kenny@uiucdcsb.CS.UIUC.EDU (02/11/86)
Much of the speculation over the effects of the drastic curtailment that the
Shuttle program is bound to experience, at least temporarily, ignores the
fact that we have *no* launch vehicle with comparable capacity. None.
Vehicle Payload (kg) Notes
to LEO to GEO
Titan IIIB 3,600 ---- Titan "core" without the "strap-on"
solid-fueled boosters.
Titan IIIC 13,200 1,432
Titan IIID 13,635 ---- The military Titan ICBM.
Titan IIIE ---- 3,364 Titan-Centaur, used for the _Voyager_
spacecraft.
Titan T-34D 14,955 1,900 Titan booster fitted with Inertial Upper
Stage developed for Space Shuttle. Never
flown.
Delta 1,000 ----
Ariane 2,755 973
Space Shuttle 29,545 ----
Several of the planned missions require a lift capability beyond even the
proposed T-34D; nothing but the Shuttle is currently flying that will carry
such a load.
For the curious, here are Soviet and Chinese capabilities (estimated)
Name Capacity (kg) Notes
to LEO to GEO
SL-4 7,500 ---- Soyuz launcher
SL-9 18,182 ---- Proton unmanned cargo launcher used to supply
Salyut.
SL-12 ---- 6,590 SL-9 with upper stages. Soviet workhorse
booster for high-altitude launches.
SL-13 22,727 ---- Salyut launcher; uprated SL-9.
TT-50 (?) 159,000 ---- Rumoured ``Saturn V-class'' launch vehicle,
``Webb's Giant,'' never flown.
FB-1 (CSL-2) 1,200 ---- Chinese liquid-fueled ICBM.
CSL-X-3 ---- 1,000 FB-1 with auxiliary boosters and LH2-LOX
inertial upper stage.
As you see, the Shuttle has the highest payload capability of anything flown
to date and still operational (Forget Saturn V -- it would take years to
build a flyable Saturn V equivalent). It's our only available vehicle for
payloads as big as TDRS or the Space Telescope.
In addition to getting the Shuttle program rolling again, we need to get the
ball rolling on building an unmanned heavy-lift vehicle, for large payloads
that don't require staff on-site for setup and maintenance.
[ Figures are from G. Harry Stine, _Space Power_, Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1981. ]
Kevin Kenny
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
UUCP: {ihnp4,pur-ee,convex}!uiucdcs!kenny
CSNET: kenny@UIUC.CSNET
ARPA: kenny@B.CS.UIUC.EDU (kenny@UIUC.ARPA)
"Yes, understanding today's complex world is a bit like having bees live in
your head, but there they are."