Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
COSMIC SYNERGY
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
Rocket-Setting: An architecture for point-to-point travel
Seth A. McKeen
12/18/2012
University of Southern California
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
COSMIC SYNERGY
Paris to London
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Historic Route – from days by horse and ship
With the Channel Tunnel, created in 1994, 2 hours 15
minutes with Eurostar high speed train
6 Hour Drive (no traffic)
On average 1 – 1.5 Hour Flight
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
Falcon 9 Burnout
56,000 ft
COSMIC SYNERGY
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
Falcon 9 Separation
63,000 ft
Falcon 9 BoostBack & Powered
Landing
Falcon 9 Liftoff
A 64 person rocket riding vehicle,
launched into a ballistic orbit by a
reusable Falcon 9 V1.1
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
COSMIC SYNERGY
16 minutes.
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
COSMIC SYNERGY
The Vertical Take off Vertical Landing (VTVL) Commercial Scene
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Founded in 2000
CEO John Carmack
Lunar Lander Competitions
Suborbital Research and Tourism
Tested Super Mod Rocket to
4,000 ft + precision landing
Reached >140,000 ft with STIG-A
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Founded in 2004
CTO Dave Masten
Lunar Lander Competitions
Suborbital Research
Xaero Reached 1500 ft w/
Precision Landing
Xombie Reached 1600 ft and
horizontally moved 2500 ft
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Founded in 2000
CEO Jeff Bezos
Suborbital/Orbital
New Shepard hit 45,000 ft
Have performed many “Hops”
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Founded in 2002
CEO Elon Musk
Orbital Cargo & Crew
Grasshopper VTVL Testbed
Looking at Fully and Rapidly
Reusable Launch Vehicle
(Falcon 9 V1.1) for orbital
launches.
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
COSMIC SYNERGY
SPACEX
A fully and rapidly reusable rocket
means the cost of the rocket is
divided up by the number of
launches, and the only recurring
cost is fuel.
–
VTVL REUSABLE FALCON 9

Falcon 9 V1.1 can send
~30,000 lbm to LEO
from Cape Canaveral

With less ∆V for suborbital, the
payload that can be lofted by F9
V1.1 increases and large scale
passenger travel is viable

Leveraging SpaceX’s fully and rapidly reusable Falcon 9 VTVL rocket technology, a private company could create
a standalone passenger vehicle and partner with SpaceX for commercial launches all over the globe

The RLV would send the passenger vehicle on a ballistic trajectory and return to the launch site for refueling; the
vehicle would continue on its arc, aero-brake and propulsively land.
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
COSMIC SYNERGY
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
The Business of “Hopping Around”
R+D w/
Propulsion
Modules
Cargo
SpaceX Parts, UPS, Medical
Military/Space
Tourism
Executive
Point-to-Point
Travel
32 person vehicle
64 person vehicle
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
COSMIC SYNERGY
Immediate Cargo Delivery
Organ Transplants
o The ability to save lives that otherwise may
have been lost
o Get to small towns from large cities with
better hospitals
Rapid Delivery
o UPS?/FedEx 2 Hour Delivery?
o SpaceX Parts to McGregor from Hawthorne?
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
COSMIC SYNERGY
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
∆𝑉 = 𝐼𝑆𝑃 𝑔𝑜 ln
𝑚 𝑇𝑂
𝑚𝐵𝑂
Performance and structural mass
on F9 are fixed, therefore, payload
(i.e. passenger vehicle’s fuel,
structure, and cargo/passengers)
will vary with range. Want to
maximize # of passengers you
can take for each range.
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Intercontinental routes are out of the question, as the trajectory will either have an ~ 1200 km apogee, or it
will require > 90% of Orbital Velocity
Choosing trajectories with smaller ∆V’s than LEO, will mean significantly greater payload
Weight of passenger vehicle is the payload for F9 V1.1 – for a given trip, there is the ∆V of getting the
vehicle on the trajectory, and ∆V of boost-back/landing for F9.
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
COSMIC SYNERGY
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
Highly scalable vehicle architecture allows for
interchangeable decks
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No vehicle redesign for different ranges (use more
decks/passengers for lower range flights – minimize
wasted structural mass)
Easily upgrade passenger # for more capable
launcher
64 Person Vehicle
𝑚 𝑇𝑂
∆𝑉 = 𝐼𝑆𝑃 𝑔𝑜 ln
𝑚𝐵𝑂
32 Person Vehicle
 To make this a flourishing business, want to minimize ticket cost so that people can afford it.
 To minimize ticket cost, want to maximize passenger capacity (main cost for a launch is fuel).
 Baseline passenger vehicle ∆V is that required for control, landing, and potential abort. To get this
∆V, and make tickets cheap, want to maximize engine performance (specific impulse), and
maximize payload by minimizing structural weight.
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
COSMIC SYNERGY
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
𝑚 𝑇𝑂
∆𝑉 = 𝐼𝑆𝑃 𝑔𝑜 ln
𝑚𝐵𝑂
Courtesy Rocketdyne
 Propulsion Module Composed of 4x Carbon fiber-reinforced Carbon (C/C) Truncated Aerospike Nozzles
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Higher ISP at all mission conditions (abort, control, landing)
Can be used as primary heat shield (TPS)
Used for abort and landing (a separate abort system is dead weight that can’t be used for payload)
No auxiliary thrust vector control needed (gimbals + actuators)
Overall a huge mass savings which leads to a significantly improved mass ratio
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
COSMIC SYNERGY

Wait, which way to first class?
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Every seat is a window seat – 8 person decks
Ultra streamlined chairs start vertically and
come to flight position right before takeoff;
fully utilizing volume of the vehicle
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Passenger cargo is
stored under the
nosecone
Life support and
environmental control
systems are in the ID
of each deck
All propulsion systems
and avionics are in the
floor of the
propulsion module
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
COSMIC SYNERGY
Passenger Vehicle Comparison
Falcon 9 Version 1.1
w/ 5.2 Meter Fairing
for GEO/GTO
Falcon 9 Version 1.1
w/ Rocket Riding
Passenger Vehicle
17.1 ft
Diameter
18 ft
Diameter
Rocket Riding
Passenger Module
64 Passengers
Boeing 737
Fuselage
136 Passengers
18 ft Diameter
226 ft
long
224 ft
long
85 ft
long
100 ft
long
12 ft wide
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
COSMIC SYNERGY
Potential Coverage Regions – Europe
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Europe could be fully connected –
reach any other city in mere minutes.
Almost every major city is within 1200
miles of each other
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
COSMIC SYNERGY
Potential Coverage Regions – CONUS
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Starting with Southwest / Northeast
Los Angeles to NY/Boston is feasible once
technology is matured
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
COSMIC SYNERGY
Potential Coverage Regions
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
COSMIC SYNERGY
Private / Government Relationship
What is that, a commercial vehicle or
Missile Attack?!

Potentially a private market, but definitely a need for a government presence. Need a regulatory
body to monitor and route traffic, to make sure every launch is allowed and accounted for, and to
make sure these vehicles are fully mature, reliable, and safe for operation.

Autonomous GPS driven vehicles, but routing and monitoring can be covered by the FAA and similar
governing bodies around the world.
Seth A. McKeen
Seth.mckeen@gmail.com
COSMIC SYNERGY
Commercial Concept:
Regional Rocket Riding
 Merits
 Opens up a new, potentially unparalleled market
 Incremental – allows for early capital and developmental growth
 Using VTVL matures the technologies we’ll use for multi-planetary
missions
 Use existing airports with added launch pads – keep it simple for the
FAA, keep costs down
 Limitations
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Trading G-Loading vs. Payload (throttle profiles)
The Concord Dilema
FAA Nightmare
GNC Difficulties
Safety/Reliability
I’m eager for your questions and comments!
LinkedIn (Social Networking)
Email:
Seth.McKeen@gmail.com
Seth A. McKeen
Propulsion Development Engineer
Space Exploration Technologies
Greater Los Angeles Area
Aviation & Aerospace
Sources – Engineering, Architecture and inspiring Design
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/falcon9.html
http://freshome.com/2012/04/18/interesting-alternative-to-residential-chairs-by-martz-edition/
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/11/space-seat-shaping-has-begun/
http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public//PubFullText/RTO/TR/RTO-TR-AVT-007-V1///TR-AVT-007-V1-Report.pdf
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/rockets/elon-musk-on-spacexs-reusable-rocket-plans-6653023
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/09/02/blue-origin-confirms-crash-releases-first-photos-of-vehicle-in-flight/
http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/a_cost_engineered_launch_vehicle_for_space_tourism.shtml/
http://02varvara.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/01-ria-novosti-infographics-design-of-the-css-08-11.jpg
http://www.spudislunarresources.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/future-space.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_737