Affordable and Responsive Booster Technology for Small Launch Vehicle

Miniaturization technology has enabled small satellites in the 100 to 1,000-lb weight range. The ability to produce these satellites has outpaced the ability of military and commercial sector to cheaply launch them into space. Current spacelift isexpensive; e.g., it costs roughly $15M to launch a 1,000-lb satellite to Low Earth Orbit, or $15,000 per lb of spacecraft weight. Small satellite potential is hindered by the lack of affordable and reliable spacelift. A Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) usinginnovative propulsion and structural technologies is proposed to meet this need. In Phase I, flexibility of the booster engine cycle resulted in 30% increase in payload by substituting AFRL advanced hydrocarbon (AHC) fuels instead of RP-1. A study of thehistorical stage mass fraction resulted in conservative assumptions for both booster and upper stage thus, enabling even higher payloads for the SLV.Since engine development has historically been the highest technical and schedule risk to a launch vehicle program, a thrust chamber assembly (TCA) risk mitigation program is proposed in the Phase II and accompanying options to analyze, design, andfabricate 155,000-lb TCA for development using AFRL advanced AHC fuels. Intermediate screening of AHC fuels is proposed using 20,000-lb TCA.