A Military Space Plane Candidate

This paper presents a Military Space Plane design concept. While the current military space plane activity is focused on rocket-powered concepts, the concept presented here is powered by a rocket-based combined cycle engine that uses both rocket and airbreathing engine cycles. The design concept is the reference SSTO design concept used in the NASA HRST ANSER study. The reference concept is a derivative of the NASA airbreathing Access to Space study SSTO design concept. The Access to Space air-breathing vehicle's combined cycle engine was replaced by the Aerojet rocket-based combined cycle engine. The orbital performance capability of the reference design concept is presented for 100 n mi., polar, and 225 n mi., 51 deg. orbits. The sensitivity of GTOW to payload and margin is also presented.