In recent years, the space market has been pushing towards decreasing costs of launching spacecraft by reusing parts of the launchers. The purpose of this article is to present a feasibility study of a recovery system for the engine and engine frame of an existing, expendable heavy launch vehicle and present recommendations for further research.

The concept developed is verified based on the Ariane 6. The recovery of the Vulcain Aft Bay (VuAB) is initialised by separation from the first stage at 157.7 km altitude while travelling at 6930 m/s. The study investigates an inflatable aeroshell for protection and deceleration during re-entry, after which it is proposed to further decelerate the VuAB using drogue parachutes. The final part of the concept entails retrieval of the VuAB by a helicopter in mid-air. To enable a controlled gliding flight during retrieval a parafoil is proposed. At launch, the recovery system will weigh 2789 kg with a payload penalty of 720 kg. The system can be integrated into the existing design of the launcher and will not interfere with nominal operations of the launcher. Implementing the recovery system can reduce the cost per launch of an Ariane 6 by 15%

近年来，航天市场一直在努力通过重复利用部分发射器来降低发射航天器的成本。本文的目的是提出一种用于现有的消耗性重型运载火箭的发动机和发动机框架的回收系统的可行性研究，并提出进一步研究的建议。

根据Ariane 6验证了开发的概念。Vulcain船尾湾（VuAB）的恢复通过以6930 m / s的速度从157.7 km的第一阶段与第一阶段的分离来初始化。该研究调查了一种可充气的航空器壳体，以保护其在重新进入时能够减速并减速，然后提出使用锥降伞进一步降低VuAB的速度。该概念的最后一部分是由空中直升机恢复VuAB。为了在取回期间能够进行受控的滑行飞行，提出了一种翼型。发射时，回收系统将重2789千克，有效载荷损失为720千克。该系统可以集成到发射器的现有设计中，并且不会干扰发射器的正常运行。实施恢复系统可使Ariane 6的每次发射成本降低15％