Re: GRIFFIN'S DRIVE FOR SHUTTLE-DERIVED

Pat Flannery <flanner@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:119d6tpke7hj0e4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

>
>
> Damon Hill wrote:
>
>>Zenit sure makes it look easy, doesn't it?
>>
>>
>
> When it doesn't blow up and annihilate its pad it does:
> http://www.russianspaceweb.com/baikonur_zenit.html

Well, yeah...any time a fully fueled rocket fails on the
pad, it's a Major Upgrade Day for the immediate vicinity.
I'm sure the N-1 pad failures were at least as bad.

This rarely happens, though it's a good argument for an
austere pad such as Atlas V now uses. But even the simplest
facility can be severely damaged in a worst-case scenario;
simplicity limits the losses and reduces the rebuild time.

> You note everybody is off the Sea Launch platform when the Zenit lifts
> off. Proton has a slick pad design due to it's genesis as a silo-based
> missile- everything connects into the base of the core tankage of the
> vehicle via a giant umbilical; at the moment of liftoff, the giant
> umbilical plug retracts into the launch pad and armored doors close
> over it. Theoretically, if the rocket falls over and explodes on the
> pad, its still pretty much untouched (assuming it doesn't run into the
> service tower which has been backed away from the rocket prior to
> launch, or the lightning arrestor and illumination towers), and can be
> readied for fairly rapid re-use as soon as the hypergolic propellants
> can be cleaned up.
> Here's the base plug:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/825000/images/_825116_boosters300.jpg
> As you can see, during launch the pad is fairly uncluttered:
> http://www.spaceflightnow.com/proton/pas10/

Yes, this is nifty. Probably a holdover from the early ICBM days
when they thought they could get several shots off before getting
nailed by one of our warheads. The Russians have learned their
launch lessons well, though I think they'd like to get away from
hypergolics altogether.

Zenit appears to be a particularly efficient turnkey launch
system. That it's semi-cryo doesn't appear to be that much of
a challenge any more. And thus my point that solids aren't
an operational advantage for space launch, when the performance of
liquids is higher and the cost is probably not much different.

--Damon

.

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