Stages Materials Payload density Engines Crossfeed First Stage Return The current concept is illustrated in Section III of this report. Jet engines provide flyback capability for the first stage and both stages land adjacent to the launch site. MSEC and Rockwell are currently engaged in the configuration development and preliminary sizing of a two stage winged vehicle, featuring parallel burn with crossfeed. SSTO - Winged, HTOHL - This concept was investigated by MSFC and Rockwell. The vehicle takes off horizontally, using turbofan jet engines, climbs to optimum altitude for cruise to the equatorial plane. It then dives to achieve transonic flight and accelerates into a supersonic climb. At Mach 3, ramjets operate in parallel with the turbofans up to 130,000 feet where the airbreathing engines shutdown, and the SSME's complete the achievement of a 91 X 550 km orbit. The rocket engines are then shutdown and an auxiliary propulsion system circularizes the Dayload orbit. Each of these five options was evaluated for technical and economic feasibility.
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