Abstract To foster the competitiveness of European industry in global launcher market, need arose to build up necessary know-how on state-of-the-art vertical take-off landing (VTVL) concepts and corresponding technologies. In EU Horizon 2020 project RETALT (RETro propulsion Assisted Landing Technologies), VTVL approach applying retro is investigated for two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) single-stage-to...

Abstract The recent success of reusable launchers has become a driving force for sustainable launch technologies. An innovative approach proposed by DLR, involves winged rocket stages captured mid air and towed back to the site an aircraft. This recovery concept known as ‘In-Air Capturing (IAC)’, shows potential substantial cost reduction, when compared existing return modes. In light Horizon 2...

The automation of pre-launch diagnostics for launch vehicles offers three potential benefits: improving safety, reducing cost, and reducing launch delays. The Ares I-X Ground Diagnostic Prototype demonstrated anomaly detection, fault detection, fault isolation, and diagnostics for the Ares I-X first-stage Thrust Vector Control and for the associated ground hydraulics while the vehicle was in th...

Moments before the launch of every space vehicle, engineering discipline specialists must make a critical go/no-go decision. The cost of a false positive, allowing a launch in spite of a fault, or a false negative, stopping a potentially successful launch, can be measured in the tens of millions of dollars, not including the cost in morale and other more intangible detriments. The Aerospace Cor...

This paper illustrates ongoing research and issues faced when dealing with real-time questions in the domain of Reusable Launch Vehicles (aerospace engineering). The question-answering system described in this paper is used in a collaborative learning environment with real users and live questions. The paper describes an analysis of these more complex questions as well as research to include th...

Ice/frost formation on the Space Shuttle cryogenic propel 1 ant tanks presents a different problem from that of past launch vehicles. Lift off weight addition has been the primary concern on past launch vehicles. The primary ice/frost concern on the Shuttle vehicle is damage to the Orbiter Thermal Protection System due to ice/frost impact. The approach used to arrive at a solution to this uni­ ...