Re: Rocket design up in air, says Marshall chief

From: Ed Kyle (edkyle99_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 01/30/05 

Date: 29 Jan 2005 23:10:13 -0800

Allen Thomson wrote:
> Ed Kyle wrote:
> > Huntsville Times story at:
>
"http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1106907466249010.xml"
> >
>
> Isn't there a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem implicit in what Mr.
> King is saying? Is CEV design going to proceed completely
independently
> of SLV characteristics? After which they'll come up with a suitable
> SLV?

It seems to me that the 20 ton limit for CEV
was clearly meant to put the thing into the
EELV medium (plus some) payload range. The
only other apparent option would be SRB-based,
but that would require a new upper stage and
a lot more money than an EELV-based design.

But the method for launching the uncrewed
payloads (the Earth Departure Stage, the
landers, the propellants, etc) seems to be up
for grabs. It seems clear that various
interests are going to push hard for a
shuttle-derived method for launching the
big-mass stuff.

But the big-mass requirements are all Spiral 2
anyway, which is more than a decade away and
might not ever happen. Even if it does, the
longer into the future it gets deferred, the
less likely it will be that a shuttle-derived
vehicle could be made to happen.

 - Ed Kyle