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21-511: The ASLV was a five-stage vehicle. Two strap-on boosters acted as a first stage, with the core stage igniting after booster burn out. The payload capacity of the ASLV was approximately 150 kg (330 lb) to an orbit of 400 km (250 mi) with a 47-degree inclination. At liftoff, the ASLV generated 909.9 kN (204,500 lbf) of thrust. It was a 41,000-kilogram (90,000 lb) rocket, measuring 23.5 metres (77 ft) in length with

42-424: A Falcon 9 prototype after climbing 744 meters in the air. Later, Blue Origin ( New Shepard ) and SpaceX ( Falcon 9 ), both demonstrated recovery of launch vehicles after return to the launch site (RTLS) operations, with Blue Origin's New Shepard booster rocket making the first successful vertical landing on November 23, 2015, following a flight that reached outer space , and SpaceX's Falcon 9 flight 20 marking

63-481: A core diameter of one metre (3 ft 3 in). The height to diameter ratio of ASLV was very large which resulted in the vehicle being unstable in flight. This was compounded by the fact that many of the critical events during a launch like the core ignition and the booster separation happened at the Tropopause where the dynamic loads on the launcher was at the maximum. The aerodynamic characterization research

84-554: A landed stage was first reflown in March 2017: Rocket core B1021 that had been used to launch a re-supply mission to the ISS when new in April 2016 was subsequently used to launch the satellite SES-10 in March 2017. The program was intended to reduce launch prices significantly, and by 2018, SpaceX had reduced launch prices on a flight-proven boosters to US$ 50 million , the lowest price in

105-626: A third time as well. In late 2020, Rocket Lab guided the booster of their Electron rocket for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean with a parafoil after launching the Return to Sender mission , as part of a program to catch the booster with a helicopter and reuse it on later missions. Rocket boosters used on aircraft are known as jet-assisted take-off (JATO) rockets. Various missiles also use solid rocket boosters. Examples are: VTVL Vertical takeoff, vertical landing ( VTVL )

126-597: Is a form of takeoff and landing for rockets. Multiple VTVL craft have flown. A notable VTVL vehicle was the Apollo Lunar Module which delivered the first humans to the Moon . Building on the decades of development, SpaceX utilised the VTVL concept for its flagship Falcon 9 first stage, which has delivered over three hundred successful powered landings so far. VTVL technologies were first seriously developed for

147-689: The Apollo program . By the '90s, development on large reliable restartable rocket engines made it possible to use the already matured technology for rocket stages. The first pioneer was the McDonnell Douglas DC-X demonstrator. After the success of the DC-X prototype, the concept was developed substantially with small rockets after 2000, in part due to incentive prize competitions like the Lunar Lander Challenge . Starting in

168-630: The Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters were recovered and refurbished for reuse from 1981 to 2011 as part of the Space Shuttle program . In a new development program initiated in 2011, SpaceX developed reusable first stages of their Falcon 9 rocket . After launching the second stage and the payload, the booster returns to launch site or flies to a drone ship and lands vertically . After landing multiple boosters both on land and on drone ships in 2015–2016,

189-508: The Sriharikota Range . For vertically integrated ASLV, many SLV-3 ground facilities were reused but a new launch pad with retractable Mobile Service Structure was constructed within the same launch complex. Configuration Booster (rocketry) A booster is a rocket (or rocket engine ) used either in the first stage of a multistage launch vehicle or in parallel with longer-burning sustainer rockets to augment

210-421: The space vehicle 's takeoff thrust and payload capability. Boosters are traditionally necessary to launch spacecraft into low Earth orbit (absent a single-stage-to-orbit design), and are especially important 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). Following booster separation ,

231-443: The appellation to this popular culture notion of Buck Rogers in a "Quest to Create a 'Buck Rogers' Reusable Rocket." The Young Sheldon episode, " A Patch, a Modem, and a Zantac® " features Sheldon Cooper developing the equations for VTVL in the 1980s, only to have them rejected by NASA for lack of the technical capability to implement it at that time. Sheldon concludes that he is ahead of his time. A flashforward to 2016 shows

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252-491: The crewed Project Mercury capsule into orbit; and as the first stage of the Atlas-Agena and Atlas-Centaur launch vehicles. Several launch vehicles, including GSLV Mark III and Titan IV , employ strap-on boosters. NASA 's Space Shuttle was the first crewed vehicle to use strap-on boosters. Launch vehicles like Delta IV Heavy and Falcon Heavy employ strap-on liquid rocket boosters . The booster casings for

273-780: The first landing of a commercial orbital booster roughly a month later, on December 22, 2015. Many launches of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy have included VTVL attempts for the two side boosters on each rocket. SpaceX is also developing a fully reusable rocket named Starship . Starship became the first launch vehicle to demonstrate the technology with both of its stages on its fourth test flight . VTVL rockets are not to be confused with aircraft that take off and land vertically and use air for support and propulsion, such as helicopters and jump jets which are VTOL aircraft. The technology required to successfully achieve retropropulsive landings—the vertical landing, or "VL," addition to

294-440: The industry for medium-lift launch services. By August 2019, the recovery and reuse of Falcon 9 boosters had become routine, with booster landings/recovery being attempted on more than 90 percent of all SpaceX flights, and successful landings and recoveries occurring 65 times out of 75 attempts. In total 25 recovered boosters have been refurbished and subsequently flown a second time by late 2020, with several having been flown

315-537: The mid-2000s, VTVL was under intense development as a technology for reusable rockets large enough to transport people . From 2005 to 2007 Blue Origin did a series of successful tests, first with the jet powered Charon demonstrator, later using the Goddard demonstrator. Small VTVL rockets were also developed by Masten Space Systems , Armadillo Aerospace , and others. In 2013, after the failure of stage recovery with parachutes, SpaceX demonstrated vertical landing on

336-554: The performance of a soft landing system compared to expendable vehicles , all other things being equal. The main benefit of the technology is seen in the potential for substantial reductions in space flight costs as a result of being able to reuse rockets after successful VTVL landings. Vertical landing of spaceships was the predominant mode of rocket landing envisioned in the pre- spaceflight era. Many science fiction authors as well as depictions in popular culture showed rockets landing vertically, typically resting after landing on

357-554: The rest of the launch vehicle continues flight with its core or upper-stage engines. The booster may be recovered, refurbished and reused, as was the case of the steel casings used for the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters . The SM-65 Atlas rocket used three engines, one of which was fixed to the fuel tank, and two of which were mounted on a skirt which dropped away at BECO. This was used as an Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM); to launch

378-432: The space vehicle's fins . This view was sufficiently ingrained in popular culture that in 1993, following a successful low-altitude test flight of a prototype rocket, a writer opined: "The DC-X launched vertically, hovered in mid-air ... The spacecraft stopped mid-air again and, as the engines throttled back, began its successful vertical landing. Just like Buck Rogers ." In the 2010s, SpaceX rockets have likewise seen

399-419: The standard vertical takeoff (VT) technology of the early decades of human spaceflight—has several parts. First, the thrust is normally required to be vectored and requires some degree of throttling . However, a thrust-to-weight ratio of more than 1 is not strictly necessary. The vehicle must be capable of calculating its position and altitude; small deviations from the vertical can cause large deviations in

420-498: The vehicle’s horizontal position. RCS systems are usually required to keep the vehicle at the correct angle. SpaceX also uses grid fins for attitude control during the landing of their Falcon 9 boosters. It can also be necessary to be able to ignite engines in a variety of conditions potentially including vacuum , hypersonic , supersonic , transonic , and subsonic . The additional weight of fuel, larger tank, landing legs and their deployment mechanisms will usually reduce

441-550: Was conducted at the National Aerospace Laboratories ' 1.2m Trisonic Wind Tunnel Facility. The ASLV made four launches, of which one was successful, two failed to achieve orbit, and a third achieved a lower than planned orbit which decayed quickly. The type made its maiden flight on 24 March 1987, and its final flight on 4 May 1994. All four ASLV launches occurred from the ASLV Launch Pad at

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