Launch Vehicle Weight Research Articles

Advanced space system concepts and technologies: 2010-2030+

The book presents an imaginative view of what space could well become in the next several decades if new technologies are developed and bold new innovative applications are undertaken. It discusses the following concepts: a future environment for space activities very different from the predominant conditions of the past and present; a dozen critical technologies with the potential for making orders-of-magnitude reductions in spacecraft and launch vehicle weight and cost and orders-of-magnitude increases in their performance; and a large number of space applications that use these technologies to address both established as well as unconventional missions and functions that have revolutionary potential.

Investigation of very high energy rockets for future SSTO vehicles

Several new propulsion possibilities are being explored in the U.S.A. which might significantly increase the amount of payload that can be propelled into orbit for a given launch vehicle weight. As such, they might enable significant reduction in the future cost of transportation between Earth and space. One possibility is the combustion of matter that is in an excited atomic or molecular state. Another possibility is the annihilation of matter by means of anti-matter (by matter with identical mass and opposite electrical charge). And if an appreciable fraction of the energies released by either of these processes could be converted into the useful kinetic energy of a rocket's exhaust, a 2–6-fold increase in its specific impulse might be achieved. This paper shows that a 2–6-fold increase in rocket specific impulse might enable a 4–12-fold reduction in aerospace vehicle weight. It also shows that the specific impulse potential of excited matter or anti-matter fuels might enable transport of heavy payloads into Earth orbit by means of single-stage-to-orbit vehicles that would be no heavier than current commercial airline jets.