Aerothermal databases and load predictions for Retro Propulsion-Assisted Launch Vehicles (RETALT)

The assessment of thermal loads occurring on reusable launch vehicles during the entire trajectory is essential for the correct dimensioning of the thermal protection system. Due to the costs and limitations of ground-based testing for large-scale vehicles, these predictions rely intensively on numerical simulations (CFD). The need of aero-thermal databases, as a fast-response surrogate model for the aero-thermodynamic heating, arises from the practical impossibility of performing unsteady CFD analysis over the entire trajectory due to the large disparity of fluid mechanical and structural time scales. The construction of these databases is based on a representative set of CFD simulations which cover, at a minimum, the flight regimes with significant thermal loads. The aim of this paper is to analyse the results of these representative CFD simulations during both the ascent flight and atmospheric entry for the RETALT1 vehicle to show typical flow field phenomena occurring during these phases and the resulting heating patterns.

Space Debris Removal and Exploitation of Lunar Resources - Profitability Perspectives

Removing at least half of space debris, consisting of large metal objects, could be a cost-effective activity if, first, it becomes raw material, along with other extraterrestrial resources such as regolith, for the production of heat shields which is aimed to return the upper stages of medium and heavy rockets and, secondly, as a working medium for low-thrust electric rocket engines of interorbital tugs. Heat shields from external resources provide a means of increasing the payload of reusable launch vehicles.

APL JANUS System Progress on Commercial Suborbital Launch Vehicles: Moving the Laboratory Environment to Near Space

Multiple private companies are building suborbital reusable launch vehicles possessing vastly different designs. Many of these companies originally focused on space tourism; however, revolutionary applications for scientific and engineering research as well as technology demonstrations and instrument development are emerging. The dramatic reduction in cost over traditional launch systems as well as a guaranteed (and rapid) safe payload return enable many new launch vehicle applications. These new capabilities will essentially move the laboratory environment up to the edge of space. To make use of these novel launch vehicles, the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has established a Commercial Suborbital Program with a core system (JANUS) to support and enable many future suborbital missions. This program has already conducted six suborbital flight missions to establish vehicle interfaces and analyze the suitability and limits of each flight environment. Additionally, this program has also been selected by the NASA Flight Opportunities Program for five additional operational suborbital missions. Here we present the results of our completed missions as well as descriptions of future selected missions scheduled for 2021–2023.