Re: 10 meter diameter CaLV

simberg.interglobal@xxxxxxxxx (Rand Simberg) writes:

On 28 Apr 2006 10:55:53 -0700, in a place far, far away, "Will McLean"
<mclean1382@xxxxxxx> made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such a
way as to indicate that:

An interesting report from Flight International

http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/04/25/Navigation/177/206161/CEV+landing+system+re-evaluated+.html

Says they are going to a ten meter diameter CaLV so they can use
RS-68s.

So much for using tooling for the ET. The Shuttle-derived launcher
just got a lot less Shuttle derived. It was probably a choice between
that, or raising the height of the VAB.

One could easily use a tapered 10m aft section for engines and thrust
structure with a 8m diameter tank (and ET tooling for the tank).

Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
.