Multi-Disciplinary Design Project - Final Report Vertical Take-Off and Horizontal Landing Spacecraft Facility Issue: 1.5 Date Issued: 13/01/2018 Status: Final VTOHL Group 2 Callum Dykes Michael Groehe Antonio-Luis Martinez Paul Mearman Daniel Moore Mark Warrilow Supervisors Steve Proctor Dr Olaf Marxen MDDP – Final Report Issue: 1.5 VTOHL Group 2 Status: Final Executive Summary The UK is on the verge of losing grasp of the space race. Other countries such as the USA, Russia, India, Japan, Kazakhstan and China have their own capability to launch payloads into orbit, as well as the European Union utilising a facility in South America. The UK government has stated an interest in capturing 10% of the global space industry by 2030. In this pursuit, many reports have been created to identify the space industry contribution of present UK facilities, as well as establishing the UK Space Agency to support competitive growth. The business case identifies that a large proportion of launch orders are derived from European demand. Competition for launch services is stiff globally but relaxed in Europe, where no launch site operates a service for companies to send their satellites into orbit. The suggested course of action then, is the design of an installation capable of providing launch capability for small satellites, into low earth orbits, in the UK. This would be implemented in three Phases of site development. Firstly, Heliaq’s ALV-2 and Virgin Orbit, followed by Phase 2 which would move to the ALV-3. Finally, in Phase 3, the most ambitious and theoretical, is catering to Skylon, a British single stage-to-orbit space plane. The Spaceport will be located at Dounreay on the north coast of Scotland, which is an ideal launch site for polar orbital applications, as well as providing limited air traffic and a safe area along the flightpath in the event of falling debris. Commercial and support operations will be located in the nearby town of Thurso. A mass transit rail system will connect to the two sites for the movement of staff and supplies, with an additional connection to the national railway line planned in Phase 3. The Thurso Site will additionally contain an enterprise zone for businesses and educational institutions to stimulate innovation in the space industry which will directly benefit the Spaceport. During the first two Phases, these launch vehicles chosen for the Spaceport will be able to send masses of 100 kg (ALV-2) and 300-500 kg (Virgin Orbit) into a high inclination, low earth orbit. The eventual target for launches per year is to be 92 (45 Skylon, 35 ALV, 12 Virgin Orbit). The satellites would be provided by the customer who wishes to launch them and the Spaceport will include payload preparation and post-mission satellite operation services. The payload preparation facility will offer an ISO class 8 cleanroom, with the most essential equipment needed for manoeuvring payloads of up to 500 kg and testing of satellite systems. Satellite operations will Date Issued: 13/01/2018 Page 1 of 198 MDDP – Final Report Issue: 1.5 VTOHL Group 2 Status: Final be offered as a service to continually maintain the orbit of the customer’s satellite through telemetry and telecommand, as well as managing its data output as an additional source of revenue. The facilities also allow for civilian air travel to the site by following international regulations, making travel to the Spaceport easier, providing an additional functionality and making the transport of materials more direct. Catering to the launch and mission are control centres capable of monitoring the engineering parameters of the launch vehicle and payload, helmed by a team of highly skilled staff. These facilities also offer space for press conferences and negotiations with prospective clients. Adjacent to the payload preparation facility, a launch vehicle assembly building will be available to customers where both the ALV-2/3 and Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne can be assembled, and the payload integrated. Storage buildings dedicated to protection and maintenance of the launch vehicles will be provided with the necessary equipment to be able to lift equipment and transfer it to a trailer for transportation to the assembly building where needed. When Phase 3 of the Spaceport is reached, an additional hangar will be provided to house and maintain Reaction Engine’s Skylon. The majority of potable water is sourced from the nearby Loch Calder, whilst rainwater collection systems will be implemented in all Spaceport buildings to reduce the quantity of potable water required. The estimated daily water consumption of the Spaceport will be 48,600 litres, with roughly 25% of this being non-potable water harvested using the rainwater collection systems. Power will be generated for the Spaceport through the construction of a nearby on-shore wind farm. The peak daily energy usage of the site is estimated to be 13.3 MWh. A total annual renewable energy generation of 16.2 GWh is predicted, including an estimated 12.2 GWh of this being used to power more than 3,100 homes across the UK. The propellants required by the launch vehicles are brought to the site by road, and are deposited into specialist tanks designed particularly for the contents which are to be contained. The chemicals used in the initial Phases of the project are Liquid Oxygen, Rocket Propellant 1 and Jet A-1 fuel. The total cost of the project, including Phase 3, is £1.339 billion. The total expected revenue is £142 million before Phase 3, with this figure rising to £906.6 million once Skylon is operational. The financial analysis shows an annual increase in profit, due to the interest payments reducing each year. The profit in year one is expected to be £30.74 million. Year 6 is the sole year with an expected loss, with an estimated figure of £29.82 million. Once all debt is repaid an annual profit of £140.17 million can be expected. Date Issued: 13/01/2018 Page 2 of 198 MDDP – Final Report Issue: 1.5 VTOHL Group 2 Status: Final ‘We confirm that the submitted work is our own work. No element has been previously submitted for assessment, or where it has, it has been correctly referenced. We have also clearly identified and fully acknowledged all material that is entitled to be attributed to others (whether published or unpublished) using the referencing system set out in the programme handbook. We agree that the University may submit my work to means of checking this, such as the plagiarism detection service Turnitin® UK. We confirm that we understand that assessed work that has been shown to have been plagiarised will be penalised.' Date Issued: 13/01/2018 Page 3 of 198 MDDP – Final Report Issue: 1.5 VTOHL Group 2 Status: Final Table of Contents Executive Summary .......................................................................................................................... 1 Issue Record .................................................................................................................................... 10 Document Notes .............................................................................................................................. 10 List of Acronyms ............................................................................................................................. 10 List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. 12 List of Tables ................................................................................................................................... 15 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 17 2. Project Scope ........................................................................................................................... 18 3. Business Case .......................................................................................................................... 19 4. Spaceport Configuration Justification ..................................................................................... 23 4.1. Launch Vehicles .................................................................................................................. 23 4.1.1. Austral Launch Vehicle ................................................................................................... 23 4.1.2. Virgin Orbit ..................................................................................................................... 24 4.1.3. Skylon.............................................................................................................................. 24 4.2. Launch Site .......................................................................................................................... 25 5. Adaptation of Launch Site....................................................................................................... 26 5.1. Summary of existing infrastructure and facilities ............................................................... 26 5.1.1. Royal Air Force Station Dounreay .................................................................................. 26 5.1.2. Nuclear Power Development Establishment ................................................................... 27 5.1.3. Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment ...................................................................... 28 5.1.4. Regional Considerations ................................................................................................