Author Topic: Boostback TSTO  (Read 4359 times)

Offline jongoff

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Boostback TSTO
« on: 07/01/2008 03:01 pm »
The fifth installment of my orbital access methodologies series is up for anyone who cares.  Here I discuss a TSTO RLV technique known as boostback.  One of the versions of boostback was proposed by Kistler for their K-1 vehicle, but there are also two other variants mentioned that may be new even to old regulars here:

http://selenianboondocks.blogspot.com/2008/06/orbital-access-methodologies-part-v.html

~Jon

Offline henryhallam

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Re: Boostback TSTO
« Reply #1 on: 07/02/2008 08:15 pm »
Interesting read, thanks!

Offline jongoff

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Re: Boostback TSTO
« Reply #2 on: 07/02/2008 08:25 pm »
Interesting read, thanks!

You're welcome.  Any thoughts?

~Jon

Offline zaitcev

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Re: Boostback TSTO
« Reply #3 on: 05/18/2009 09:02 pm »
Sorry for the thread necromancy, but I thought Jon and Co-conspirators might like the picture from GRTz Makeyev, because it has actual parameters of the trajectory for their boostback TSTO with seconds and kilometers. Trying to attach the picture to the post now.

URL (must select Russian for pictures, English seems empty):
http://www.makeyev.ru/rocspace/rossiyanka/

-- Pete

Offline GI-Thruster

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Re: Boostback TSTO
« Reply #4 on: 05/18/2009 10:00 pm »
Always insightful Jon.  My question seems to be the same as yours:

"By performing the turnaround maneuver, you're using aerodynamic lift to bend your trajectory around so that the downrange (away from the launch site) velocity is now actually turned into velocity heading back home. . .

. . .Unfortunately, since this isn't a concept I've seen investigated in the literature before, and as the aerodynamic turn-around maneuver is more complicated than I know how to easily analyze. . ."

From what I've read in the past, even at Mach 3 it is very difficult to make a real turn.  IIRC, Blackbird needed a couple hundred miles to turn at high speed.  I'm not sure you can get the sort of turnaround from aerodynamics you'd like.  Instead I think it's more likely you'd scrub off so much speed (racing term for the same effect) in a 180* turn that there wouldn't be any left for glideback.  Just guessing, though.

Offline jongoff

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Re: Boostback TSTO
« Reply #5 on: 05/18/2009 10:13 pm »
Always insightful Jon.  My question seems to be the same as yours:

"By performing the turnaround maneuver, you're using aerodynamic lift to bend your trajectory around so that the downrange (away from the launch site) velocity is now actually turned into velocity heading back home. . .

. . .Unfortunately, since this isn't a concept I've seen investigated in the literature before, and as the aerodynamic turn-around maneuver is more complicated than I know how to easily analyze. . ."

From what I've read in the past, even at Mach 3 it is very difficult to make a real turn.  IIRC, Blackbird needed a couple hundred miles to turn at high speed.  I'm not sure you can get the sort of turnaround from aerodynamics you'd like.  Instead I think it's more likely you'd scrub off so much speed (racing term for the same effect) in a 180* turn that there wouldn't be any left for glideback.  Just guessing, though.

As I said, aerodagnabits isn't my specialty, so I'm not sure, but my thought would be that you could possibly decelerate a bit on reentry (down to say Mach 2ish), do the turn, and then do a smaller booster firing to send you back.  Basically using aerodynamics to reduce the amount of boostback propellant you need (and also getting rid of the flip-around maneuver).

~Jon

Offline jongoff

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Re: Boostback TSTO
« Reply #6 on: 05/18/2009 10:16 pm »
Sorry for the thread necromancy, but I thought Jon and Co-conspirators might like the picture from GRTz Makeyev, because it has actual parameters of the trajectory for their boostback TSTO with seconds and kilometers. Trying to attach the picture to the post now.

URL (must select Russian for pictures, English seems empty):
http://www.makeyev.ru/rocspace/rossiyanka/

-- Pete

Thread necromancy (as you put it) is always welcome.  Thanks for the input, and the hard data.  One of these days I'll have to learn russian (my only non-english language that I'm fluent in, Tagalog, isn't really used a lot in the rocket literature for some reason...)

~Jon

Offline zaitcev

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Re: Boostback TSTO
« Reply #7 on: 05/18/2009 10:29 pm »
Thanks for the input, and the hard data.  One of these days I'll have to learn russian (my only non-english language that I'm fluent in, Tagalog, isn't really used a lot in the rocket literature for some reason...)
Russian is always a problem, but I hoped you could read numbers at least. The graph scale is 1:1, so 2 grid lines stand for 80 km on both axis. You can make out the end-of-burn at t=150s v=1500m/s H=60km, etc. The orignal picture quality is like I attached it, there's no bigger version.
-- Pete

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