Download or read book Demonstration and Analysis of Reusable Launch Vehicle Operations written by John Garvey and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Report developed under SBIR contract for topic AF05-201. The increased use of reusable systems continues to be one of the most promising options for creating advancements in the daily maintenance of rocket systems, lowering hours for preparation and diminishing expenses for preparation. However, since the end of the DC-X/XA Delta Clipper program, flight testing of candidate reusable launch vehicle (RLV) designs, technologies and operations has come to a halt. This project addressed this situation through the development and flight testing during Phase I of an early prototype RLV that could ultimately evolve into the first stage of an operational nanosat launch vehicle (NLV). This LOX/ethanol-propellant vehicle -the Prospector 7 -took flight twice within a 3.5 hour period after less than a day of pre-launch field preparations, thereby establishing a new reference metric for RLV-type responsive, fast turn-around launch operations. Besides serving as an operational pathfinder, this RLV test bed also manifested several academic payloads in support of a related goal of assessing candidate nanosat-class payload accommodations. In a solid demonstration of the commercial potential for this kind of capability, the Prospector 7 itself has already been assigned to non-SBIR follow-on flight test activities.
Download or read book Initial Results from the Demonstration and Analysis of Reusable Nanosat Launch Vehicle Operations written by J. M. Garvey and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Flight testing of prototype reusable launch vehicles (RLVs) has declined significantly since a period in the mid-1990s that was marked by ambitious projects but uneven results. Consequently, a new program has been established with the objective of investigating RLV-type fast turn-around flight operations. Major distinctions from these earlier efforts include the use of a smaller class of vehicles and payloads, along with an initial emphasis on operations as opposed to advanced technologies. This focus on a hybrid-type (reusable first stage and expendable second stage) "nanosat launch vehicle" (NLV) that ultimately could deliver 10 kg to low Earth orbit has already produced tangible results. These include initial operational capability of a new prototype vehicle just six months after project start, two flights of this vehicle within 3.5 hours, a total of four flights within an eleven month period, pathfinding operations from a new launch site and the manifesting of numerous technology and academic experiments. Lessons learned from this first round of demonstration and analysis are now guiding the development of several next-generation prototype reusable NLVs that will enter flight testing later this year.
Download or read book Concepts of Operations for a Reusable Launch Vehicle written by Michael A. Rampino and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States is embarked on a journey toward maturity as a spacefaring nation. One key step along the way is development of a reusable launch vehicle (RLV). The most recent National Space Transportation Policy (August 1994) assigned improvement and evolution of current expendable launch vehicles to the Department of Defense while National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA) is responsible for working with industry on demonstrating RLV technology. The purpose of this study is to help ensure the US military, especially the USAF, is prepared to take advantage of RLVs should the NASA-led effort to develop an RLV demonstrator prove successful. The focus of this study is an explanation of how the US military could use RLVs, by describing and analyzing two concepts of operations. Four major conclusions resulted from the analysis. First, RLVs have military potential. They can perform a variety of missions including responsive spacelift, reconnaissance, and strike. However, the economic feasibility of using RLVs for earth-to-earth transportation is questionable. Second, design choices for an operational RLV will have effects on risk, cost, capability, and operations efficiency. Trade-offs will have to be made between NASA, commercial, and military requirements if all three parties are to use the same fleet of RLVs. Third, increased investment in propulsion technology development is warranted to ensure success. Fourth, the top priority for the RLV program, even from the military's perspective, should remain cheap and responsive access to space. The research led to three recommendations. First, the US military should become a more active participant in the RLV program to ensure its requirements are defined and incorporated. Second, America should not pursue development of operational RLVs before the technology is ready.
Download or read book RLV Flight Operations Demonstration with a Prototype Nanosat Launch Vehicle PREPRINT written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Actual flight-based test and evaluation of vertical take-off reusable launch vehicles (RLVs) has been dormant in the U.S. since the end of the SDIO/NASA/McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper - Experimental Advanced (DC-X/XA) project in 1996. A joint industry-academic team working under sponsorship from the Air Force Research Laboratory's Propulsion Directorate took a small step in 2005 towards re-invigorating such RLV test and evaluation activities, using an early, low-fidelity prototype of the first stage for a proposed nanosat launch vehicle (NLV) that is sized to deliver up to 10 kg into low Earth orbit. This team developed the LOX/ethanol Prospector-7 (P-7) in only six months and then flew it twice in a period of 3.5 hours after just eighteen hours of field site preparations. This compares to the twenty-six hour turn-around benchmark achieved with the DC-XA at the White Sands Missile Range. The P-7 has since been employed on a third flight test and is now undergoing preparation for its fourth mission later this year. In addition to supporting NLV development, it is anticipated that the results and lessons learned from these demonstrations of responsive, rapid RLV turn-around operations could also prove to be of relevance to the Air Force's ongoing investigations into hybrid launch vehicle concepts.
Download or read book Reusable Launch Vehicle written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1996-01-08 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The key to opening the use of space to private enterprise and to broader public uses lies in reducing the cost of the transportation to space. More routine, affordable access to space will entail aircraft-like quick turnaround and reliable operations. Currently, the space Shuttle is the only reusable launch vehicle, and even parts of it are expendable while other parts require frequent and extensive refurbishment. NASA's highest priority new activity, the Reusable Launch Vehicle program, is directed toward developing technologies to enable a new generation of space launchers, perhaps but not necessarily with single stage to orbit capability. This book assesses whether the technology development, test and analysis programs in propulsion and materials-related technologies are properly constituted to provide the information required to support a December 1996 decision to build the X-33, a technology demonstrator vehicle; and suggest, as appropriate, necessary changes in these programs to ensure that they will support vehicle feasibility goals.
Download or read book A Simulation Framework for the Analysis of Reusable Launch Vehicle Operations and Maintenance written by Patrick Daniel Dees and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During development of a complex system, feasibility initially overshadows other concerns, in some cases leading to a design which may not be viable long-term. In particular for the case of Reusable Launch Vehicles, Operations & Maintenance comprises the majority of the vehicle's LCC, whose stochastic nature precludes direct analysis. Through the use of simulation, probabilistic methods can however provide estimates on the economic behavior of such a system as it evolves over time. Here the problem of operations optimization is examined through the use of discrete event simulation. The resulting tool built from the lessons learned in the literature review simulates a RLV or fleet of vehicles undergoing maintenance and the maintenance sites it/they visit as the campaign evolves over a period of time. The goal of this work is to develop a method for uncovering an optimal operations scheme by investigating the effect of maintenance technician skillset distributions on important metrics such as the achievable annual flight rate and maintenance man hours spent on each vehicle per flight. Using these metrics, the availability of technicians for each subsystem is optimized to levels which produce the greatest revenue from flights and minimum expenditure from maintenance.
Download or read book Operations Analysis of the 2nd Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle written by Steven R. Noneman and published by BiblioGov. This book was released on 2013-08 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Space Launch Initiative (SLI) program is developing a second-generation reusable launch vehicle. The program goals include lowering the risk of loss of crew to 1 in 10,000 and reducing annual operations cost to one third of the cost of the Space Shuttle. The SLI missions include NASA, military and commercial satellite launches and crew and cargo launches to the space station. The SLI operations analyses provide an assessment of the operational support and infrastructure needed to operate candidate system architectures. Measures of the operability are estimated (i.e. system dependability, responsiveness, and efficiency). Operations analysis is used to determine the impact of specific technologies on operations. A conceptual path to reducing annual operations costs by two thirds is based on key design characteristics, such as reusability, and improved processes lowering labor costs. New operations risks can be expected to emerge. They can be mitigated with effective risk management with careful identification, assignment, tracking, and closure. SLI design characteristics such as nearly full reusability, high reliability, advanced automation, and lowered maintenance and servicing coupled with improved processes are contributors to operability and large operating cost reductions.
Download or read book Longitudinal Control and Footprint Analysis for a Reusable Military Launch Vehicle written by Anhtuan D. Ngo and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 10 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this paper, we will examine a configuration for a reusable military launch vehicle (RMLS) concept. This configuration allows for the vehicle to land in an inverted attitude. Such inverted landing improves the turnaround time of the vehicle by reducing the maintenance requirements of the vehicle's thermal protection system. An analysis is performed to examine the impacts by the configuration on stability, control, and footprint for an RMLS configuration.
Download or read book Reusable Launch Vehicles and Space Operations written by John E. Ward and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Highly Operable Propulsion for Reusable Launch Vehicle Applications written by Michael Marlow and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wide variety of reusable launch vehicle concepts for placing various payloads into low earth orbit are currently being evaluated for potential civil, commercial and military applications. This recent interest is being driven by a desire to achieve reduced payload launch costs and, in some cases, very rapid response capability. In most of these cases, the general requirements of the main propulsion system are similar: a high level of operational availability with minimal operational support activity. Consequently, evaluation of traditional expendable rocket engines as candidates for reusable applications has begun, with an emphasis on understanding whether or not a given engine's operating characteristics are inherently more reusable than another. In support of a planned program to demonstrate a low cost, rapid response reusable launch vehicle, several existing rocket engines were evaluated for feasibility to meet the requirements of a sub-scale reusable launch vehicle demonstrator. Critical propulsion characteristics were defined based on the demonstration objectives of the overall program. Potential candidate engines were selected and then evaluated against these critical propulsion characteristics, and a comparative assessment of each engine's ability to satisfy each critical characteristic was generated. Finally, a reference engine was designated along with a reference demonstrator vehicle concept. This vehicle concept was evaluated for its feasibility to satisty the reusable launch vehicle demonstrator program objectives, and determined to meet the stated goals with residual capability for possible later applications.
Download or read book Reusable Launch Vehicles Operations and Maintenance Top down Analysis written by J. Timothy Middendorf and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Supplemental Report captures the results of the follow-on research activity specifically targeted at producing Operations and Maintenance (O & M) guideline inputs for Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLVs). This report also provides additional information in topic areas covered by the original report; the results of a validation activity associated with the Functions and Procedural Items introduced in the first report; serves as a repository for data collection in preparation for a functional analysis; and, finally, discusses the synthesis of this same data into a form usable by the FAA to generate RLV O & M Guidelines.
Download or read book Space Launch Initiative written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science. Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Guide to Commercial Reusable Launch Vehicle Operations and Maintenance written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 13 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Analysis of the Staging Maneuver and Booster Glideback Guidance for a Two stage Winged Fully Reusable Launch Vehicle written by J. Christopher Naftel and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Guide to Reusable Launch Vehicle Safety Validation and Verification Planning Version 1 0 written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (AST) regulates the emerging Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) industry. Such regulatory efforts are used only to the extent necessary to ensure that industry activities do not jeopardize public health and safety, safety of property, U.S. national security or foreign policy interests, or international obligations of the U.S. Corresponding to the FAA/ASTs regulatory authority, this guide discusses the validation and verification process within the context of safety requirements. This guide provides an acceptable method of safety validation and verification planning. Sample formats illustrating implementation of the validation and verification process are provided. In demonstrating compliance with the RLV regulations, an applicant may use the validation and verification process described in this guide or an equivalent process.
Download or read book Reusable Launch Vehicle Operations and Maintenance Guidance Inputs and Technical Evaluation Report written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Development of commercial Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLVs) remains a great interest to many private companies. The appeal rests in an RLV's ability to support multiple mission types (e.g., cargo and tourism) and amortized development costs over the life of the operational vehicle. Commercial RLV companies plan to use both existing and new technologies in the design/development of the vehicle and its subsystems. RLV Operations and Maintenance (O & M) practices have the potential to affect public safety; therefore, the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST) is in the process of developing guidelines for RLV O & M practices. These guidelines may be used in evaluating an RLV developer/operator's license application. This Guideline Input and Technical Evaluation Report is intended to capture an initial set of Guideline Inputs (GIs) and Guideline Input Considerations (GICs) ordered around the various subsystems that are likely to be used in RLV O & M.
Download or read book Concepts Of Operations For A Reusable Launch Vehicle U S Department Of Defense written by United States. Department of the Air Force and published by . This book was released on 1998* with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
