3. Maintenance costs are lower for the two-stage vehicle, but its expendable shroud is a cost disadvantage. 4. Cost per flight for the two-stage vehicle is slightly lower if dense payload shrouds are used. 5. Weight growth performance sensitivity is much lower for the two-stage vehicle. 12. 2. 3 PERSONNEL LAUNCH VEHICLE SYSTEMS The personnel launch vehicle system is assumed to be the shuttle. A variety of booster/external tank options have been evaluated in the MSFC Shuttle Growth Study under contract to Rockwell International Corporation and in MSFC in-house transportation systems studies. The baseline shuttle (Fig. 12-8) uses a solid rocket booster and an expendable LOX/LH2 external tank to supply propellants to the orbiter's main engine (SSME). Alternate configurations are shown in Figures 12-9 and 12-10 that use reusable liquid boosters and reusable boosters/external tank, respectively. The range of cost per flight achievable with these systems is from approximately $8 million (reusable boosters and external tank) to $15 million (baseline). Figure 12-8. Baseline shuttle configuration.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==