The Reusable Vehicle Testing (RVT) project was conducted by the Japanese Space Agency (
JAXA
The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...
) from 1998 until 2003. The project involved a series of experimental vehicles to test repeated flights of a reusable rocket. Four complete vehicles were developed during the project. The design of the experimental vehicles addressed various technical challenges for future
Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLV) such as flight on demand, quick turnaround, higher performance, lightweight structures and materials.
The project involved ground and flights tests with the flight testing conducted at the
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) Noshiro Rocket Testing Center in the northern part of Japan's main island.
JAXA
The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...
proposed to develop a reusable high altitude rocket based on the technologies demonstrated in the RVT project.
The rocket would take a payload of about 100 kg to an altitude of 100 km. RVT-derived equipment such as engines and attitude control will be used. The development and flight testing is expected to take 5 years and the cost is estimated at 50 billion yen. The rocket, capable of five flights in a day. The cost per flight, based on 2500 flights, is expected to be 10,000 yen, reducing the per flight cost compared to current day expendable rocket systems, which cost between 2 and 6 billion yen. The experimental payloads will be recovered after the flight, which will also minimize costs for the payload developer. Moreover, it will be possible to stop and hover the vehicle at any altitude, which is impossible with conventional sounding rockets.
See also
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McDonnell Douglas DC-X
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CORONA
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Kankoh-maru
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Winged Reusable Sounding rocket
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Grasshopper
Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago.
Grassh ...
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Blue Origin
Blue Origin Enterprises, L.P. is an American space technology company headquartered in Kent, Washington. The company operates the suborbital New Shepard rocket and the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. In addition to producing engines for its own ...
and its
New Shepard
New Shepard is a Reusable launch vehicle, fully reusable Sub-orbital spaceflight, sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin. The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, who became the List of space travelers by nationali ...
rocket
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Armadillo Aerospace and
Quad (rocket)
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Lunar Lander Challenge
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Project Morpheus, NASA program to continue developing ALHAT and Quad landers
References
External links
Currell ModelsYouTube Video of Vehicle Flight TestYouTube Video of Vehicle Flight Test Campaign{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328101818/http://www.jaxa.jp/article/interview/no3/index_e.html , date=2009-03-28
RVT-derived reusable sounding rocket proposal at HobbyspaceTechnical paper - Flight Demonstration and a Concept for Readiness of Fully Reusable Rocket VehiclesA Concept & Readiness to the Reusable Sounding Rocket Norway-Japan Symposium on Polar, Space, and Climate Research May 29. 2007
Reuse
VTVL rockets
JAXA