TABLE OF CONTENT

Abstract
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Rockets
1.2 Boosters
1.3 Solid rocket boosters

Chapter 2: Re usable rocket booster system

Chapter 3: Technology used in Re usable Booster System

3.1 Boost back burn
3.2 Entry burn
3.2.1 Grid fins
3.3 Landing burn
Chapter 4: Economics of rocket reuse

Chapter 5:Conclusions

Chapter 6: Referances
Abstract

Conserve, Reuse, Reproduce these are the words using which the
present day society is trying to make an impact in reducing the
excessive usage of the depleting resources and decreasing time as
well as in bringing down the cost and in increasing the efficiency
of the products. One of the technologys biggest inventions rather
innovation at work is the development of The Reusable Launch
Vehicle, in short known as the RLV. Reusability is the main
criteria behind this vehicle. The vehicle will return back to earth
after its task is completed, and is used for further missions. This
invention mainly reduces the cost, time and the specified targets
can be achieved with the use of fewer resources.
The idea of RLV made its foundation in the minds of the scientists
in the 1950s but bringing that idea into a real launch vehicle took
many years as this idea was beyond the hands of the technology of
that time. As the technology developed the path for the successful
making of this launch vehicle was getting cleared. There were
many factors that were to be considered like the low weight
structure, heat shield, the propellants needed to be used, the
engines etc. but the main aim was to bring out the concept behind
its working and building a proper design which are discussed in
this paper. With the ever-growing technology RLVs with
improved mechanisms like SSTO, TSTO were developed which
are also mentioned below. In near future these RLVs would
completely bridge the gap between the earth and the sky.
 1. Introduction
SINCE the beginning of space travel, the multistage expendable
launch vehicle has been the predominate approach for boosting
payloads to orbit. Although this has been a reliable approach, the
high cost of launch has limited civil, commercial and military
endeavors in space. Engineers have attempted to design a fully
reusable launch vehicle to both reduce the cost of launch and to
increase the launch rates. In particular, many single stage to orbit
(SSTO) concepts have been considered over the past several
decades. This has proven to be an elusive goal given the state of
technology of light weight materials and chemical propulsion
performance. The recent proliferation of commercial launch
providers, coupled with the highly competitive nature of this
market, has stirred a renewed interest in identifying alternative
means of recovering launch vehicle assets to reduce the cost of
access to space. These companies are developing designs ranging
from fully reusable SSTOs to more traditional expendable launch
vehicles with reuse of high value components such as the first stage
and/or its booster engines. Coupled with this development are
emerging technologies for atmospheric Entry, Descent, and
Landing, impact attenuation airbags, and MAR. These technologies
could be enablers for economical reuse of launch system elements
(and resultant significant reduction in the cost of access to space).

1.1 A rocket (from Italian rocchetto "bobbin") is a missile,

spacecraft or aircraft or other vehicle that obtains thrust from
a rocket engine. Rocket engine exhaust is formed entirely
from propellant carried within the rocket before use. Rocket
engines work by action and reaction and push rockets forward
simply by expelling their exhaust in the opposite direction at high
speed, and can therefore work in the vacuum of space.
In fact, rockets work more efficiently in space than in an
atmosphere. Multistage rockets are capable of attaining escape
velocity from Earth and therefore can achieve unlimited maximum
altitude. Compared with airbreathing engines, rockets are
lightweight and powerful and capable of generating large
accelerations. To control their flight, rockets rely on momentum,
airfoils, auxiliary reaction engines, gimballed thrust, momentum
wheels, deflection of the exhaust stream, propellant flow, spin,
and/or gravity.

Fig 1. Rocket with Booster seperation

1.2 A booster rocket (or engine) is either the first stage of

a multistage launch vehicle, or else a shorter-burning rocket used in
parallel with longer-burning sustainer rockets to augment the space
vehicle's takeoff thrust and payload capability. (Boosters used in
this way are frequently designated "zero stages".) Boosters are
traditionally necessary to launch spacecraft into low Earth
orbit (absent a single-stage-to-orbit design), and are certainly
necessary for a space vehicle to go beyond Earth orbit. The booster
is dropped to fall back to Earth once its fuel is expended, a point
known as booster engine cut-off (BECO). The rest of the launch
vehicle continues flight with its core or upper-stage engines. The
booster may be recovered and reused, as in the case of the Space
Shuttle.
Strap-on boosters are sometimes used to augment the payload or
range capability of jet aircraft (usually military).
 1.3 Solid rocket boosters (SRBs) are large solid propellant
motors used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial
launch through the first ascent stage. Many launch vehicles,
including the NASA Space Shuttle, use SRBs to give launch
vehicles much of the thrust required to escape Earth's gravitational
pull. The NASA Space Shuttle used two Space Shuttle SRBs,
which were the largest solid propellant motors ever built and the
first designed for recovery and reuse. The propellant for each solid
rocket motor on the Space Shuttle weighed approximately 500,000
kilograms.
Compared to liquid propellant rockets, the solid-propellant SRBs
are capable of providing large amounts of thrust with a relatively
simple design. They provide greater thrust without significant
refrigeration and insulation requirements. Adding detachable SRBs
to a vehicle also powered by liquid-propelled rockets (known
as staging) reduces the amount of liquid propellant needed and
lowers the launch vehicle mass. Solid boosters are usually cheaper
to design, test, and produce in the long run compared to the
equivalent liquid propellant boosters. Reusability of components
across multiple flights, as in the Shuttle assembly, also decreases
hardware costs. However, SRB costs on a per-flight basis tend to
be equivalent to those of their liquid counterparts.
Solid propellant boosters are not controllable and must generally
burn until exhaustion after ignition, unlike liquid propellant
or cold-gas propulsion systems. However, launch abort systems
and range safety destruct systems can attempt to cut off propellant
flow by using shaped charges. Estimates for SRB failure rates
range from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 100,000. SRB assemblies can fail
suddenly and catastrophically. Nozzle blocking or deformation can
lead to overpressure or a reduction in thrust, while defects in the
booster's casing or stage couplings can cause the assembly to break
apart by increasing aerodynamic stresses. Additional failure modes
include bore choking and combustion instability. Failure of an O-
ring seal on the Space Shuttle Challenger's right solid rocket
booster led to its disintegration shortly after liftoff.
Solid rocket motors also present a significant handling risk on the
ground, as a fully fueled booster carries a risk of accidental
detonation. Liquid rocket boosters generally cannot be moved after
preparation is completed.

Fig 2. Solid rocket booster

2. Re usable Rocket Booster System

A set of new technologies for an orbital launch system that may
be reused many times in a manner similar to the reusability
of aircraft. The company SpaceX is developing the technologies
over a number of years to facilitate full and rapid reusability of
space launch vehicles. The project's long-term objectives include
returning a launch vehicle first stage to the launch site in minutes
and to return a second stage to the launch pad following orbital
realignment with the launch site and atmospheric reentry in up to
24 hours. SpaceX's long term goal is that both stages of their
orbital launch vehicle will be designed to allow reuse a few hours
after return.
The reusable launch system technology was developed and initially
used for the first stages of the Falcon family of rockets. The
process involves flipping the booster around, a boostback burn to
slow the rocket, a reentry burn, controlling direction to arrive at the
landing site and a landing burn to effect the final low-altitude
deceleration and touchdown. The reusable technology will be
extended to the first stage and to both upper stages of the ITS
launch vehicle for the Interplanetary Transport System and is
considered paramount to the plans Elon Musk is championing to
enable the settlement of Mars.

3. Technologies used in this system

Several new technologies needed to be developed and tested to
facilitate successful launch and recovery of both stages of the
SpaceX reusable rocket launching system. Following the
completion of the third high-altitude controlled-descent test, and
the completion of the third low-altitude flight of the second-
generation prototype test vehicle (plus eight flights of the first-
generation Grasshopper prototype flight test vehicle), SpaceX
indicated that they are now able to consistently "reenter from space
at hypersonic velocity, restart main engines twice, deploy landing
legs and touch down at near zero velocity.
The technologies that were developed for this program, some of
which are still being refined, include:
Boost Back Burn
Entry Burn
Landing Burn
 Fig 3. Space X reusable rocket booster system

3.1 Boost Back Burn

Restartable ignition system for the first-stage booster Restarts
are required at both supersonic velocities in the upper
atmospherein order to decelerate the high velocity away
from the launch pad and put the booster on a descent
trajectory back toward the launch padand at
high transonic velocities in the lower atmospherein order to
slow the terminal descent and to perform a soft landing.
new attitude control technologyfor the booster stage and
second stageto bring the descending rocket body through
the atmosphere in a manner conducive both to non-
destructive return and sufficient aerodynamic control such
that the terminal phase of the landing is possible. This
includes sufficient roll control authority to keep the rocket
from spinning excessively as occurred on the first high-
altitude flight test in September 2013, where the roll rate
exceeded the capabilities of the booster attitude control
system (ACS) and the fuel in the tanks "centrifuged" to the
 side of the tank shutting down the single engine involved in
the low-altitude deceleration maneuver. The technology
needs to handle the transition from the vacuum of space
at hypersonic conditions, decelerating to supersonic velocities
and passing through transonic buffet, before relighting one of
the main-stage engines at terminal velocity.

3.2 Entry Burn

As the booster reaches lower atmosphere entry burn will make at

high transonic velocities in the lower atmosphere in order to slow
the terminal descent and to perform a soft landing.new attitude
control technologyfor the booster stage and second stageto
bring the descending rocket body through the atmosphere in a
manner conducive both to non-destructive return and sufficient
aerodynamic control such that the terminal phase of the landing is
possible. This includes sufficient roll control authority to keep the
rocket from spinning excessively as occurred on the first high-
altitude flight test in September 2013, where the roll rate exceeded
the capabilities of the booster attitude control system (ACS) and
the fuel in the tanks "centrifuged" to the side of the tank shutting
down the single engine involved in the low-altitude deceleration
maneuver. The technology needs to handle the transition from the
vacuum of space at hypersonic conditions, decelerating
to supersonic velocities and passing through transonic buffet,
before relighting one of the main-stage engines at terminal
velocity.

3.2.1 Grid Fins

Hypersonic grid fins were added to the booster test vehicle design
beginning on the fifth ocean controlled-descent test flight in order
to enable precision landing. Arranged in an "X" configuration, the
grid fins control the descending rocket's lift vector once the vehicle
has returned to the atmosphere to enable a much more
precise landing location. It also prevent the booster from spinning
around. In the lower atmosphere grid spin helps to steer the
booster.

Fig 4. Grid Fins

3.3 Landing Burn

In this boosters again light up to slow down the velocity,
throttleable rocket engine technology is required to reduce engine
thrust because the full thrust of even a single Merlin 1D engine
exceeds the weight of the nearly empty booster core.terminal
guidance and landing capability, including a vehicle control
system and a control system software algorithm to be able to land a
rocket with the thrust-to-weight ratio of the vehicle greater than
one, with closed-loop thrust vector and throttle control
.
navigation sensor suite for precision landing A large floating
landing platform in order to test pinpoint landings prior to
receiving permission from the US government to bring returning
rocket stages into US airspace over land. In the event, SpaceX built
the autonomous spaceport drone ship in 2014, and conducted an
initial flight test and landing attempt in January 2015.Large-
surface-area thermal protection system to absorb the heat load of
deceleration of the second stage from orbital velocity to terminal
velocity.

Fig 5. Floating Landing Area

Lightweight, deployable landing gear for the booster stage. In May
2013, the design was shown to be a nested, telescoping piston on
an A-frame. The total span of the four carbon
fiber/aluminum extensible landing legs is approximately 18 meters
(60 ft), and weigh less than 2,100 kilograms (4,600 lb).
Deployment system uses high-pressure Helium as the working
fluid. With Flight 25 it was announced that each landing leg
contained a "crush core", to absorb the impact of landing for
particularly hard landings.

Fig 6. Deployable Landing Gears

 4. Economics of rocket reuse

In order to make the reusable and return to the launch site,

extra propellant and landing gear must be carried on the first stage,
requiring around a 30 percent reduction of the maximum payload
to orbit in comparison with the expendable. Reflight of a
previously used stage on a subsequent flight is dependent on the
condition of the landed stage, and is a technique that has seen little
use outside of the Space Shuttle's reusable solid rocket boosters.
It is expected to significantly reduce the cost of access to space,
and change the increasingly competitive market in space launch
services. Michael Belfiore wrote in Foreign Policy in 2013 that, at
a published cost of US$56.5 million per launch to low Earth orbit,
"Falcon 9 rockets are already the cheapest in the industry. Reusable
Falcon 9s could drop the price by an order of magnitude, sparking
more space-based enterprise, which in turn would drop the cost of
access to space still further through economies of scale." Even for
military launches, which have a number of contractual
requirements for additional launch services to be provided,
SpaceX's price is under US$100 million.
In order to achieve the full economic benefit of the reusable
technology, it is necessary that the reuse be both rapid and
complete without the long and costly refurbishment period or
partially reusable design that plagued earlier attempts at reusable
launch vehicles. SpaceX has been explicit that the "huge potential
to open up space flight" is dependent on achieving both complete
and rapid reusability.
5. Conclusion
SpaceXs reusable rocket technology could impact industries
beyond those associated with space, such as
telecommunications and imaging. The lower cost and
increased efficiency of reusable rockets will have far-
reaching impacts in many different fields These
accomplishments show that developing fully and rapidly
reusable rockets a key innovation that could slash the cost of
spaceflight is far from a pipe dream, advocates say. The
difference made by reusable rockets should indeed be
dramatic.
In order to make the reusable and return to the launch site,
extra propellant and landing gear must be carried on the first
stage, requiring around a 30 percent reduction of the
maximum payload to orbit in comparison with the
expendable.
In order to achieve the full economic benefit of the reusable
technology, it is necessary that the reuse be both rapid and
complete without the long and costly refurbishment period or
partially reusable design that plagued earlier attempts at
reusable launch vehicles.
6. References
1. Simberg, Rand (February 8, 2012). "Elon Musk on
SpaceX's Reusable Rocket Plans". Popular Mechanics.
Retrieved February 7, 2012.

2. Wikipedia -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_reusable_lau
nch_system_development_program

3. Reusable Launch Vehicles: Evolution Redefined Bhavana

Y*, Mani Shankar N and Prarthana BK Department of
Mechanical Engineering, SNIST, India

4. Launch Vehicle Recovery and Reuse by F. McNeil

Cheatwood 2 and Stephen J. Hughes3 NASA Langley
Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681