The Economic Justification of Reusable Rocket Vehicles

The economic feasibility of the all-rocket approach to a reusable launch system is investigated. Comparisons of three classes of launch vehicles are made, and two of these types (the Titan IIIC and the partially reusable launch system) are also compared when the option of payload recovery through the use of a reentry vehicle is included. The economic influence of payload recovery capability is included in parametric form. It is shown that the economic feasibility of reusable launch systems is influenced strongly by the need for payload recovery.