Internal combustion (IC) engines that consume hydrocarbon fuels have dominated the propulsion systems of air-vehicles for the first century of aviation. In recent years, however, growing concern over rapid climate changes ...

The Chimera rocket was designed to enter the small satellite market by offering an affordable and flexible alternative to the Pegasus launch vehicle. A number of design concepts were evaluated, and one was selected to ...

This paper presents a new conceptual launch vehicle design in the Bantam-X payload class. The new design is called Stargazer. Stargazer is a two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) vehicle with a reusable flyback booster and an expendable ...

This paper outlines the development of a new computational heat transfer tool for generating 1-D temperature profiles within thermal protection system materials covering advanced reusable space launch vehicles. The ...

This paper outlines the use of a comprehensive and robust methodology for the conceptual design of an expendable launch vehicle employing the existing Peacekeeper ICBM. This methodology includes an Integrated Product and ...

The success of aircraft development programs is based in requirements. Requirements are the starting point for the program and translate the key points of the operational need into what is eventually built. In many recent ...

Centurion is an expendable heavy lift launch vehicle (HLLV) family for launching lunar exploration missions. Each vehicle in the family is built around a common two-stage core. The first stage of the core uses kerosene ...

To properly assess the advantages and disadvantages of various RBCC design options at the conceptual vehicle level, an engine performance analysis tool is required. This tool must be capable of modeling engine performance ...

Initial results are reported from an ongoing investigation into optimization techniques applicable to multidisciplinary reusable launch vehicle (RLV) design. The test problem chosen for investigation is neither particularly ...