Commercial and operational impacts on design for the Hotol advanced launch vehicle
Abstract
The development of future Space exploration and exploitation will be paced by launch system capabilities. Current systems are high cost, low reliability, unavailable and inflexible when compared to other forms of transport. Advanced launch systems now being proposed (Hotol, Saenger, NASP) seek to dramatically reduce these drawbacks, particularly to reduce the cost of transport into low earth orbit. There is a more severe requirement on vehicle design and operation than hitherto. The high cost of vehicle losses require system reliability and survivability. Survivability requires an extensive abort capability in all phases of flight. Achieving low operational costs places requirements on vehicle maintainability, turn-around and integration, and the requirements for achieving a high flight rate without compromising system reliability or resiliency. The paper considers the way in which commercial and operational aspects have affected the physical design of the Hotol system.
- Publication:
-
Dresden International Astronautical Federation Congress
- Pub Date:
- October 1990
- Bibcode:
- 1990dres.iafcU....S
- Keywords:
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- Cost Reduction;
- Hotol Launch Vehicle;
- Space Transportation;
- Spacecraft Design;
- Earth Orbital Environments;
- Space Exploration;
- Technological Forecasting;
- Launch Vehicles and Space Vehicles