Date: Sat, 29 Aug 92 05:04:12 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V15 #150 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Sat, 29 Aug 92 Volume 15 : Issue 150 Today's Topics: Another Shuttle Tank Reuse Idea, From NASA Interplanetary launch capability of the Delta II? Welcome to the Space Digest!! Please send your messages to "space@isu.isunet.edu", and (un)subscription requests of the form "Subscribe Space " to one of these addresses: listserv@uga (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle (THENET), or space-REQUEST@isu.isunet.edu (Internet). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 Aug 92 05:01:50 GMT From: Henry Spencer Subject: Another Shuttle Tank Reuse Idea, From NASA Newsgroups: sci.space In article <15292@ksr.com> jfw@ksr.com (John F. Woods) writes: >...hydrogen tank inside would be removed, leaving the oxygen tank and >intertank structures, to which would be added living quarters, >instrumentation, an airlock, and small thrusters and fuel tanks... Small correction... I doubt it really said that... because there is no hydrogen tank "inside". There is one, 1, 00001, layer of metal between the liquid hydrogen and the outside world. (There is some spray-on insulation on the outside of the metal.) The tank wall and the outer shell are one and the same. If you cut away the hydrogen tank, you're cutting away roughly the lower two-thirds of the ET. Still might be a sensible idea, although it seems a shame to throw away most of the internal volume (the oxygen tank is much smaller). -- There is nothing wrong with making | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology mistakes, but... make *new* ones. -D.Sim| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry ------------------------------ Date: 29 Aug 92 12:14:34 GMT From: Ron Baalke Subject: Interplanetary launch capability of the Delta II? Newsgroups: sci.space In article , rabjab@golem.ucsd.edu (Jeff Bytof) writes... >What would be a good formula be to compute payload to Earth escape+Vinf >using a Delta II launch vehicle? I believe the vehicle can put 11 Klb >in a 100 nm reference orbit. (The Delta I can put up 5.5 Klb) > >What would a typical solid fuel upper stage weigh? Given the delta-V >a solid upper stage could give me, how could I then compute the payload >capacity left after burnout? My objective is to design a Venus orbiter, >launching with no bigger than a Delta II. Has anything interplanetary ever >been launched with a Delta II before? > None of the planetary missions in the past have used the Delta II as a launch vehicle, but the MESUR mission is planning to use it. Here are some quick numbers for the Delta II launch capability: Launch Energy, C3 Payload Mass (km^2/sec^2) (kg) ------------------ ------------- 10 1000 20 850 30 650 40 550 In MESUR's case, it has been determined that a launch energy of 17 is required for Mars. Four spacecraft are being sent on a single Delta II. Current estimates say that each spacecraft will weigh 145.6 kg and the launch adapter mass weighs 40 kg, so the total payload mass is 622.4 kg. At C3=17, Delta II can send a payload of 922kg, leaving a 300 kg margin. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | Optimists live longer /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | than pessimists. |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 150 ------------------------------