The challenges of launcher architecture in the context of New Space

Access to space is the major factor determining sovereignty in terms of space exploration and industry. Indeed, while control of payloads is essential to mission accomplishment, the vector is no less indispensable.

Today's developments, grouped together under the term New Space, are the result of a historical evolution characterized by technological and organizational convergence. This type of convergence is not really new. The Apollo program, for example, saw the emergence of both breakthrough technologies (microelectronics) and radically new organizations (matrix structuring of organizations). But the scale of the New Space movement is unprecedented in terms of the rebalancing of the various players in the space industry.

This article describes some of the characteristic features of these current developments, centered around space transportation and the hybridizations underway. It is based on the architectural, propulsion and structural principles of launchers, and proposes an analysis of the prospects opened up by New Space.