DLR's launcher systems analysis division is investigating since a couple of years a visionary, extremely fast passenger transportation concept reaching the edges of space based on rocket propulsion. Work is now focusing on the iterative sizing of all major subcomponents in nominal and off-nominal flight conditions. The paper describes the recent technical progress achieved in the SpaceLiner 7 configuration supported by the EU-funded studies FAST20XX (Future high-Altitude high-Speed Transport 20XX) and CHATT (Cryogenic Hypersonic Advanced Tank Technologies). The focus of the paper is on all system aspects of the reference vehicle's preliminary design including its nominal trajectory and first assessment of its environmental impact.

DLR's launcher systems analysis division is investigating since a couple of years a visionary, extremely fast passenger transportation concept reaching the edges of space based on rocket propulsion. Thanks to multinational collaboration, the technical lay-out of the SpaceLiner has now matured to Phase A conceptual design level. Iterative sizing of all major subcomponents in nominal and off-nominal flight conditions has been performed. The paper describes the recent technical progress achieved in the SpaceLiner 7 configuration,• mainly system aspects of the reference vehicle's preliminary design including establishment of a preliminary structural concept, • main propulsion system definition, • pre-development of a passenger cabin and rescue capsule and its specific challenges, • preliminary sizing of the thermal protection and active cooling systems, • mission definition with its nominal trajectories including potential ground infrastructure, • programmatic development aspects Subscripts, Abbreviations CAD computer aided design GLOW Gross Lift-Off Mass LH2 Liquid Hydrogen LOX Liquid Oxygen NPSP Net Positive Suction Pressure MECO Main Engine Cut Off MR mixture ratio RCS Reaction Control System RLV Reusable Launch Vehicle SLME SpaceLiner Main Engine TPS Thermal Protection System TRL Technology Readiness Level

DLR's launcher systems analysis division has proposed a visionary, extremely fast passenger transportation concept reaching the edges of space based on rocket propulsion. The paper describes the recent technical progress achieved in the SpaceLiner configuration. The revolutionary ultrafast transport is now under investigation in the EU-funded study FAST20XX (Future high-Altitude high-Speed Transport 20XX) set off in December 2009. The focus of the paper is on all system aspects of the preliminary design including its flight performance impact on design choices. A major new result is the replacement of the original skipping trajectory by a smooth glide obtained in system optimizations.

Aiming for evaluating the translational temperature in an argon-oxygen mixed-gas inductively coupled plasma, laser absorption spectroscopy is applied. In order to consider the radial distribution, an Abel inversion, fitting method, is performed to the measured horizontal distributions. As a result, it is found that the radial translational temperature distribution is almost uniform. In addition, the translational temperature estimated by the absorption profile on the center axis is almost same with the averaged value within the test region obtained after Abel inversion. Axial translational temperature distributions are obtained in the surface temperature range from 300 to 1470K at the total pressure of 11Pa for silicon carbide on the center axis. Finally, using the measured translational temperatures, catalytic efficiencies of atomic oxygen recombination are evaluated with the results measured by actinometry.