1 / 16

Orbital Pond Hopping A Vision for the Evolution of Point to Point Travel

Orbital Pond Hopping A Vision for the Evolution of Point to Point Travel ASTE 527: Space Exploration Architectures Concept Synthesis Studio Seth A. McKeen 10/16/2012. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel. Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com.

khalil
Download Presentation

Orbital Pond Hopping A Vision for the Evolution of Point to Point Travel

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Orbital Pond Hopping A Vision for the Evolution of Point to Point Travel ASTE 527: Space Exploration Architectures Concept Synthesis Studio Seth A. McKeen 10/16/2012

  2. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com Potential Implications of Point to Point Travel • World wide network of Ultrafast Point to Point Travel. • Huge networks of global hubs, all reachable within an hour or so. • Goal of the architecture: get ~ 50 essentially anywhere in the world in less than an hour. *Transit times are back of the envelope

  3. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com • Global Jumper: 48 Passenger Orbital Jumpcraft; Used for commercial travel from city to fuel depot to city. Vertical Take off, vertical landing (VTVL), fully and rapidly reusable. Passenger deck Custom Lightweight, Reclining Seats Top view of a typical passenger Deck on a Global Jumper • Los Angeles Air & Space Port One of many potential evolved airports that could be upgraded with P-P / Space Tourism Concourses once the market is booming.

  4. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com Alt: 50 KM (160,000 FT.) First Stage Separates and Boosts Back to Los Angeles for refueling and reuse. • Simplified landing model shows only ~3.5% of the touchdown weight of the Booster’s worth of propellant is needed for soft landing for full reusability. Alt: 150 KM (500,000 FT.) In Low Earth Orbit, ΔV ~ 9200 m/s complete. Rendezvous with Orbital Propellant Depot Alt: 40 KM (130,000 FT.) Out of the dense part of the atmosphere. Liquid Boosters Separate and Boost Back to Los Angeles for refueling and reuse. • The boosters are easily able to take the heating descending from just 130,000 ft, and the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) Plug Nozzle dissipates the heat without any issue. Alt: 1 KM (3,280 FT.) Ascent – All 3 Liquid First Stage Boosters are Firing, using a cross-feed propellant scheme. Take Off Fueled Weight is roughly 2,992,207 lbm Time of Departure: 7:57 AM Pacific Time • Wait, which way to First Class? • A typical view from any of the 48 seats on the Global Jumper.

  5. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com • On Orbit-Refueling • Take on ~3000 lbm of propellant for propulsive landing • Commercial business to resupply depots • Integration of Orbital Hotels Concept sketch by NASAS

  6. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com Alt: 40 KM (130,000 FT.) Atmospheric Reentry: The Plug Nozzle Takes the bulk of the Heating • Atmospheric Reentry (Frictional Heating) Takes away almost all of the Orbital Energy Alt: 200 KM Perigee Lowering Burn Alt: 100 KM Reentering the Upper Atmosphere Alt: 10 KM (33,000 FT.) Terminal Velocity Reached: Retro-Burn to Slow Jumpcraft’s Descent Begins at 50% Throttle • A simplified model for reentry was created to check different configurations for propulsive landing. ΔV ~ 490 m/s is required for a 48 person Jump Craft. Alt: 6 KM (19,000 FT.) Retro-Firing Throttled Down to 30% Throttle Alt: 0 KM (5 FT.) Precision Landing at 5% Throttle • Touchdown at Spaceport Paris. Local time is 5:45 PM, total time of transit: 48 minutes. Time for a fresh Croissant.

  7. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com • The Fundamental Architecture • Fully Reusable • VTVL (No Wings) • Modular (Scalable) • Upgrade to Aerospike Nozzle • Upgrade to Refuel on-orbit Orbital Travel Class of Vehicle for P-P Travel Suborbital “Lobs” • Where Are the Wings? • Heavy; uselessfor most of the flight • Using VTVL is also a great opportunity for maturing landing systems for future interplanetary missions Atmospheric Hypersonic Flight “Wings simply add too much weight to a rocket that don't do a thing through most of the flight. And there are plenty of other ways to land safely than forcing your rocket to have so much dead weight and drag for so much of its flight.” – John Carmack of Armadillo Aerospace

  8. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com How do we get there from here? NOW < 5 Years < 5 Years < 10 Years < 10 Years < 20 Years Photo - SpaceX Photo - Blue Origin • Technology NASA might use for Interplanetary missions, used for P-P Travel • Increase in ISP = More Payload to Orbit • VTVL Reusable Launch Vehicles Are Already Under Way • Decrease in Weight; Shorter then Bell Nozzle and use as Heat Shield • Drive Cost Down • By using a highly scalable architecture with incremental technological developments, development cost is heavily reduced. • The better performance we get, the more payload we can carry for a given ΔV • Key technology developments • Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) Aerospike Nozzle • Orbital Propellant Depots

  9. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com Cargo Transports • Return on Investment • Again, by using a highly scalable architecture, we could immediately start performing “flea hops” carrying cargo city-to-city, this is earning capital to cover investment costs but at the same time is maturing the system before its used for Humans. • As soon as VTVL is fully developed, could begin sending high-priority cargo across country – package door to door in an hour. • Sub-Orbital (low Delta V, good starting point). • Start Regional and move to Coast to Coast

  10. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com Aerospike Nozzles • NASA “Pulled the Plug” • Though there have been years of static testing, notably by Rocketdyne, on both annular and linear aerospike nozzles, NASA canceled all research before flight time was ever achieved. • Altitude Compensating Nozzles were originally developed in the 1960’s. • By automatically correcting plume expansion to ambient temperature, a net increase in mission average ISP allows more useful payload to be carried. • Lighter, more efficient • A truncated plug nozzle is also shorter than a bell nozzle, making it lighter. • A Carbon-Carbon nozzle could be actively cooled with propellant running through a channel and utilizing bleed holes – it could then be used as a primary heat shield on reentry, grossly reducing weight Courtesy Pratt & Whitney

  11. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com Military P-P • Programs such as SUSTAIN and Hot EAGLE could use initial manned Jumpers to carry 16 passengers anywhere in the world in under an hour • 1 passenger deck, integrated life support (easily scales up). • Orbital trajectories using Aerospike cluster for reentry • Ideal for emergency relief (hurricanes, etc.)

  12. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com Global Jumpers • Building off of its younger brother, the military transport model and incorporating on-orbit refueling, 48 passengers can now travel anywhere in the world in under an hour.

  13. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com Merits & Limitations • Limitations • Potentially launching rockets over urban areas • High delta V for orbital flight • On demand flight vs. scheduled? • How many propellant depots in orbit, how spaced? (Rendezvous problem). • Merits • Doesn’t use any exotic propulsion • Opens up commercial market for propellant depot refueling • Matures technologies for Interplanetary Space Travel • Propulsive Landing • On-Orbit Refueling • Highly Scalable • Could Start Now • Potential usage: Military, Business, Space Tourism, Time Sensitive Packages

  14. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com Future Work • Hard #’s on Price per Ticket • Trajectory Optimization • Preliminary Layout and Design • 200 person vehicle using Rocket-Based Combined-Cycle Propulsion (Mission Average ISP ~ 1500s)

  15. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com Many, many references… http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/single_stage_to_orbit_vertical_takeoff_and_landing_concept_technology_challenges.shtml http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20010017162_2001017589.pdf http://reference.kfupm.edu.sa/content/s/c/sccream_(simulated_combined_cycle_rocket_125726.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Engines_Skylon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precooled_jet_engine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramjet http://www.strutpatent.com/patent/06591603/pintle-injector-rocket-with-expansion-deflection-nozzle#!prettyPhoto[patent_figures]/4/ http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA539802 http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/nikos/MSAE/pdf/Munoz.S11.pdf http://hartogsden.com/files/AIAA-2011-2229.pdf http://utsi.academia.edu/NehemiahWilliams/Papers/1414394/A_Performance_Analysis_of_a_Rocket_Based_Combined_Cycle_RBCC_Propulsion_System_for_Single-Stage-To-Orbit_Vehicle_Applications

  16. Orbital Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel Seth A. McKeen | seth.mckeen@gmail.com http://isulibrary.isunet.edu/opac/doc_num.php?explnum_id=95 http://www.technewsworld.com/story/57516.html http://www.spacetourismsociety.org/STS_Library/Reports_files/SpaceTourismMarketStudy.pdf http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/flight_mechanics_of_manned_suborbital_reusable_launch_vehicles_with_recommendations_for_launch_and_recovery.shtml http://www.nss.org/transportation/Suborbital_Reusable_Vehicles_A_10_Year_Forecast_of_Market_Demand.pdf http://web.archive.org/web/20110615104534/http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/downloads/JBIS_v57_22-32.pdf http://web.archive.org/web/20110615133300/http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/downloads/The%20SKYLON%20Spaceplane-Progress%20to%20Realisation,%20JBIS,%202008.pdf http://web.archive.org/web/20110615104428/http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/downloads/JBIS_v56_108-117.pdf http://web.archive.org/web/20110615104439/http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/downloads/JBIS_v54_199-209.pdf

More Related