A Reusable Launch Vehicle(RLV) refers to a launch vehicle which can be used for several missions. Ideally it takes off vertically on back of an expendable rocket and it glides back down like an aircraft. During the landing phase, an RLV can either land on a runway or performs a splashdown. The main advantage of an RLV is that it can be used multiple times, hopefully with low servicing cost. A successful RLV would surely cut down the mission cost and make space travel more accessible.

1. Reusable Launch Vehicles
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2. Introduction:
● A Reusable Launch Vehicle(RLV) refers to a launch vehicle which can
be used for several missions.
● Ideally it takes off vertically on back of an expendable rocket and it
glides back down like an aircraft. During the landing phase, an RLV can
either land on a runway or performs a splashdown.
● The main advantage of an RLV is that it can be used multiple times,
hopefully with low servicing cost.
● A successful RLV would surely cut down the mission cost and make
space travel more accessible.

3. History:
The thought of RLV started in 1950’s, But serious attempts of
completely RLV started in the 1990’s. The most prominent were the
McDonnell-Douglas DC-X and the Lockheed Martin X-33 VentureStar.

4. ● SpaceX is a recent player in the private launch vehicle market
established in 2002 by ELON MUSK, to make space flight routine and
affordable, and to make human a multi-planet species.
● SpaceX offers a Falcon family of launch vehicles that improve launch
reliability and increase access to space.

5. Working of an RLV:
SUBSONIC and SUPERSONIC STAGE:
● Uses a combination of conventional jet engine and ramjet engine.
● Plane is accelerated to a speed of mach 4 or mach 5.
● Upto 30 km.
HYPERSONIC STAGE:
● Combustion and Ignition takes place in milliseconds.
● Uses Scramjet engines takes RLV to mach15.
● At an altitude of about 30 Km and at a velocity of about mach 4.

6. SPACE STAGE:
● Rocket engines are fired as there isn’t enough oxygen for scramjet
engine.
● RLV is accelerated to mach 25.
● Rocket engine takes RLV to payload release site and required
operations are performed.
RE-ENTRY STAGE:
● RLV performs de-orbit operations to slow itself down.
● It drops to lower orbit and enters upper atmospheric layers.
● RLV uses its aerodynamics to glide down once it reaches dense air.

8. Design of an RLV:

9. Stages to orbit:
SINGLE-STAGE TO ORBIT:
A single-stage-to-orbit (or SSTO) vehicle reaches orbit from the
surface of a body using only propellants and fluids and without expending
tanks, engines, or other major hardware. The term usually, but not
exclusively, refers to reusable vehicle.
It reaches a space orbit carrying small payloads of 9000 to 20,000
kg without losing any hardware to LEO.

10. TWO-STAGE TO ORBIT:
A two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) or two-stage rocket launch vehicle
is a spacecraft in which two distinct stages provide propulsion consecutively
in order to achieve orbital velocity.

11. Vertical landing:

12. Preparing for Reuse:
● The vehicle requires extensive inspection and refurbishment.
● Each and every part of the launch vehicle needed to be individually
inspected. For example the orbiter thermal protection tiles needed to be
individually inspected.
● Main engines needed to be removed to undergo extensive inspection
and overhaul.
● Parts contaminated with ocean salt water and had to be cleared,
disassembled, and refurbished before reuse.

13. Conclusion:
Reusable launch systems have the highest development cost and
technical risks, but the technology is within current state of art. Current
efforts to economically recover and reuse launch vehicle elements are more
promising than they ever been. A reusable system has extremely low direct
operating costs. A future reusable launch vehicle should be constructed within
low cost,use cryogenic engine for all stages. Autonomous reusable launch
vehicle are considered to be low cost alternatives. Future RLV are to be
developed through an extensive flight demonstration.

14. Thank you