts - Flight International - July.9.07
  - Development contracts signed for future European launchers - ESA - June.27.07.
- LAPCAT (Long Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies)
  - Overview - ESA
  - Commission funds hypersonic flight project - EUROPA - Feb.16.06
    - LAPCAT description
  - LAPCAT at Reaction Engines
  - General Overview, J. Steelant LAPCAT-Coordinator, ESTEC-ESA (pdf of ppt)
  - EU to fund hypersonic civil transport research - Flight Global - Oct.23.07
  - Hypersonic hydrogen airliner to bitchslap Concorde - The Register - Oct.24.07
  - EU €7m hypersonic research plan considers UK-designed Mach 5 aircraft to fly Brussels to Sydney in 2h - Flight International - June.15.06
- FLACON: Future High-Altitude Flight - an Attractive Commercial Niche? - Europa. EU Projects
  - Airbus A380 Freighter could air launch space tourists - Flight Int. - Apr.28.07.
- Survey report on space tourism - Sam Adlen of the Vega Group.
- ESA -Next generation launchers
- PHOENIX: Future prospects in space transport through reusable launch systems - EADS - May.10.04
  - ARD - capsule launched to test thermal protection systems.
  - Ares - Atmospheric Reentry Experimental Spaceplane
  - Themis
  - Tarantis
- ARIES - Thales Alenia concept
  - Thales Alenia Space's answer to EADS Astrium's Space Jet - Hyperbola - May.2.08
  - Europe in space:Project "ARIES" and "MOONLIGHT" - NASASpaceflight.com Forum
- Bristol Spaceplanes
  - Ascender - X-Prize
  - Spacecab
  - Spacebus
- EADS Astrium Space Tourism Vehicle
  - Space Tourism - EADS
  - Astrium Brochure (pdf)
  - Wikipedia - Astrium space tourism vehicle
  - Space planes 'to meet big demand' - BBC - Mar.17.08
  - European space tourism vehicles - The Space Review - July.2.07
  - Astrium rockets into space tourism - EADS Astrium - June.13.07
  - BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Firm rockets into space tourism
  - BBC Video- Tourist spaceship previewed
  - Europe Unveils Space Plane for Tourist Market - SPACE.com - June.13.07
  - New 'space jet' proposed for suborbital jaunts - New Scientist - June.13.07
- DSL
  - The DSL Space Transportation System
- EADS/DASA/Astrium - Phoenix/Hopper - ASTRA
  - Future Launchers (FLPP)
  - Hopper = Sled launched 2-stage demo system. First stage booster glides back, 2nd stage is expendable and takes payload to orbit.
  - Phoenix = a prototype vehicle like the X-38 that will be dropped from a helicopter to test the autonomous landing system.
  - Phoenix Captive Flight Campaign - Esrange
  - Successful flight for Phoenix - SSC Esrange - May.10.04
  - PHOENIX: Future prospects in space transport through reusable launch systems - EADS - May.10.04
  - Flight of the Phoenix was successful - EADS - May.6.04
  - EADS Photos
  - Europe's space shuttle passes early test - New Scientist - May.10.04
  - Phoenix performs first glide test - spacetoday.net - May.9.04
  - PHOENIX final rehearsal goes well - EADS SPACE - Mar.10.04
  - Reusable orbital glider PHOENIX undergoes wind tunnel testing - EADS - Aug.20.03
  - Future prospects in space transport through reusable launch systems - EADS - June.14.03
  - Phoenix PR - DLR - Aug.20.03 (in German)
  - Raumtransporter der Zukunft (Space transport for the Future) - ESA - Mar.11.03 (in German)
  - Prototype "space hopper" ready for testing - New Scientist - June.25.02
  - Future reusable launch vehicle to be tested in northern Sweden - Swedish Space Corporation - June.17.02
  - Europe's Phoenix: Test Craft Sets Stage For Reusable Rocketry - Space.com - June.21.02
  - German industry and science to make decisive contribution to future space transporters - DLR - may/jun 2001
  - Germany plans new space glider - Flug Revue - June.01
  - Go-ahead for new, reusable space transport system - EADS - Apr.4.01
  - TETRA/X-38 & ASTRA - German RLV Activities - Klaus Berge of DLR (1.6MB pdf) - some interesting pictures of the Hopper sub-orbital demonstrator and Phoenix air drop test vehicle (similar to X-38)
- Orbspace - Austrian based startup that plans to build a VTOVL suborbital vehicle.
  - Infinity would go to an altitude of 200 km and could be configured for manned or unmanned operations. The small prototype
  - JetFly would provide a testbed for development of technologies for the Infinity.
- PRORA - Italy - National Program for Aerospace Research -RLV technology development program
  - USV - Unmanned Space Vehicle
  - AREV (select AREV under "text capability" list): Atmospheric Re-entry Experimental Vehicle
  - Highlights in Space Technology and Applications for 2000 - UN Space
    - "One family of these testbeds, designated USV, is dedicated to space launching and reentry missions. The 10-year programme is oriented towards 3rd-generation launch systems projected for the 25-year time frame. The family will include a small 3-stage system, the first stage of which is a stratospheric balloon."
- Pre-X - France
- Project Enterprise - A privately funded project involving an alliance of the TALIS-Institute, Swiss Propulsion Laboratory (SPL), VEGA, and Xtreme Air GmbH.
  - Project Enterprise new debut - Space Transport News - Feb.14.08
  - This project began in 2006 and was redefined in 2008. Involves a horizontal takeoff and landing vehicle for space tourism.
    - Plan is to first build a prototype "Black Sky“rocket powered version of an existing Xtreme airframe. This will begin flying in 2010
    - Maiden flight of the production model "Enterprise" is planned for 2011
    - The goal is by 2013 to see wo flights per week with 3 passengers each.
  - Articles:
    - Weltraumtourismus: Per Sachsen-Anhalter in die Galaxis - SPIEGEL - Apr.17.08 - Google Translation
  - Earlier design:
    - All-European consortium plans suborbital vehicle - Flight International - June.20.06
    - 2-stage rocket with LOX/Kerosene engines. Small payloads to orbit. Equatorial 200-250kg and polar 100-150kg.
      - First launch in late 2007 or early 2008
      - Manned suborbital version eventually
    - Project Enterprise - TIM Report - July-Sept.2005 (In German)
    - Project Enterprise - TIM Report - March 2005 (In German)
    - TIM Magazine-Dec.15.2004
    - Other TIM magazine articles about the project
- Rocket Designers Look To The Next Generation
- SKYLON - Reaction Engines
  - LAPCAT project
  - SABRE engine - SKYLON Engineering
  - The SKYLON Spaceplane: IAA-V3.07 - 1995
  - History of HOTOL and Skylon
  - EU €7m hypersonic research plan considers UK-designed Mach 5 aircraft to fly Brussels to Sydney in 2h - Flight International - June.15.06 (See LAPCAT project)
- SpaceFleet
  - SF-01
- StarChaser
  - See RLV section 1
  - BBC News | Sci/Tech | Thunderbirds are go!
- SPL - Swiss Propulsion Laboratory - non-profit group, university based
  - XBow II - 2 stage reusable suborbital with lift-off-mass of ~1500kg, powered by LOX/kerosene engines on both stages.
  - XBow III - 3 stage reusable vehicle of placing small payload in LEO
- Vehra-SH - lifting body, airlaunched concept developed at Dassault Aviation
  - Vehra-SH Suborbital Manned Vehicle by J.-P. Haigneré, L. Gathier, P. Coué(pdf) presented at the IAC 2006 (International Astronautical Congress) meeting in Valencia, Spain.
  - Astronaut Club Europeen
India

Japan's RVT (Reusable Vehicle Test) rises vertically
a short distance and then returns for landing.
Video available at ISAS and Spaceref.com.

Japan
- R&D Plan of Japanese Future Space Transportation System -2002 conference report - pdf, html
- ATREX Engine
- LIFLEX - Lifting Body Flight Experiment
  - Japan prepares lifting body tests: Re-entry vehicle experiments planned for late next year - Flight International - Nov.21.06
- ISAS - RVT
- RVT Successor - Reusable Sounding Rocket
  - Look out Jeff Bezos, here comes JAXA's reusable rocket! - Hyperbola - Apr.30.08
  - Ddiscussed by Hiroyuki Ogawa of JAXA during a session of the International Personal Spaceflight Symposium in Las Cruces, NM in October 2007.
  - CNET - Japan story - May.21.07 - translated
  - Slides about the RVT and its successor - JAXA - translated version [link broken]
    - New vehicle would be 10.5m tall, 3m diameter, 8,857kg GTW, 2619kg dry mass. 4 31kN engines, 315sec specific impulse.
- National Aerospace Lab:
- NASDA
- Kankoh Maru
  - Japanese Rocket Society
  - Spacefuture
Korea
- C&Space - suborbital Proteus vehicle.
Russian/Soviet Reusable vehicles
- Russia hypersonics
- Russian Spaceplanes - Mark Wade's Spaceflight Encyclopedia
- NPO Molniya - reviews several Soviet/Russian RLV projects
- ACTS (Advanced Crew Transportation System)
  - Europe and Russia Join Forces to Study ACTS: Europe and Russia Join Forces to Study Advanced Crew Transportation System: Japan May also Contribute - Planetary Society - June.28.06
- Kliper - 6 person spacecraft to succeed Soyuz proposed by Russian Aerospace Agency and RKK Energia
- Parom "Ferry" - space tug
- ZAO - Aerospace Systems
- RLV Designs & Research
  - RLV Ajax
    - RLV Neva
- Angara - Mark Wade
- Fregat Upper Stage becomes reusable with the IRDT inflatable re-shield
  - Lavochkin Association
  - Lost Russian Spacecraft Is Recovered - Space.com - Feb.15.00
  - Fregat image at Space.com
- Myasishchev Design Bureau
  - Myasishchev Design Bureau at Wikipedia
  - Explorer - 5 seat airlaunched vehicle for space tourism
  - X PRIZE Project:

RLV Supporting Technology
- Aerospace Reference Library at XCOR Aerospace - listing of books for topics related to RLV development
- Designing an X-Prize Homebuilt Spacecraft by Mark Christopher Russell - X Prize
  - RL Aerospace - Russell's company which has built & test fired a 1000lb thrust kerosene/LOX engine and is designing a 15000lb thrust engine.
  - pdf version - 346kb
- Pad Abort Demonstration (PAD)
  - PAD at OSPNews
  - PAD Fact Sheets
  - PAD Artwork
  - Articles
    - Engine, Parachute Tests Pave Way For Launch Escape System - NASA - Dec.18.03
    - NASA Conducts Successful Pad Abort Demonstration - NASA - Nov.6.03
- Rocket Engine Technology:
  - Propulsion Systems & Propellents
  - Propulsion Companies
  - Aerospike
    - X-33 Aerospike engine in RLV History section Although, the X-33 program was canceled, the engine tests are considered a success. Aerospikes are ideal for SSTO since they provide efficient performance at ground atmospheric pressures all the way to vacuum conditions. However, SSTO development has been dropped by NASA in favor of 2 stage systems. In this case, each stage can have separate engines, each designed specifically for the conditions it will run under.
    - Aerospike at Aerospaceweb.org
    - Aerospike Nozzle - FAQ
    - Aerospike with hybrid motors - eAc
    - Aerospike Engine Flight Test Successful - NASA DFRC - Apr.19.04
      - NASA Dryden Aerospike Rocket Photo Collection
    - Successful Second Liquid-propellant Aerospike Engine Flight Onboard P-4 - CSULB - Dec.10.03
    - CSULB/GSC Team Conducts First Powered Liquid Propellant Aerospike Flight Test - Eric Besnard - Sept.21.03
    - Successful Aerospike Engine Static Fire Test by CSU Long Beach and Garvey Spacecraft - Cal Space Authority - June.21.03
    - Aerospike Engine Engine Runs for 200 ms Before Plug Breaks-off - CalState Long Beach/Garvey Spacecraft - Apr.28.02
  - Hypersonics - ramjets & scramjets
    - RBCC - Rocket Based Combine Cycle
  - Aerojet preburners - Air Force reusable engine development program
  - NASA Engine projects - NGLT (Next Generation Launch Technology) is taking over these projects previously under SLI
    - The Case For a Highly Evolved Version Of the Space Shuttle Main Engine - SpaceEquity - Feb.16.03
    - NASA Shifts SLI Funds Kerosene Engines - Aviation Week - Sept.30.02
    - Rocket scientists dial up an old flame: kerosene : NASA, contractors consider fuel for next booster engines - Huntsville Times - Aug.30.02
    - Space Launch Initiative Triggers Hydrocarbon Engine War - Aviation Week - April.29.02
    - New breed of auxiliary propulsion tested - Spaceflight Now - Apr.1.02
    - Aerojet Becomes First Contractor to Test Fire Engine for NASA Space Launch Initiative - Aerojet- PR - Dec.12.01
    - Candidate engines under development:
    - Fact Sheet: Main Engine Candidates for a Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle - SLI - Sept.02 (pdf)
    - NASA Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT)
    - COBRA - Pratt & Whitney-Aerojet, hydrogen/oxygen engine (Canceled)
      - COBRA Engine Could Power the Next Generation Shuttle - Space.com - Sept.4.02
      - 600k lb thrust
    - RS-83 -Boeing hydrogen/oxygen engine
      - Boeing Rocketdyne Chooses Design for Next-Generation Reusable Rocket Engine - Boeing PR - Jan.28.02
      - 640,000lb thrust/10,000lb weight
    - RS-84 - Boeing kerosene/LOX (Canceled)
    - TR107 - Northrop kerosene/LOX
      - 1.0M lb thrust
      - Northrop Grumman Awarded NASA Contract for Next Generation Launch Technology - Northrop PR - May.6.03
    - For comparison, the Space shuttle main engine:
      - 400,000lb thrust/7,000lb weight
      - New engine should have a 100 mission life cycle vs 50 for SSME
  - Fastrac Engine
  - A LO2/Kerosene SSTO Rocket Design" by Mitchell Burnside Clapp - Google - Feb.2.97 - argument for dense fuels over LH2/LOX.
  - Fuels and Space Propellants for Reusable Launch Vehicles - NASA Glenn Research Center - SBIR Program.
  - H2O2
    - X-L Space Systems (hydrogen-peroxide.com)
    - Aerojet Wins $10.4 Million Contract to Develop Peroxide Engine for Air Force Space Maneuver Vehicle - Aerojet PR - May.10.01
    - Engine Work Begins For Air Force Space Engine - Aviation Week - May.12.01
    - Orbital Successfully Conducts Static Fire Test of New Low-Cost Rocket Engine- project with NASA & Air Force for USFE reusable upper stage engine
  - Hybrid motors:
    - Manned Space Plane Motors by SpaceDev
  - Small Companies:
    - Compositex: Innovators in Rocket Propulsion, Composite Structures, Ablatives, and Aerodynamics
    - HMX - Gary Hudson et al
    - X-L Space Systems (hydrogen-peroxide.com)
    - See XCOR above
- Fuel Densification
- Composite Fuel Tanks & Other Structures
- Upper stages, i.e. for taking payloads to GEO:
  - K-1 Expendable Upper Stage
- Thermal Protection
- Other Technology

Models: RLVs, rocketplanes, reusable space vehicles
- Part Time Models... Cosmos Mariner, Pioneer Rocketplane
- Roton Flying Model - Jens Lerch
- Stratosphere Models - X-38 model
- X-15A-2 at Collectaire
- X-20 Dyna Soar at Collectaire
- Scratch modeling a SS1 at this Rocketry Forum thread.
RLV Related Simulations
- PRE-Flight Simulator. Download freeware PRE-Flight 2.00 from Simtel and SS1 Model from PreflightSim.com.
- White Knight X-Plane simulation at X-Plane.org.
- Java applet at SpaceTethers.com.
- Orbiter freeware space simulator now includes some "addon" modules for the X-20 Dynasoar, HopeX, X-34 & X-38: ORBITER Image Gallery
- Flying Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne Simulator - Aviation Week - Apr.21.03
RLV Shops
- See Rocket Companies in Shopping section.
Advanced Rocketry Competitions

Other RLV sections: