Spaceplane design and technology considerations over a broad range of mission applications

Prior analyses have focused on the design of launch vehicles to operate at certain discrete points along the vehicle supply and demand curves. Numerous analyses have explored the launch supply vs demand in the traditional spacelift range of 50 to 100 flights per year. Other recent analyses have explored the merits of various Spaceplane staging and propellant configurations at very high flight rates. The space tourism market was evaluated, at flight rates of 1,000 to 10,000 flights per year, with costs dramatically lower than with traditional space flight. Analysis has now been conducted for markets that rival traditional aviation (100,000 to 1,000,000 flights per year). Terrestrial Hypersonic Transport may demand these flight rates if prices are acceptable. In this paper, we explore supply vs demand across the full range of possible flight rates. The components of cost are examined across this full span of traffic rates with conventional aircraft costs carried through for their comparative value. This analysis is used to develop economic/cost-based technology and design requirements for vehicles and infrastructure. This will clarify the relationship between the design of subsystems for reliability, long life, and quick changeouts, and the related cost per mission and revenue capture