Re: Man-Rating Atlas V

lou@cadence wrote:
No, the Atlas that is proposed to be man-rated is the 401 varient, with
just one core engine, a single centaur, and no solids. See
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/data/assets/13344.pdf
where this is very explicit. This is because this is the simplest
configuration, with the least to go wrong, and has the most experience

That document was very interesting reading. It is intersting to see how LM is
using the fruits of old cancelled projects to evaluate the Atlas 5.

I found one glowing problem area: that of crew ingress and egress. They
assert that in an emergency using the pad abort system to launch the capsule
away from the rocket is a better approach than exiting the capsule.

Yes, except ... in the case of a capsule fire.

Glen Overby
.

Loading