Re: Air Force Signs Off on SRB-CEV

Ed Kyle <edkyle99@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>Jake McGuire wrote:
>> Ed Kyle wrote:
>> > If you are going to argue getting rid of a launch
>> > vehicle line to save money, why not get rid of the
>> > more expensive (Delta IV) line, which is a duplicate
>> > of the Atlas V line?
>>
>> Because the US Government wants two different launch vehicles for most
>> of its satellites in case one of them runs into difficulties. Much
>> like the Delta IV happens to have now, but much like the Atlas could
>> have if (for instance) Russia becomes unwilling or unable to supply
>> RD-180 engines. The Delta II cannot help in this regard, so you can't
>> shut down Delta IV and use Delta II instead.
>
>If RD-180 is the problem - the real reason that the
>U.S. government wants two duplicate parallel space
>launch vehicles (an unprecedented situation, BTW) -

Not unprecedented; it's been the case for nearly all
of the nation's spacefaring history. Most recently
Shuttle and Titan-IV, but before that, other vehicle
combinations and options.

>then why not shut down Atlas V and keep Delta II
>and IV?

Because Delta II only overlaps the bottom part of
the Delta IV range, and can't launch large recon
satellites.

>Or why not spend money to develop an RD-180
>replacement?

Derated F-1A? 8-)

This would be a Atlas VI, that's why.
Even if the only changes are aft of the firewall,
it's a new design in many ways.

> Either approach would be many, many
>billions of dollars cheaper over the life of the
>programs than keeping duplicate production lines
>open.

The point of this is not to save money,
it's to avoid having a standdown of any one
system take the whole US capability to launch
large sized military payloads away.


-george william herbert
gherbert@xxxxxxxxx

.

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