Total width (m) 13.0 (Assumption) - 41/16 21-28 29 Total height (m) 7.4 (Assumption) about 10.5 - 9-12 16 Total weight (at launch) 24 t (without external tank) 2501 2541/1121 113 t - 136 t 3501 Persons and payload weight 2 persons + 7 t (8 t at unmanned) 7 t (no person) 4 persons + 31 2 persons 5 persons Form of engines 2 rocket engines (RD- 170) (Assumption) 4 rocket engines (RD- 170) (Assumption) Turbo Ramjet / Rocket engine SCRAMjet + rocket engine LACE + SCRAMjet + rocket engine Form of launch Launch in the air from vehicle of An-225 Launch in the air from vehicle of An-225 Horizontal take-off Horizontal takeoff Horizontal take-off Two Stage to Orbit This launch vehicle uses an air breathing first stage and accelerates the second stage to a speed of approximately Mach 6-10. The first stage is a winged airplane. A rocket powered stage then proceeds to orbit after staging. The air breathing stage flys back to an airport for refurbishment. The second stage may be either a payload canister or a reusable flying vehicle. The operations of this vehicle can potentially be very simple compared to traditional rockets. It is also a potential interim step prior to developing the NASP. Turbojets and scramjets on the TSTO will produce much lower velocities than that for the NASP. Therefore the air breathing technology is much more near term than the Mach 25 scramjets needed for NASP. 8.5.3 Priority Cargo To allow cost reduction through increase in size, to keep a reasonable launch environment and to allow for large pre integrated structures; a Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLLV) could be used. Three concepts are looked at. The historic SATURN 5 and a to be developed “Big Dumb Booster” and a single stage to orbit concept. Saturn 5 - Feasibility of Improvement Only the historic Saturn 5 and the present Energia have a payload capability of over 100 tons into LEO. In the following part an update of the Saturn 5 system technology is discussed. The Saturn 5 vehicle is the most powerful rocket ever developed and flown in the United States. Nowadays, the Saturn 5 is not in use because it was only developed for the moon race against the Soviet Union. It carries a payload of 119 tons into LEO. An improved Saturn 5 could be a possible future launch transportation system for the Space Solar Power Program. Two solutions to improve Saturn 5 are namely, (1) improvement of the first stage engine and (2) using additional rocket booster for the first stage. To minimize the cost of this improvements risky new technologies should be avoided. Improvement of First Stage Engine Saturn 5's first stage engine (F-l engine) is a simple gas generator cycle engine, and it produces huge thrust under very low chamber pressure, as shown in Table 8.9 below. The specific impulse of the F-l engine is lower than the RD-170 engine, mainly because of the much lower chamber pressure. It is possible to increase the chamber pressure by using the modem technology of a high pressure fuel feed system. This would increase the performance of the main engines.
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