Recovery of Falcon 9 first-stage booster after its first landing
Part of a series on
Spaceflight
History
History of spaceflight
Space Race
Timeline of spaceflight
Space probes
Lunar missions
Mars missions
Applications
Communications
Earth observation
Exploration
Espionage
Military
Navigation
Settlement
Telescopes
Tourism
Spacecraft
Robotic spacecraft
Satellite
Space probe
Cargo spacecraft
Crewed spacecraft
Apollo Lunar Module
Space capsules
Space Shuttle
Space stations
Spaceplanes
Vostok
Space launch
Spaceport
Launch pad
Expendable and reusable launch vehicles
Escape velocity
Non-rocket spacelaunch
Spaceflight types
Sub-orbital
Orbital
Interplanetary
Interstellar
Intergalactic
List of space organizations
Space agencies
Space forces
Companies
Spaceflight portal
v
t
e
A reusable launch vehicle has parts that can be recovered and reflown, while carrying payloads from the surface to outer space. Rocket stages are the most common launch vehicle parts aimed for reuse. Smaller parts such as rocket engines and boosters can also be reused, though reusable spacecraft may be launched on top of an expendable launch vehicle. Reusable launch vehicles do not need to make these parts for each launch, therefore reducing its launch cost significantly. However, these benefits are diminished by the cost of recovery and refurbishment.
Reusable launch vehicles may contain additional avionics and propellant, making them heavier than their expendable counterparts. Reused parts may need to enter the atmosphere and navigate through it, so they are often equipped with heat shields, grid fins, and other flight control surfaces. By modifying their shape, spaceplanes can leverage aviation mechanics to aid in its recovery, such as gliding or lift. In the atmosphere, parachutes or retrorockets may also be needed to slow it down further. Reusable parts may also need specialized recovery facilities such as runways or autonomous spaceport drone ships. Some concepts rely on ground infrastructures such as mass drivers to accelerate the launch vehicle beforehand.
Since at least in the early 20th century, single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicles have existed in science fiction. In the 1960s and 1970s, the first reusable launch vehicles were manufactured, named the Space Shuttle and Energia. However, in the 1990s, due to both programs' failure to meet expectations, reusable launch vehicle concepts were reduced to prototype testing. The rise of private spaceflight companies in the 2000s and 2010s lead to a resurgence of their development, such as in SpaceShipOne, New Shepard, Electron, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy. Many launch vehicles are now expected to debut with reusability in the 2020s, such as Starship, New Glenn, Neutron, Soyuz-7, Ariane Next, Long March, Terran R, and the Dawn Mk-II Aurora.[1]
^"Dawn Aerospace unveils the Mk II Aurora suborbital space plane, capable of multiple same-day flights". TechCrunch. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 2022-08-19.
and 24 Related for: Reusable launch vehicle information
most common launchvehicle parts aimed for reuse. Smaller parts such as rocket engines and boosters can also be reused, though reusable spacecraft may...
(kerolox) launchvehicle by private firm currently under development Project 921-3 Reusablelaunchvehicle current project of the reusable shuttle system...
ReusableLaunchVehicle may refer to : Ahron Shaik of ECE-1 is RunDi 2nd ReusableLaunchVehicle program of NASA (including X-33), from 1994, major part...
ReusableLaunchVehicle–Technology Demonstration Programme is a series of technology demonstration missions that has been conceived by the Indian Space...
reusable launch vehicle. As of 2023, all reusablelaunchvehicles that were ever operational have been partially reusable, meaning some components are recovered...
Next Generation LaunchVehicle or NGLV (previously referred to as Unified LaunchVehicle or ULV) is a three-stage partially reusable rocket, currently...
employ VTVL technologies to reuse the first stage. As of 2024, the company is also developing the fully reusable Starship launch system, which will replace...
accelerator becomes great enough, single-stage-to-orbit flight with a reusablelaunchvehicle becomes possible. For hypersonic research in general, tracks at...
fully reusable medium-lift launchvehicle being developed by Stoke Space that was announced in mid 2021. It is planned to be a two stage full reusable launch...
Shepard suborbital launchvehicle used for space tourism activities, the New Glenn's first stage has been designed to be reusable since its inception...
nation's hypersonics, space launch and space technology needs. It was also known as the second generation ReusableLaunchVehicle program, after the failure...
potential for reusablelaunchvehicles. The NSSL program launches the nation's most valuable military satellites; contracts to launch lower value payloads...
help the development of a partially reusable heavy-lift launchvehicle, the Terran R, targeting a first orbital launch no earlier than 2026. Relativity Space...
two reusable solid-fuel booster rockets. Reusablelaunch systems are currently being developed by private industry. Early spacecraft or space vehicles were...
is a heavy-lift two-stage, partially reusablelaunchvehicle under development by Relativity Space. The vehicle is partially constructed with 3D printing...
developing a launch system named the ReusableLaunchVehicle (RLV). It is India's first step towards realizing a two-stage-to-orbit reusablelaunch system....
projects: one to develop a new reusablelaunchvehicle and the other to develop a new liquid propellant rocket engine for the vehicle. More specifically, the...
This is a list of conventional orbital launch systems. This is composed of launchvehicles, and other conventional systems, used to place satellites into...
The design of the experimental vehicles addressed various technical challenges for future ReusableLaunchVehicles (RLV) such as flight on demand, quick...
Astronautical Congress alongside a fully-reusablelaunchvehicle, the Interplanetary Transport System. Since then, the launchvehicle proposal was altered and renamed...
is a two-stage-to-orbit, expendable, heavy-lift launchvehicle created and operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA). It is principally designed for the...
Common Aero Vehicle (CAV) that could be launched from Expendable LaunchVehicles (ELV), ReusableLaunchVehicles (RLVs), Hypersonic Cruise Vehicles (HCV),...
RLV9 can refer to: Reusablelaunchvehicle, the general concept of Reusablelaunchvehicles (to space) ReusableLaunchVehicle program (NASA), a cancelled...
Global Information
Spaceflight portal