A feasibility study on the recovery of Electron's first stage using a vertical landing approach

A feasibility study on the recovery of Electron's first stage using a vertical landing approach

Hoefsloot, Stijn (TU Delft Aerospace Engineering)

Naeije, M.C. (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Aerospace Engineering

2022-06-22

The small satellite market is rapidly growing and becomes more competitive by the day. In order to reduce launch costs, the concept of reusable launch vehicles wins popularity. Only few companies have managed to successfully recover and re-use their launch vehicle, of which SpaceX is the only one using a powered descent technique. This study focuses on applying that same technique on a small satellite launcher: Rocket Labs Electron. A 3-DOF trajectory optimization is performed to find the fuel optimal ascent and descent trajectories of the Electron. The original design of the Electron is adhered to as much as possible. The optimization is performed for a variety of Single- and Multi objective optimizers and different settings. Although this is only a feasibility study in which many assumptions are made, the results look promising for further research to be done.

Recovery
First Stage
Powered Descent
Trajectory Optimization

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:a04f4604-e06a-4fc7-b883-6fe52f32cccf

Student theses

master thesis

© 2022 Stijn Hoefsloot