Concept Study of HTV-R (HTV-Return)

Abstract

Japan contributes essential services to space experiments and enables human activities included as part of the international partnership of the ISS program by utilizing the HTVs (Kounotori). As the next step toword on-orbit service, JAXA has commenced technical research into cargo return from orbit. The HTV was used in research as the base design and a return vehicle was added to enhance performance. The combined vehicle is called the HTV-R. HTV-R enables JAXA to recover various samples of experiments conducted on the ISS and equips a new re-entry vehicle called as (HTV Return Vehicle) for the enhanced function. The HRV will fly autonomously and conduct lifting re-entry into the atmosphere by controlling the attitude and trajectory to a predefined splashdown point. Now two types of vehicle concepts are being investigated. One uses an HTV as the base system for orbital flight and minimizes the initial cost of HTV-R program, and the other integrates the HTV components into a new vehicle, optimizing the on-orbit functions to minimize the recurring cost.