Preliminary Design Study of Main Rocket Engine for SpaceLiner High-Speed Passenger Transportation Concept

Abstract

The revolutionary ultrafast passenger transportation system SpaceLiner is under investigation at DLR in the EU-funded study Future high-Altitude high-Speed Transport 20XX. SpaceLiner’s configuration is being amended continuously, and SpaceLiner7 is the brand new version at the point of April in 2013. SpaceLiner7 is two staged reusable launch vehicle with liquid rocket engines. SpaceLiner Main Engine (SLME) is required to have high performance for the total system to be feasible, and also to be easy on the environment for frequent launches. Therefore staged combustion cycle (SC) rocket engine with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen (LH2/LOX) is accounted to be promising for SLME. The engine cycle analysis and the component predesign of SLME are performed with DLR developed codes and NASA developed Two-Dimensional Kinetic Thrust Chamber Analysis Computer Program (TDK). They show SLME’s feasibility and subject to be researched in the future.