Capstone Presentation Personal Script

Imagine, if you will, that you are presenting your boarding pass. Once the scanner approves it,
you then board the vehicle, find your seat, pack away your carry-on, and strap in tight. Looking
out of the window, you see the tarmac and the staff performing final checks and the craft starts
moving when a tug pulls it from its terminal. Some time later, you’re lined up on the runway and
the tug vehicle has departed. The engines roar, you feel the acceleration, and you’re airborne. As
you watch, a display showing the current speed ticks to Mach 1, the speed of sound. Soon, you
reach Mach 3, and the craft begins to pitch up. You’re rocketing through the sky, tens of
kilometers above the highest clouds, and the curvature of the Earth comes into view.
You are now on a suborbital trajectory. At the highest point, when the milky black of space and
the great green-and-blue Earth are visible in your window, the engines fire again. When the roar
ceases, you have reached space.

What you have just experienced is a marvel of engineering. You paid an affordable price to
escape Earth’s bounds and reach orbit. From there, you could dock with another ship, station, or
anything else. You could reach Mars and beyond without having to sell all of your possessions.
How? How can spaceflight be so cheap, so affordable, so safe, and so reliable?
One answer is the SSTO, or Single Stage to Orbit spacecraft.

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I wanted to investigate whether SSTOs are even possible because the concept is simply
awesome. A vehicle which “flies” to space, comparably to an aircraft, is a fascinating possibility
in terms of its future applications.
My question then became, “Are Single Stage to Orbit Spacecraft possible and how can
simulations help to prove this?”
According to rocketry, SSTOs are the literal worst way to build a rocket. SSTOs make no sense
when trying to achieve orbit easily. But space travel is not easy.

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But what are SSTOs?

SSTOs are space launch vehicles that would waste nothing, unlike conventional rockets, because
they are one single stage. They only need fuel and maintenance. No boosters, no staging, no part
of it crashing down to Earth to be wasted or refurbished but for a very high cost.
Unfortunately, possibly the most reusable and cost-efficient method of space travel does not
exist. Yet.
So far, it is but a fantasy, and only a few components which would be used on SSTOs have been
successfully demonstrated.
To try to determine whether SSTOs are possible given Earth’s conditions, I wrote a research
paper. I researched the basics of rocketry, including staging, propulsion, aerodynamics, basic
thermodynamics, materials, and systems. I then tried to theorize how SSTOs may work, their
applications, uses, etc.
I ended up learning a ton. My paper has been finished at about 63 pages and 20 thousand words
in MLA formatting. The goal of my paper was to educate the reader on the basics of rocketry and
how these subjects pertain to SSTOs. After this part, which was the majority of the paper, I went
on to link all of the ideas together and provide some theorized possibilities.
To provide you with the very, very simplified basics so you may understand the problem I
researched, I will go over the subjects.

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The first subject of my paper was staging. In rocketry, staging is the splitting of the rocket. This
is done by dividing the rocket into multiple sections, each with their own engines and fuel tanks.
The bottom stage is the first to run its engines, and when its fuel tanks, independent of the rest of
the rocket’s fuel tanks, are empty, the entire bottom stage is separated and the next stage’s
engines fire. This may be repeated multiple times, depending on the number of stages.

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According to the rocket equation, the equation which describes everything about how rockets can
be designed and launched, staging is the most efficient method of reaching orbit.

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The problem with this is that bottom stages often simply crash into the ocean and are damaged or
never used again. Even with self-landing stages, such as the SpaceX Falcon rockets, there is a
real possibility of losing the stage to a crash. Here is one reason for SSTOs. Here you can see
crashed stages in Russia and China. The ability to dispose of stages safely is dependent on
geography, and so a launch from Russia or Kazakhstan could drop debris on land whereas a
launch from Florida would let the debris crash into the ocean.

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The next subject, propulsion, is arguably the most important aspect of rocketry. It is possibly the
greatest difficulty for making SSTOs.

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There are many different types of engines (and propellants), but all work by ejecting gases
backwards to obtain thrust from Newton’s Third Law of “Every action has an equal and opposite
reaction”.
Rocket and jet engines come in many forms, and there are many experimental types of engines.
One large aspect of an engine is its specific impulse, or ISP. You will soon find, by the way, that
rocketry has a multitude of TLAs. A TLA is a three-letter acronym. The ISP of an engine and
propellant is the efficiency of thrust produced for the amount of propellant used, and it is
measured in seconds. The best ISP achieved with a conventional chemical rocket engine was
about 500s. Jet engines provide very high ISPs and have the advantage of not requiring an
oxidizer as they are only used in the atmosphere. Oxidizers are propellants which allow for the
combustion of the main propellant in a rocket engine. All rocket engines require oxidizers
because there is no oxygen in space for combustion to occur, or at least not a sufficient amount
for full combustion.
Rocket engines have a multitude of affecting factors, from thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, to
combustion chemistry. There are specific design types to allow for better performance against
other designs.

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For example, one type of engine may use a conical nozzle, and another may use a bell nozzle.
Conical nozzles are simple and easy to make, but bell nozzles offer better performance and
smaller dimensions.

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I will not go into the specifics, but I will introduce you to a type of engine which shows promise
for aerospace. The aerospike engine, unlike engines with standard nozzles, maintains its
efficiency at all altitudes. Due to a clever design, aerospikes use fluid dynamics to create a
virtual, adaptive “air nozzle” which automatically adjusts for the altitude and air pressure to
achieve maximum efficiency. Standard nozzles must be created so that they have a specific
altitude at which they operate most efficiently. This means that, at any other altitude, the ISP of
the engine is lower. Aerospikes do not have these problems, permitting for high ISP numbers at
all altitudes.

A subject which is worth introducing at this point is the concept of delta-V or change in velocity.
Delta-V is an important part of the rocket equation and is the easiest way to see how far a rocket
can go. Delta-V is essentially determined by the mass of the vehicle, the ISP of the engines and
how much fuel the rocket has. It does not take into account drag but represents how much the
rocket could change its velocity by running its engines until the fuel (more properly propellant)
is all used. Using this concept, destinations can be given delta-V costs. From Earth’s surface to
low Earth orbit, the cost without drag is 8km/s. It costs the same amount to reach the surface of
Mars from low Earth orbit. This demonstrates how difficult it is to reach orbit with Earth’s large
gravity. In spaceflight, the magnitude of Earth’s gravity is an enemy.

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Aerodynamics is another complicated subject, so I will describe only the basics.

One large general idea is that of the four forces acting upon a rocket or aircraft. These are drag,
thrust, lift, and weight.
Drag comes from the friction and resistance of the atmosphere on a moving solid object.
Streamlining, reducing corners, and smoothing the object reduces drag. Drag acts through a
theoretical point on the rocket or aircraft called the center of pressure. The center of pressure is
essentially the center of the surface area of all of the parts. Lift also acts through the center of
pressure and comes from two sources: either airfoils (wings of an aircraft) or the differential
between the movement and orientation of the object. The latter creates a “sliding” effect through
the air, creating a lifting force.
The center of mass is the average location of the object’s mass and is what weight acts through.
In the case of a vertically-launching rocket, thrust, the force generated by the engines, opposes
weight as well as drag. The thrust of an aircraft opposes drag, while the lift opposes weight.
The four main forces help to describe a lot relating to the flight of a rocket. Using an aircraft
configuration with wings which generate lift in level flight has the advantage of thrust not
needing to oppose weight. This means that the thrust necessary is much lower, possibly
permitting for more efficient engines.

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I will not discuss basic thermodynamics in much detail at all. Making sense of the basics in my
research was difficult. The basic idea behind thermodynamics is that a transfer of heat is a
transfer of energy, that heat is energy. Each different material and element has a different
specific heat capacity, or ability to store thermal energy without actually heating the object very
much. For example, water has a high specific heat capacity, meaning that it could store a lot of
thermal energy without changing its temperature significantly. This is why water is so often used
as a coolant, such as in old piston engines. Heating and cooling methods are required for
spacecraft, which is another important consideration given that objects in space are either very,
very hot or very, very cold. In space, temperatures are often thought of in terms of energy states,
and cooling doesn’t happen by air absorbing the heat but by infrared energy dissipating into
space. It is very complicated, and thermodynamics are not the most relevant subject.

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The matter of materials and structures is another important subject, because the lighter, more
heat-tolerant and stronger the vehicle is, the better the vehicle’s performance will be in terms of
capability. Spacecraft are subjected to a multitude of harsh conditions and must resist many
things, such as heat, cold, debris and meteoroids, and radiation. Often, many different materials
are used such as titanium, aluminum alloys, Kevlar, etc. This is yet another subject which would
take a lot of time to discuss in detail, but I will mention one upcoming technology, carbon
nanotubes.

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Carbon nanotubes are molecular-level structures using carbon atoms to create incredibly strong
strands. When they become easy to produce, carbon nanotubes could be used to create the
strongest structures with full integration of things such as batteries, actuators, wiring, fuel tanks,
etc. Currently, they are not easy to make or are ready for full application, but their light weight
and incredible strength could easily revolutionize the material industry. In the future, all of our
high-grade machines and vehicles could be fully or partially made of carbon nanotubes.

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The idea of systems and their subsystems is very simple. Essentially, given the number of
necessary functions for spacecraft, they require many different systems, such as life support,
propulsion, control, structure, electrical, etc. Each system has its own complex function and
necessary components, so, the lighter and more effective, efficient and safe, the better.

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Now for a bit of general theory on rockets and SSTOs. To achieve orbit, a rocket must accelerate
to incredible speeds in the “horizontal” at a sufficient altitude where the air is very rare. When a
rocket is on a trajectory where the highest point of the orbit is out of the atmosphere, this is a
suborbital trajectory. Usually, when the rocket reaches this highest point, shown as point C, it
accelerates again to circularize the orbit and achieve a complete orbit.

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To return to Earth, the craft must decelerate to put its lowest point of the orbit somewhere in the
atmosphere. When it enters the atmosphere from orbital speeds, it will heat to incredibly high
temperatures from air friction and will eventually slow so that it may enter an atmospheric
descent.

You should now be equipped with the necessary basics to understand the
grand idea behind the matters of SSTOs and rocketry.

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I conducted some tests using a simulator called Simple Rockets 2. The name is entirely
misleading. It uses an accurately simulated, to-life environment which provides a very good
simulation quality. You are able to create rockets and aircraft and tune many factors of the
engines. The factors which are tuned for the engines are all computed and analyzed so you can
see exactly how making a minute change can affect the rocket’s performance. There are so many
changeable factors that re-creations of real rockets is entirely plausible.
I wanted to both do research and some experimentation, so I included the simulation part of my
essential question of “Are Single Stage to Orbit Spacecraft possible and how can simulations
help to prove this?” I wanted to test some theories, most notably, are spaceplane SSTO designs
more feasible and realistically possible than vertical-launch designs, and is the combined use of
jet and rocket engines more efficient? After a week or so of experimenting with the simulator,
getting used to how to use the tools, I started developing a horizontal-takeoff and horizontal-
landing SSTO spaceplane. I went through many different variations, as you can see. All of the
designs were somewhat inspired by other designs, such as the Skylon, X-33, or Concorde. Using
principals learned from my research, I tried to develop these base designs into SSTO vehicles.
By experimenting with aerospikes, jet and rocket engine designs, aerodynamic, and PMF factors,
I gradually improved each design. I would test-fly all my designs and leave the ones which had
poor flight characteristics or were simply unsuccessful as SSTOs.

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However, my sixth iteration of a spaceplane SSTO was successful. It used an unconventional

design with two afterburning turbojet engines mounted above the wings and an aerospike engine
at the rear. The jet engines had very limited jet fuel which was all used in about seven minutes.
This was to reduce the empty weight of the jet engines assembly. I did a manually controlled test
flight, and after takeoff I accelerated in level flight to achieve 1.25 times the speed of sound
where the jet engines were producing more thrust. After the jet fuel was used, the aerospike
fired. A bit before the jet engines died, I pitched the craft up to start rocketing through the sky
and gaining altitude. When the jet engines stopped, the aerospike provided a thrust-to weight
ratio of 0.5. At higher altitude with less and less atmosphere and increasing TWR, I aimed the
craft up and up until the highest point of the orbit was over 100km. I cut the engines then, and
when I reached the highest point of the orbit, I began accelerating again. With about one to two
percent of propellants remaining and about 700m/s of delta-V, I had successfully achieved orbit
with a single-stage spacecraft, something that has not been achieved in real life. My design was
developed from my research. So, I investigated how this was possible. My first suspects were the
propellant tank propellant mass fractions, engine real-life practicality, lack of overheating, and
high heat tolerance for all parts. I easily confirmed all of these suspects, finding that this
simulator was indeed an idealized environment.
Considering some of the inaccuracies of the simulator, I believe that my design would not work
in real life at all. And this, because of just how far off the design would really be, demonstrates
the difficulty of the SSTO.

To answer the second part of my question, simulations are powerful tools for proof-of-concept
and theorizing. For example, I was dubious as to whether aerospike engines would be useful at
all. As I found, in an ideal environment, aerospikes are entirely useful. I was also able to change
the aerodynamics of my designs realistically to determine what wing configurations, etc.
provided the best characteristics. This demonstrates how simulations can prove individual
aspects, but more advanced simulations would be required to test entire designs to accuracy.

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From my dozens of hours of research and writing and experimentation, I learned a lot. I learned
more about aerospace than I thought I would, and I did a lot of thinking. From everything I
learned, I believe that I can make a conclusion on the subject of SSTOs.
My research indicated that the constraints are in the technological side, and once difficulties are
overcome, SSTOs will be possible.
Some would disagree, saying that SSTOs will never be possible.
I personally want to believe, because history has repeatedly taught us that the past’s science
fiction can become the future’s reality. Imagine telling early post-war rocket scientists launching
missiles that they will, in twenty-five years, see a massive rocket put humans on the moon and
come back. Preposterous!

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A world where daily orbital flights are standard, a world where spaceflight is accessible, clean,
not wasteful, and safe, and a world where humans are advanced further into becoming a fully
space-faring civilization. This is the future world I wish to envision of SSTOs.

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Thank you for your attention. I hope you enjoyed my presentation. If you would like to read my
paper and/or see my 53 sources, you can find The Possibilities of Single Stage to Orbit
Spacecraft on my portfolio website. I hope I have convinced you of the possible future and the
possibilities of SSTOs. Lastly, I hope that you can share my hopes for a foreseeable future where
we may travel to space efficiently and frequently. Thank you.