Capability and Cost-Effectiveness of Launch Vehicles

Asteroid mining has the potential to greatly reduce the cost of in-space manufacturing, production of propellant for space transportation and consumables for crewed spacecraft, compared to launching the required resources from the Earth's deep gravity well. This paper discusses the top-level mission architecture and trajectory design for these resource-return missions, comparing high-thrust trajectories with continuous low-thrust solar-sail trajectories. The paper focuses on maximizing the economic Net Present Value, which takes the time-cost of finance into account and therefore balances the returned resource mass and mission duration. The different propulsion methods are compared in terms of maximum economic return and sets of attainable target asteroids. Results for

Advances in Space Research

Section: Mission Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

Economic assessment of high-thrust and solar-sail propulsion for near-earth asteroid mining

Vergaaij

McInnes

Ceriotti

2021

“…Please note that the cost per kg actually used may be different from what is reported due to the amount of wasted payload capacity every launch. 14) Before the re-classification, launch systems are presented following the three classical classifications defined in The New SMAD according to their payload capability to LEO; namely, small launch systems (<5,000 lb), medium ([5,000 lb, 12,000 lb)), intermediate launch systems ([12,000 lb, 25,000 lb)) and heavy launch systems (!25,000 lb). As of 16th March 2019, the different concerned properties of selected launch systems are exhibited in Table 1, Table 2 and Table 3, to cover the most significant performance indexes.…”

Section: Launch Vehicle Databasementioning

confidence: 99%

Launch Vehicle Classification for Decision-Making of Small Satellite Launch Options

Qin

Trans. Japan Soc. Aero. S Sci.

2021

In recent years, there has been a steady increase in the small satellite launch market. With the rapid development of novel launchers, for small satellite owners and operators, how to effectively and efficiently choose appropriate launch vehicles has become a major concern. Based on updated launch records, a reliable launch data source for multi-attribute evaluation and reclassification is established. Using a statistical classification process, active launch vehicles are classified into five representative-in-class launchers on the basis of their capabilities and performance. Unlike the previous categorisation based on payload ability, this method captures launch cost, technology maturity, reliability and availability of each category within the current launch vehicles in service. Moreover, representatives are selected as the baseline types for the high-level planning and designing of complex small satellite launch missions. The analysis indicates that this study provides a valid statistical classification and selection strategy of representative-in-class launch vehicles to support decisionmaking for rapid assessment on a large number of small satellite launch missions.

“…The launch vehicle database established in our previous research is updated with the launch data from the International Reference Guide to Space Launch Systems, 8) Space Mission Engineering: The New SMAD, 9) and online space launch system data. [10][11][12] Note that although the cost per kilogram actually delivered to orbit may be different from that advertised due to the amount of wasted payload capacity every launch, 13) we still use the total cost divided by the maximum payload as the metric for unit cost. Based on the previous version, 14) one new attribute, namely average launch cycle, is added to the database to reveal the general frequency of the launch activities.…”

Section: Updated Launch Vehicle Databasementioning

confidence: 99%

Aggregated Preference Value Analysis of Small Satellite Launch Opportunities

Qin

Trans. Japan Soc. Aero. S Sci.

2018

Due to the lack of matched dedicated small satellite launch vehicles, launch opportunities as a rideshare or piggyback using a highly reliable launch system has become increasingly important for small satellite developers. The objective of this paper is to provide an aggregated value method as a strategy for developers to evaluate launch opportunities, as well as an approach for the launchers to capture the market dynamics. Based on an up-to-date launch record, a reliable launch database for multi-attribute evaluation is established. Efforts are made to quantify the abstract and concrete attributes of launch systems. An aggregated preference value model is developed, translating different inherited capabilities of launch systems into integrated preference value as a reference for decision-making. The preference values of the launch opportunities of different launch vehicles are explored in a case study by the method proposed, and its feasibility and applicability for small satellite launch system evaluation tasks is validated.