Technical and Operations Design of the SKYLON Upper Stage

M. Hempsell, A. Bond (2010), JBIS, 63, 136-144

Refcode: 2010.63.136
Keywords: SKYLON, Upper Stage, SUS, resonant orbits

Abstract:
The SKYLON spaceplane cannot reach beyond Low Earth Orbit and therefore payloads requiring higher orbits, such as geostationary transfer orbit, will require an upper stage. A concept design for a cryogenic upper stage called the SKYLON Upper Stage (SUS) is described together with its operations. It is shown that, through the use of resonant orbits, in many cases the stage can be recovered for reuse by the SKYLON that launched it.