A landing apparatus for a reusable launch vehicle is provided, including a landing leg pivotably mounted at one end to the reusable launch vehicle, for example, to a propellant tank part, and mounted at the other end to the propellant tank part by a detaching means such as a pyro bolt for example, a cover mounted to an outside of the landing leg along a longitudinal direction of the landing leg, and a leg landing plate mounted to a distal end of the landing leg and relatively pivotable with respect to the landing leg by its own weight when the other end of the landing leg is separated from the propellant tank part.

A spacecraft for the distribution of electrical energy to client craft at points situated in free space, in orbit and/or on a celestial body includes a main structure equipped with an electric thruster, with a chemical thruster and with a solar generator, a first fuel container for fuel intended for the electric thruster, and a second fuel container for fuel intended for the chemical thruster. The spacecraft is able to be modulated such that the main structure can be coupled/decoupled alternatively to/from the first container or the second container, the first container and the second container are able to be coupled/decoupled to/from one another, and the solar generator can be deployed or retracted.

An innovative landing system for a spacecraft according to the invention comprises a foldable tether-based carrier structure that when unfolded assumes wheel-type shape and in its centre supports a carrier platform for the payload of the spacecraft.

A rocket landing stabilization system can include one or more upright support structures such as posts, columns, or walls, from which one or more stabilizing elements can be supported. The stabilizing elements can be used to stabilize a rocket as it lands at a landing site. The rocket landing stabilization system can also include a cradle, funnel, or cone to catch or otherwise support a rocket as it lands at the landing site. The rocket landing stabilization system can be located on land or at sea.

A rocket landing stabilization system can include one or more upright support structures such as posts, columns, or walls, from which one or more stabilizing elements can be supported. The stabilizing elements can be used to stabilize a rocket as it lands at a landing site. The rocket landing stabilization system can also include a cradle, funnel, or cone to catch or otherwise support a rocket as it lands at the landing site. The rocket landing stabilization system can be located on land or at sea.

An aerodynamic platform or spacecraft including a habitable 1G centripetal force rotating gravity producing interior corridor within an aerodynamic shell and an aerodynamic drone booster launch system with reentry and reuse capability.

Systems and methods using VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircrafts including drones and helicopters for soft capture, preserving, and landing of a returning spacecraft from space are disclosed. The spacecraft is decelerated by parachutes. One or multiple VTOL drones transport a water impermeable pocket meeting and capturing the descending spacecraft in the air. The spacecraft is thus preserved inside the pocket and keeps descending and then softly lands in a body of water. In another embodiment, a recovery helicopter, one type of VTOL aircraft with heavy payload lifting capacity, is used to directly catch the returning spacecraft. One or multiple VTOL drones are coupled to the bottom end of a recovery cable hung from the helicopter. These drones bring a clutch quickly and precisely catching the descending spacecraft directly without interrupting the parachutes. The spacecraft is thus caught and preserved by the helicopter with lifting function of the parachutes maintained.

The embodiments described herein provide a propulsive landing rocket landing leg system that provides for a high probability of a successful landing across wide stress and flow regimes due to the mechanism's ability to be implemented across a variety of compact and aerodynamic landing leg geometries. It provides for the ability to control unfolding speed for increased stabilization and removes unfolding dependence on the assistance of the gravitational force or separate forced actuating deployment sub-systems. The utilization of both rotational and linear damping units provides higher flexibility in the sourcing of lower cost components promoting higher cost-efficient construction and ease of parameter adaptation for the respective dynamics of the mechanism. The structural arrangement of the components allows for favorable distribution of stress, and in turn high stress tolerance due to the collaborative efforts of the parallel linear rod shafts and the landing leg structure, thus effective management of bending and other stress modes. Corresponding landing legs and methods are disclosed.

A rocket landing stabilization system can include one or more upright support structures such as posts, columns, or walls, from which one or more stabilizing elements can be supported. The stabilizing elements can be used to stabilize a rocket as it lands at a landing site. The rocket landing stabilization system can also include a cradle, funnel, or cone to catch or otherwise support a rocket as it lands at the landing site. The rocket landing stabilization system can be located on land or at sea.

A pressure control system may include a plurality of inflatable objects, each of the inflatable objects having a respective pressure sensor and a respective inflation valve, wherein each of the inflation valves has a behavior profile predictive of an amount of current used by the valve when operated. A valve controller of the system may have a pressure management circuit that receives information from the pressure sensors and is configured to automatically maintain a respective selected pressure in each of the inflatable objects by issuing commands to operate the inflation valves. An electrical current management circuit of the valve controller may be configured to predict, based on the valve behavior profiles, what effect the command would have on a total current usage, when executed, and automatically prevent any command that would cause the total current usage to exceed a maximum allowable current.