The purpose of this report is to survey and characterize suborbital reusable launch vehicles (RLVs) in development, as well as to identify current and emerging suborbital market opportunities that these systems may enable. Over the past 30 years, NASA has accepted the burden of developing technologies that will enable cheaper access to orbital space, as evidenced by its past X-programs and the current Space Launch Initiative. Various private companies have also attempted, and are still attempting, to develop new RLV systems for orbital space applications. However, the large development costs of such systems, coupled with the downturn of the low Earth orbit market (e.g., Iridium, GlobalStar), have made private sector development of orbital RLV systems increasingly difficult at this time. Given these hurdles, many commercial space transportation companies have begun shifting focus toward suborbital market opportunities, for which the technical challenge is much lower and the cost of market entry less expensive.
Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicles and Applicable Markets
2002
118 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicles Need Reusable Research Payloads
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2011
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