Alternate vehicles for engine/vehicle optimization

Abstract

The space shuttle main engine, full flow staged combustion, integrated modular engine concept, split expander, and expander bleed rocket engine cycles were studied for use on Single-Stage-to-Orbit fully reusable vehicles. The vehicle uses vertical take-off and horizontal landing and liquid hydrogen rockets for propulsion. The PROPSIZE computer code was modified for use on the available computers. Vehicle sizing was done after trajectory optimization for various engine designs. The various rocket engine cycles were compared and it was found that the full flow staged combustion cycle had the lowest vehicle dry mass. The split expander cycle could have advantages in safety and cooling which could make it the preferred choice in some cases. Comparison to previous work with two-stage heavy-lift vehicles showed that the same ranking of the cycles was found for both vehicle concepts.