• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.56-66
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• 2013

Weight reduction of the VTHL / TSTO type of the reusable launch vehicles using RBCC engines are investigated. To predict weight and thrust of the vehicles, equations of motion are analyzed. Analysis results are compared with specifications of existing launch vehicles for validations. For the mission of inserting 2.5 ton payload to 200 km circular orbit, the case A, which uses the RBCC engine in the 1st stage shows smaller weight than the case B, which uses the RBCC engine in the 2nd stage. The weight of the case A shows only 25.8% of a existing rocket launch vehicle's weight.