Economic Analysis of NewSpace Small Launch Vehicles and Small Reusable Launch Vehicles
In this study, we analyzed the structure of the NewSpace small launch vehicles, SpaceX's Falcon 1, Rocket Lab's Electron, Firefly Aerospace's Alpha, and Relativity Space's Terran 1, and identified the weight and mass ratio of each stage of the small launch vehicles.In addition, through the structure analysis of the Falcon 9, we were able to identify the additional weight of the grid fins and landing legs for first stage reuse, and calculated the additional weight when reusing other small launch vehicles.Based on the previously analyzed reusable launch vehicle with 35-tonf methane staged-combustion cycle engines, the mission of the Korean small reusable launch vehicle was analyzed, and the economic feasibility of the Falcon 9 small reusable launch vehicle was analyzed.
Authors
- Daeban Seo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5288-0068)
- Keum‐Oh Lee
- Byoungjik Lim
- Hyeon-Jun Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6290-2611)
Institutions
- Changwon National University (KR)
- Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
- Published
- 2025-10-31
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.6108/kspe.2025.29.5.047
- Primary Topic
- Spacecraft and Cryogenic Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00