The Development of the SpaceLiner Concept and its Latest Progress

Abstract

A visionary, ultrafast passenger transportation concept, proposed as the SpaceLiner, is developed by the Space Launcher System Analysis department of the German Aerospace Center DLR. Based on rocket propulsion this two stage RLV should be capable to carry about 50 passengers over ultra-long-haul distances within a fractional amount of time needed for common long-distance flights. Since the SpaceLiner has been proposed for the first time in 2005, the concept is subject to an iterative process of development. Several configuration trade-offs have been performed in order to support the definition of the next reference configuration. This paper gives a summary of the main enhancements and the knowledge gained within the preliminary design phase of the SpaceLiner orbiter stage. As the Orbiter volplanes along the major part of the hypersonic trajectory, the glide ratio is the most significant driving parameter to obtain maximum possible ranges. Thus the main focus of the investigations is on the development of an aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic shape design as well as on various system and environmental aspects or rather operating conditions which have an impact on the aerodynamic configuration.