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US 12,421,921 B2Granted
Reusable upper stage rocket with aerospike engine
AssigneeBlue Origin Manufacturing, LLC
InventorsJames R. French, Roger Eugene Ramsey, Adam Wuerl
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for a fully reusable upper stage for a multi-stage launch vehicle are provided. The reusable upper stage uses an aerospike engine for main propulsion and for vertical landing. A heat shield can include a plurality of scarfed nozzles embedded radially around a semi-spherical surface of the heat shield, wherein inboard surfaces of the plurality of scarfed nozzles collectively define an aerospike contour. The heat shield can be actively cooled to dissipate heat encountered during reentry of the upper stage.
Claims24
A vehicle comprising:
- a rocket body extending from a forward end to an aft end and defining a longitudinal axis;
- and
- a heat shield at the aft end of the rocket body, the heat shield configured to spherically cap the aft end of the rocket body and dissipate heat encountered upon reentry of the rocket body into the atmosphere, the heat shield comprising a plurality of scarfed nozzles arranged radially around the longitudinal axis of the rocket body,
- wherein at least an inboard portion of each scarfed nozzle defines at least a portion of an aerospike contour, and
- wherein at least a portion of a thruster module of a plurality of thruster modules is inset into a respective scarfed nozzle of the plurality of scarfed nozzles, the plurality of scarfed nozzles configured to direct exhaust ejected from the plurality of thruster modules along at least the inboard portions of the scarfed nozzles defining portions of the aerospike contour.
2 more elements
A multi-stage vehicle comprising:
- a lower stage configured to launch the vehicle;
- and
- an upper stage configured to separate from the lower stage, the upper stage comprising:
- a rocket body extending from a forward end to an aft end and defining a longitudinal axis, and
- a heat shield at the aft end of the rocket body, the heat shield comprising a surface configured to cap the aft end of the rocket body and dissipate heat encountered upon reentry of the upper stage into the atmosphere, the heat shield comprising a plurality of scarfed nozzles arranged radially around the surface of the heat shield,
- wherein inboard surfaces of the plurality of scarfed nozzles collectively define an aerospike contour, and
- wherein at least a portion of a thruster module of a plurality of thruster modules is inset into a respective scarfed nozzle of the plurality of scarfed nozzles, the plurality of scarfed nozzles configured to direct exhaust ejected from the plurality of thruster modules along the aerospike contour collectively defined by inboard surfaces of the plurality of scarfed nozzles.
4 more elements
A method comprising:
- launching a multi-stage vehicle, the vehicle comprising:
- a lower stage configured to launch the vehicle;
- and
- an upper stage configured to separate from the lower stage, the upper stage comprising:
- a rocket body extending from a forward end to an aft end and defining a longitudinal axis;
- and
- a heat shield at the aft end of the rocket body, the heat shield comprising a surface configured to cap the aft end of the rocket body and dissipate heat encountered upon reentry of the upper stage into the atmosphere, the heat shield comprising a plurality of scarfed nozzles arranged radially around the surface of the heat shield,
- wherein inboard surfaces of the plurality of scarfed nozzles collectively define an aerospike contour, and
- wherein at least a portion of a thruster module of a plurality of thruster modules is inset into a respective scarfed nozzle of the plurality of scarfed nozzles, the plurality of scarfed nozzles configured to direct exhaust ejected from the plurality of thruster modules along the aerospike contour collectively defined by inboard surfaces of the plurality of scarfed nozzles.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.