The planetary space missions are the most complex and energy intense missions of all. By planetary missions I mean deploying a probe or explorer on the surface of a planet. Due to limitations of current rockets, only small probes and rovers could be send. With a purpose build rocket, we can explore our solar system better.
As a starting point, an economical rocket family can be developed. It would be configurable to suit missions. As a single rocket, it would be able to deploy LEO and geostationary satellites with its first stage recovered. Most probably a rocket with a maximum diameter of 5 meters would be enough for the task.
It’s not economical to recover stages beyond the first stage. As a result, the upper stages should be optimized for single use only. The objective of the second stage would be to put upper stages into low Earth orbit. LEO and geostationary missions would only have two stages.
In order to deploy heavy payload to the moon, at least three first stage rockets would be strapped together. The second stage would be a single rocket, so as the third stage.
Ideally, the first three stages of the rocket would utilize liquid methane engines with optimized nozzles. Utilizing the same engine in all three stages lower the costs and increase the reliability of the rocket while you can perfect a single engine compared to multiple ones.
The fourth stage would be used to accelerate the upper stages further to reduce the time to reach the planets. Ion thrusters can be an option. I also would like to propose a simple dry ice thruster powered by Pu 238 (details on my next article).
The fifth stage is a question mark. It would be used to safely descent the payload to the surface of the planet. It would be fired after many months of space travel. I don’t know if a liquid methane engine can be cold started in such a circumstance.
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