A presentation providing brief information about the Reusable Launch Vehicle or reusable rockets their past, present, and future. If you are interested in learning how this technology works do go through the slides.

1. REUSABLE
LAUNCH VEHICLE
EVOLUTION REDEFINED

2. WHAT IS REUSABLE
LAUNCH VEHICLE?
• A Reusable launch vehicle (RLV) refers to a vehicle
which can be used for several missions.
• A Reusable Launch Vehicle is the space analog of an
aircraft. Ideally it takes off vertically on the back of
an expendable rocket and then glides back down like
an aircraft. During landing phase, an RLV can either
land on a runway or perform a splashdown.
• The main advantage of an RLV is it can be used
multiple times, hopefully with low servicing costs. The
expendable rocket that is used for launching the RLV
can also be designed to be used multiple times. A
successful RLV would surely cut down mission costs
and make space travel more accessible.
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3. SUBSONIC AND SUPERSONIC STAGE
• Upto about 100,000 feet or 30 km
• Use a combination of conventional jet-engine and ramjet engine
• Plane is accelerated to a speed of mach 4 or mach 5
HYPERSONIC STAGE
• At an altitude of about 100,000 feet and at a velocity of about mach 4
• Combustion and ignition takes place in milliseconds. - Scramjet engines takes
RLV to mach 15
• Rocket engines are fired as there isn’t enough oxygen for scramjet engines
SPACE STAGE
• Rocket engines are fired as there isn’t enough oxygen for scramjet engines
• RLV is accelerated to mach 25
• Rocket engine takes RLV to payload release site and required operations are
performed
WORKING
OF AN RLV
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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

4. History
The thought of Reusable launch vehicles started in 1950’s, but serious attempts at completely reusable launch vehicles starte d in the
1990s. The most prominent were the McDonnell-Douglas DC-X and the Lockheed Martin X-33 VentureStar.

5. Blue Origin SpaceX
SpaceX is a recent player in the private launch market succeeding
in converting its Falcon 9 expandable launch vehicle into a partially
reusable vehicle by returning the first stage for reuse
On 23 November 2015, Blue Origin New Shepard rocket became the
first proven Vertical Take-off Vertical Landing (VTVL) rocket
which can reach space 100.5 kilometers

6. Design of an RLV
BODY
The body has to withstand very high stresses. It has to
cope with the rapid change in temperatures which
changes from -250°C in shade to 250°C in direct sunlight
COCKPIT
Cockpit has double-paned glass windows which can
withstand the force of flight, pressure and vacuum.
Oxygen bottles are used to add breathable air. An
absorber system removes the exhaled carbon dioxide
WINGS
Delta wings provides enough lift to fly to space
and also reduce the friction during re-entry
ELECTRICAL POWER
The power required is taken from lithium batteries
which could be charged, if needed by using solar
energy
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7. SINGLE-STAGE-TO-ORBIT (SSTO)
It reaches the space orbit carrying small payloads of
9,000 to 20,000 kg without losing any hardware to
LEO
TWO-STAGE-TO-ORBIT (TSTO OR DSTO)
Two independent vehicles which interactions while
launching
CROSS FEED
It has two or three similar stages are stacked side by
side, and burn in parallel. They carry heavy payloads
to outer space.
STAGES TO
ORBIT
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8. Vertical Landing
Parachutes could be used to land vertically, either at
sea, or with the use of small landing rockets, on land
Rockets could be used to softland the vehicle on the
ground from the subsonic speeds reached at low altitude
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This typically requires about 10% of the landing weight
of the vehicle to be propellant.
Alternately, autogyro or helicopter rotor. This requires
perhaps 2-3% of the landing weight for the rotor

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10. RETRO-PROPULSION/
BACKWARD
PROPULSION
• Retro-propulsion means firing your rocket
engines against your velocity vector in order to
decelerate.
• The vehicle fires its rockets towards the surface
to slow the craft’s descent, after parachutes had
already brought it below the speed of sound.
• It is very expensive in the sense that the fuel
required for landing must be carried to space,
which erodes the useable payload capacity of the
launch system.
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11. Launch Assistance/Non Rocket Space Launch
STRATOLAUNCH
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LAUNCH LOOP SPACE ELEVATOR
ROCKET SLED LAUNCH SPACE TETHER

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’s thermal
protection tiles needed to be individually inspected (and potentially replaced).
• Main engines needed to be removed to undergo extensive inspection and overhaul.
• Parts contaminated with ocean salt water and had to be cleaned, disassembled, and refurbished before reuse.

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15. Reusable launch systems have the highest development costs and technical risks, but the
technology is within current state of the art. Current efforts to economically recover and
reuse launch vehicle elements are more promising than they have 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 vehicles are considered to be low cost alternatives. Future RLV are to be developed
through an extensive flight demonstration.
CONCLUSION
DMS,IIT DELHI