Methodology and Tool to Support Medium and Heavy Vertical Launch Vehicles Design

In recent years, the Space Industry has been focusing on reusable launch vehicles demonstrating their feasibility and emphasizing their advantages in terms of costs and sustainability. Although United States is leading the development of this kind of launchers, Europe is beginning to invest and research in this sector, in order to increase its capacity to access the space autonomously. In 2022 Politecnico di Torino research team, under the supervision of the European Space Agency, launched the “iDREAM” project with the objective of developing a comprehensive methodology for the conceptual design of space systems, with a particular focus on expendable Micro-Launchers and Human Landing System. As part of this initiative, the researchers at Politecnico di Torino developed “ASTRID-H”, a Python-based tool specifically designed to support fast and efficient preliminary design process in these domains.The next phase of the project aims to enhance ASTRID-H to broaden its applicability to the conceptual design of launch vehicles of all sizes. In this thesis, a new methodology is proposed concerning the Vehicle Design Routine, a module dedicated to the conceptual design of the launcher in terms of geometry, dimensions and performance. This methodology builds upon the previously developed approach and introduces significant modifications in targeted modules to make it applicable to the preliminary design of medium to heavy class launchers. This new methodology starts from a more accurate initial estimation of the mission ΔV performed using semi-empirical and interpolative formulations, which allow for a more precise characterization of the major contributors to mission ΔV requirements. Then follows the capability to determine the optimal staging for both serial and parallel launcher configurations. This is achieved through a modified staging strategy specifically tailored to handle parallel configurations, and an optimization process based on Lagrange multiplier, adapted to overcome typical limitations of this classical method when applied to multi-stage launch vehicle design The integrated engine design module supports both Liquid Rocket Engines and Solid Rocket Motors, enabling effective early-phase engine characterization using a minimal set of additional input data and a library of performance-based analytical formulations. The mass and dimension estimation module computes all dimensional characteristics of the vehicle primarily through the use of interpolative formulas Finally, the aerodynamic module estimates the drag coefficient profile, incorporating specific modifications to properly support the design of parallel-staged launchers. To support the methodology, a Python tool has been developed to implement the entire design process, which is ultimately used to test the overall reliability of the methodology. Using this, two case studies will be simulated for the different configurations: Ariane 5 for the parallel configuration and Vega-C for the serial one. The methodology will be validated by analysing the generated outputs to highlight its strengths and areas for improvement to increase reliability. The work will conclude with a discussion about the achieved results and future planned development.