SPACEX FALCON 9 v1.1, FALCON HEAVY REMODELLING; FALCON 9 v1.1 DESCENT TRAJECTORY AND PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION

This report summarized the work performed to analyse Falcon 9 v1.1, Falcon Heavy and the soft landing performed by Falcon 9 v1.1 in 2014 on the sea. First the model of Falcon 9 v1.1 is updated. This includes both masses and engine performances. Several variants are considered and the most realistic one is selected as a reference. Based on this model, a model of Falcon Heavy with and without cross-feed is established and the performance calculated. The second part of the report describes the analyses performed to model the descent of the first stage of Falcon 9 v1.1, after its separation until it performs a soft landing on the sea. Note that return descents to the launch site are not considered, it would require further analyses. Several boost strategies are compared and the one minimising the propellant requirement for the descent is selected. The performance loss when such a descent is performed for a LEO or a GTO mission is assessed.