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(Related: is there a general rule of thumb for thermal protection systems?)

For a fully-reusable launch vehicle to be developed, we need a lightweight thermal protection system and method for (controllable?) reentry. This is much more difficult than reentry for lower stages such as SpaceX's boosters, which are moving at a much lower velocity.

Upper stages typically are much more squat cylinders (with much smaller rocket engines) than lower stages, but they are still very much not compact capsules like typical reentry vehicles. They also are much less dense because they consist of empty or mostly-empty tanks, and they can't tolerate much increase in mass.

Still, I understand that there are a variety of potential ways of making them reentry-capable.

Have reputable worked examples or studies that include mass breakdowns been published for any or all of the following re-entry methods?

  1. Space-shuttle-like winged upper stage (Does not really count as an upper stage unless it provides at least 1000 m/s of dV with a payload, so not the actual Space Shuttle).

  2. Other lifting-body or winged designs

  3. Bicone forward-flying reentry vehicle

  4. "sideways" reentry cylinder (this seems to be popular for NASA Mars landers, but I don't know if it's viable for Earth)

  5. The "Kerbal option" in which the stage flies backwards, with a (probably-ablative) shield closing over the (much heavier) engine-containing end -- I name this because the available parts and physics simulation in Kerbal Space Program make it frequently used by players.

  6. Von Braun's metal leaf drag devices

  7. Ballutes and similar inflatables

ikrase
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  • This seems pretty broad. You should ask questions which can have one definite answer. – Organic Marble Feb 19 '20 at 05:16
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    @OrganicMarble would "do worked examples of any of these X, Y, and Z possible options exist" be a better version? – ikrase Feb 19 '20 at 05:33
  • Possibly related: https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/20987/what-will-max-q-for-descent-be?r=SearchResults&s=8|21.1542 – Carl Witthoft Feb 19 '20 at 12:46
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    @OrganicMarble looks better? – uhoh Feb 20 '20 at 09:32
  • Why doesn't the Shuttle count? Because it's not fully reusable, just mostly so (ET discarded)? The second stage (after SRB sep) produces well in excess of 1 km/s dV. – TooTea Feb 20 '20 at 10:22
  • @TooTea Because the part of the Shuttle that is reusable, doesn't include the tankage. The OMS produces less that 300 m/s of delta-V. – ikrase Feb 20 '20 at 10:55
  • you missed "returning the reusable upper stage in the reusable SSTO launch vehicle" –  Feb 20 '20 at 10:58
  • @JCRM Correct, although this question is not intended to be about SSTOs, just about reusing both the upper and lower stages. – ikrase Feb 20 '20 at 11:00

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