SpaceLiner Technical Progress and Mission Definition

Abstract

DLR’s launcher systems analysis division is investigating since a couple of years a visionary, extremely fast passenger transportation concept reaching the edges of space based on rocket propulsion. Thanks to multi-national collaboration, the technical lay-out of the SpaceLiner has now matured to Phase A conceptual design level. Iterative sizing of all major subcomponents in nominal and off-nominal flight conditions has been performed. The paper describes the recent technical progress achieved in the SpaceLiner 7 configuration, • mainly system aspects of the reference vehicle’s preliminary design including establishment of a preliminary structural concept, • main propulsion system definition, • pre-development of a passenger cabin and rescue capsule and its specific challenges, • preliminary sizing of the thermal protection and active cooling systems, • mission definition with its nominal trajectories including potential ground infrastructure, • programmatic development aspects