AKIRA Bericht: Return Options

Abstract

This report marks the final report of the work package 2100 with the title “Rückkehroptionen” (return options) of the DLR project AKIRA (Ausgewählte kritische Technologien und Integrierte Systemuntersuchungen für RLV Anwendungen). The report describes different return methods for reusable launch vehicles and summarizes the main results and findings of the 3-year-period of the AKIRA project. Various return methods were compared on a technical, operational and economic level. From a technical perspective, pros and cons of each method shall be identified. Considering operations, the impact of the return method on the required infrastructure, recovery hardware and personnel shall be determined. Furthermore, an in-house cost model was used to calculate recovery costs and the TRANSCOST model was used to determine total launch costs.