Orbital Pond HoppingA Vision for the Evolution of Point to
Point Travel
ASTE 527: Space Exploration Architectures Concept Synthesis Studio
Seth A. McKeen10/16/2012
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
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel
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.
Custom Lightweight, Reclining Seats
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.
Top view of a typical passenger Deck on a Global Jumper
Passenger deck
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel
Out of the dense part of the
atmosphere. Liquid Boosters Separate and Boost Back to
Los Angeles for refueling and reuse.
Alt: 40 KM (130,000 FT.)
First Stage Separates and
Boosts Back to Los Angeles for
refueling and reuse.
Alt: 50 KM (160,000 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
Alt: 1 KM (3,280 FT.)
In Low Earth Orbit, ΔV ~ 9200 m/s complete. Rendezvous
with Orbital Propellant Depot
Alt: 150 KM (500,000 FT.)
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.
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.
Wait, which way to First Class? A typical view from any of the 48
seats on the Global Jumper.
Time of Departure: 7:57 AM Pacific Time
On Orbit-Refueling Take on ~3000 lbm of propellant for propulsive landing Commercial business to resupply depots Integration of Orbital Hotels
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel
Concept sketch by NASAS
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel
Perigee Lowering Burn
Reentering the Upper Atmosphere
Atmospheric Reentry:The Plug Nozzle Takes
the bulk of the Heating
Terminal Velocity Reached: Retro-
Burn to Slow Jumpcraft’s Descent
Begins at 50% Throttle
Retro-Firing Throttled Down to 30% Throttle
Precision Landing at 5% Throttle
Alt: 200 KM
Alt: 100 KM
Alt: 40 KM (130,000 FT.)
Alt: 10 KM (33,000 FT.)
Alt: 6 KM (19,000 FT.)
Alt: 0 KM (5 FT.)
Atmospheric Reentry (Frictional Heating) Takes away almost all of the Orbital Energy
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.
Touchdown at Spaceport Paris. Local time is 5:45 PM, total time of transit: 48 minutes. Time for a fresh Croissant.
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point TravelThe Fundamental Architecture
Fully Reusable VTVL (No Wings) Modular (Scalable) Upgrade to Aerospike Nozzle Upgrade to Refuel on-orbit
Suborbital “Lobs”
Orbital Travel
Atmospheric Hypersonic Flight
Class of Vehicle for P-P Travel
“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
Where Are the Wings? Heavy; useless for most of the flight Using VTVL is also a great opportunity for maturing landing systems for future interplanetary missions
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point TravelHow do we get there from here?
VTVL R&D Cargo Flights
Aerospike Nozzles
Military P-P Transport
Orbital Propellant
Depots
Global Jumper
Key technology developments Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC)
Aerospike Nozzle Orbital Propellant Depots
Photo - Blue Origin Photo - SpaceX
Increase in ISP = More Payload to Orbit
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
Technology NASA might use for Interplanetary missions, used for P-P Travel
VTVL Reusable Launch Vehicles Are Already Under Way
NOW < 5 Years < 5 Years < 10 Years < 10 Years < 20 Years
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point TravelCargo Transports
VTVL R&D Cargo Flights
Aerospike Nozzles
Military P-P Transport
Orbital Propellant
Depots
Global Jumper
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
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point TravelAerospike Nozzles
VTVL R&D Cargo Flights
Aerospike Nozzles
Military P-P Transport
Orbital Propellant
Depots
Global Jumper
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
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point TravelMilitary P-P
VTVL R&D Cargo Flights
Aerospike Nozzles
Military P-P Transport
Orbital Propellant
Depots
Global Jumper
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.)
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point TravelGlobal Jumpers
VTVL R&D Cargo Flights
Aerospike Nozzles
Military P-P Transport
Orbital Propellant
Depots
Global Jumper
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.
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point TravelMerits & LimitationsMerits Doesn’t use any exotic propulsion Opens up commercial market for
propellant depot refueling Matures technologies for
Interplanetary Space Travelo Propulsive Landingo On-Orbit Refueling
Highly Scalable Could Start Now Potential usage: Military, Business,
Space Tourism, Time Sensitive Packages
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).
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point TravelFuture 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)
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point TravelMany, 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.pdfhttp://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
Seth A. McKeen | [email protected] Pond Hopping: A Vision for the Evolution of Point-to-Point Travel
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