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“in-air-capturing”

The technical term “in-air-capturing” describes an approach for the return of reusable winged space transportation vehicles which has been proposed and patented by DLR. The winged stages are to be caught in the air and towed by subsonic airplanes back to their launch site without any necessity of an own propulsion system. "in-air-capturing" is in many aspects similar to "mid-air retrieval" of space probes or launcher components.

A schematic of the reusable stage's full operational cycle including “in-air-capturing” is shown in Figure 1. At the launcher's lift-off the capturing aircraft is waiting at a downrange rendezvous area. After its MECO the reusable winged stage is separated from the rest of the launch vehicle and afterwards follows a ballistic trajectory, reaching denser atmospheric layers and subsonic velocity. The reusable stage is awaited by an adequately equipped large capturing aircraft offering sufficient thrust capability to tow a winged launcher stage with restrained lift to drag ratio. The entire maneuver is fully subsonic in an altitude range from around 8000 m to 2000 m [3]. After successfully connecting both vehicles, the winged reusable stage is towed by the large carrier aircraft back to the launch site. Close to the airfield, the stage is released from its towing aircraft and autonomously glides to the landing runway similar to a conventional sailplane.

performance advantage

development status

z.B. FALCon www.falcon-iac.eu