Re: "World's Best Launcher"?


Damon Hill wrote:
> "Ed Kyle" <edkyle99@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in news:1135270598.079785.94800
> @g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
>
> > This comment about Ariane 5 is clearly debatable, since four
> > of the vehicle's 25 launches have failed.
> >
> > So, which rocket really *is* the "world's best launcher"?
>
> It's to be expected that Arianespace would thump their own
> bucket; everyone does. But for sheer reliability, I'd go
> with Atlas, from II through V. Zenit has a clean elegance;
> most of its failures have been upper stage issues, I think.
>
> --Damon

Interesting that both of your choices are boosted by
similar Glushko/Energomash staged combustion
hydrocarbon engines!

I like Atlas 5, but I think that it is still too soon to say
how good this launcher is - and cost may be a detriment
to its ultimate success. Let's wait and see if AV-010 gets
that RTG cleanly into solar orbit next month. If that works,
and if Lockheed gets an Atlas 5 off from Vandenberg
before Boeing launches its Delta 4 from Slick Six after
getting a three year head start, I will be a true believer.

I like Zenit 3SL too. It has only suffered one total
failure in 18 flights (caused by a ground processing
error) and one partial (caused by a problem with
Energia's occasionally-troublesome Blok DM upper
stage). Success-rate-wise for big GTO launchers,
Zenit 3SL currently stands only behind Krunichev's
Proton M (9 launches, no failures) and
Proton K/DM-2M (38 for 40). But post-"Orange
Revolution" Russo-Ukrainian politics may hamper
Zenit's potential.

Ariane 5 is turning out to be a steady performer, but
it is the undersized G version that has been racking
up successes (12 in a row now after having three failures
early on). The more powerful ECA has only flown three
times with one failure. The problem is that Ariane 5
has so far been a let-down after Ariane 4, which really
may have been the "world's best launcher".

In the mid-size launcher category, it is hard not to like
R-7/Soyuz and Delta 2. They share "most reliable"
status with Zenit manufacturer Yuznoye's Tsyklon 2,
but two-stage Tsyklon 2 is not nearly as versatile as
Soyuz or Delta 2.

R-7 Soyuz, of course, has done, and continues to do,
it all - orbiting people and cargo to ISS, sending probes
into deep space, and, boosting navsats and comsats
to more various orbits, etc., all while leading the world
in number of launches performed while being rapidly
processed on its storied rail-based horizontal integration
system. With nearly 730 successful launches, hundreds
more than the nearest competitor, I don't see how I
could argue against saying that the Soyuz-U/FG series
is the "world's best launcher".

- Ed Kyle

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