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Posted by Rüdiger Klaehn on December 8, 2005, 3:52 pm
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Burt Rutan has pioneered the concept of a rocketship that reconfigures
itself for reentry and landing. I have been wondering for a while if
this approach might be applicable to orbital space transports without
wings.
Here is what I came up with:
1. http://www.lambda-computing.com/stuff/kissto.jpg
This is a concept where the payload fairing is reused as a heat shield
and as protection of the engine for a water landing. The payload
fairing is connected to the rest of the stage with two telescoping
tubes or a similar mechanism. After reaching orbit, the payload fairing
is lifted and the payload released. The payload fairing is then rotated
to the back of the vehicle and pulled against the back of the vehicle.
Since all this happens in zero gravity, the mechanism does not have to
be very strong.
The vehicle is aerodynamically stable during reentry since the engine
(which is the heaviest part of an empty rocket stage) is in the tip.
The engine is protected from reentry and also from salt water during
water landing and recovery. Many payload fairings already have some
heat shielding for ascent, but in this case there would have to be
additional heat shielding.
2. http://www.lambda-computing.com/stuff/kissto2.jpg
This is something that might be interesting for second stages flying to
a manned space station where they can be worked on. An upper stage
engine is equipped with a small, regeneratively cooled chamber and a
large, radiatively cooled nozzle extension made from heat-resistant
refactory metal. After reaching orbit and delivering the payload, the
nozzle extension is detached from the engine, rotated 180 degrees, and
mounted to the engine again. This results in a vehicle with an
aerodynamically stable reentry configuration. The refactory metal
nozzle extension should work as a radiatively cooled heat shield
without any modifications.
Note that the engine without the nozzle extension is capable of working
at sea level, so it could be used for a short deceleration burst
shortly before landing.
I did not yet come up with a lightweight mechanism to make this
reconfiguration automatically.
3. http://www.lambda-computing.com/stuff/kisststo.jpg
This is a combination of the first two ideas. The lower stage has a
long payload fairing that encloses the second stage and the payload.
After staging, the payload fairing is again rotated to the back and
used to protect the engine. The upper stage goes to orbit and is
reconfigured for a stable reentry.
I know it is probably a bit unconventional, but I could not find any
obvious drawbacks.
regards,
Rüdiger
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