page_title: SpaceLiner
section_title: Concept development
hierarchical_section_title: SpaceLiner / Concept development
caption_attribution_description: SpaceLiner 7 Travel Route Map
context_page_description: SpaceLiner is a concept for a suborbital, hypersonic, winged passenger supersonic transport, conceived at the German Aerospace Center in 2005. In its second role the SpaceLiner is intended as a reusable launch vehicle capable of delivering heavy payloads into orbit.
  The SpaceLiner is a very long-term project, and does not currently have funding lined up to initiate system development as of 2017. Projections in 2015 were that if adequate funding was eventually secured, the SpaceLiner concept might become an operational spaceplane in the 2040s.
context_section_description: At the end of 2012 investigations and ongoing studies conducted within context of the FAST20XX framework led to the refinement and definition of the SpaceLiner 7 version.  Based on the results of previous studies, development has been progressing continuously with increasingly detailed and in-depth considerations, modelling and simulations of the various subsystems, and their design and integration being performed. Selected variants to the baseline configuration given different requirements and specifications were studied with associated results influencing and redirecting the entire configuration process.
  SpaceLiner 1 was the first version, conceived in 2005.
  SpaceLiner 2 refers to the first version, which featured the integration of an innovative active cooling system for the areas of particularly high thermal stresses during atmospheric, re-entry, being the nose and wing leading edge sections.
  The SpaceLiner 4 concept is a 2015 evolution of version 2 with improved aerodynamic and flight dynamic characteristics. Based on this configuration, various technologies necessary for the SpaceLiner were experimentally and numerically examined, research that was funded by the EU research project FAST20XX.
  As of 2015, the latest configuration under study at the DLR is the SpaceLiner 7. Based on results obtained from application of numerical optimisation methods which achieved an improvement of the aerodynamic, thermal and structural-mechanical properties in hypersonic flight, the initial double delta wing of previous versions has been modified and replaced by a single delta wing.  Presently, subsystems such as the passenger cabin, the cryogenic tanks, the propellant feed system and the vehicle thermal protection have been preliminarily defined  and integrated. Studies have also been carried out on the economic and logistical aspects of the concept, with preliminary calculations of expected program development and production costs given necessary assumptions.
  Possible routes, which have then formed the basis of trajectory analyses for SpaceLiner, have been identified. These are classified and grouped in terms of their distances, with Class 1 representing the longest route, and Class 3 describing the shortest yet still economically interesting and relevant distance. In line with this, a modified version of the SpaceLiner 7 capable of flying medium long-haul distances while carrying 100 passengers has been examined. Given the name SL7-100, this concept variant is suitable for Class 2 and Class 3 distance flights. To accommodate for the different SpaceLiner configurations, a long and short version of the booster stage have therefore been considered to accordingly fulfill the mission requirements depending on the required range, either in combination with the 50 or 100-passenger stage version. 
  In addition, research into possible spaceport variants has been performed, determining mainland, offshore platform and artificial island possibilities, as well as the required infrastructure for a potential SpaceLiner spaceport.
caption: Classification of possible routes for the SpaceLiner
exif: {}