Different types of sounding rockets & their advantages & disadvantages

[Skye]

Which type of sounding rocket is the best performing? There are lots of kinds of them, but I’m unsure which are better.

The ones I consider so far are:

Small planes with jet &/or rocket engines (à la Dawn Aerospace)

Balloon-launched rockets (launched from a balloon that first ascends to ~50km

Typical sounding rockets (like Skylark, Black Brant, etc., basically that thin pole with extremely high T:W)

And what I call “advanced sounding rockets” (imagine something like Stoke’s Nova’s upper stage or Delta Clipper, except they can land under parachutes. I’m working on one in a software, and will send photos once it’s more worked on)

Edit: added images

[Skyrocket]

This question can not be answered.

There are a multitude of types of sounding rockets for a multitude of purposes, payloads and trajectories, so there is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Different requirements necessitate different solutions.

[Skye]

I suppose, but surely they each have different advantages & disadvantages?

[Jim]

I suppose, but surely they each have different advantages & disadvantages?

Of course, but what is the point your are trying to get across?

[Skye]

Not really trying to get much of a point across, just asking which types have superior advantages, less disadvantages, etc. Not necessarily asking if one is objectively the best, just asking which one(s) overall are generally better

[Jim]

I’m working on one in a software, and will send photos once it’s more worked on)

to what requirements?

[plugger.lockett]

You can probably outright eliminate Rockoons given it's been roughly 68 years since one was used to successfully reach suborbital space.

[Skye]

I’m working on one in a software, and will send photos once it’s more worked on)

to what requirements?

Wdym?

[Jim]

I’m working on one in a software, and will send photos once it’s more worked on)

to what requirements?

Wdym?

what payload mass to what altitude?
what payload dimensions?
what payload environments?
what launch loads?
Payload recovery?

You just don't design a rocket for the sake of it.

[Skye]

Ah, I see. Well, I kind of did just design it for the sake of it. Made it 4m wide at the base & 16m tall (fuselage slope is 8.54 degrees) in the shape of a square-based pyramid with rounded edges - very much like Delta Clipper.

I now have a more fleshed-out design: powered by 4 “Vespa” Engines (Hydralox-M (my custom fuel returns!) ~350 kN thrust SL, ~440 Vac, ~320s SL, ~360 Vac, Dual Expander Bleed, No Gimbal, but the bleed outlets(/verniers) can by 10 degrees, 16 MPa Pc, ~398 Kg mass per engine, mass flow 98kg/s per engine, prop mass ~27t total)

Liftoff t/w of ~2.5

Max altitude w/ no payload ~407km

Max altitude w/ 100kg payload ~380km

Max altitude w/ 500kg payload ~250km

Max altitude w/ 1000kg payload ~160km

Max altitude w/ 2000kg payload ~110km

Passively cooled metallic heatshield, engines regen cooled when running & on reentry. Verniers eject used coolant during reentry & gimbal to keep attitude.

Payload bay is ~2m wide at base by ~4m tall, ~1.4m wide at top, capped by parachute that lands the craft, which uses landing legs to soften impact.

Unpressurised payload. Kept at ambient temp.

Unsure of launch loads, but seems safe.

Payload is kept in the fairing (unless it’s designed to be jettisoned, like the Skylark grenade experiments) and recovered with the whole craft as one part.

There is an optional second stage powered by a single Vespa (same shielding / entry mechanism), which replaces & takes up ~70% of the payload bay volume, with a smaller fairing atop it, with, you guessed it, a smaller chute topping it off (first stage chute just goes in the bottom of the interstage)