A Hybrid Launch Vehicle Design Concept Based on Recent Industry Studies ---A Consensus View---

(Abstract) This paper provides a composite, consensus overview of results for a hybrid launch vehicle first stage design concept from the authors' perspective as constituents of the Air Force Research Laboratory. Over the past few years, a series of hybrid launch vehicle (HLV) studies and technical assessments have been pursued by the laboratory as its part in the development of a reusable launch demonstrator. A HLV system consists of a reusable first stage vehicle with an expendable upper stage stack along with the supporting infrastructure. The infrastructure includes launch, recovery, and re-launch processing infrastructure and logistics to support vehicle and payload operations.