Looking at below picture, the Delta IV Heavy is clearly much taller than the Medium. Is there any specific reason why?
https://www.space.com/15078-rocket-launch-delta-4-milestone.html
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
asked Feb 23, 2023 at 19:05
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
5
The fairing is bigger (Taller) for larger payloads.
-
16$\begingroup$ To elaborate a little, it's a more powerful rocket than the DIVM, capable of carrying larger payloads - so it needs a bigger fairing space to put them in. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 4:00
-
4$\begingroup$ ...though there are exceptions, like the Parker Solar Probe which needed the Ⅳheavy not because of its payload capability but simply to get enough Δv. It actually looked a big hilarious, such a small probe sitting in that giant fairing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Solar_Probe#/media/… $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 17:42
-
3$\begingroup$ @leftaroundabout: next question in this series is then probably why the fairing wasn't smaller.... $\endgroup$– PlasmaHHCommented Feb 24, 2023 at 21:36
-
2$\begingroup$ @PlasmaHH there's space.stackexchange.com/questions/26725/… about a case where the fairing was similarly oversized for the payload. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 21:42
-
$\begingroup$ @PlasmaHH in the case of the PSP, I suspect that qualifying Delta IVH to use either the shorter 5m fairing, or the narrower DCSS and 4m fairing would have exceeded the potential cost savings from using them by a large amount. ULA produces highly reliable rockets, but they have a very expensive cost structure. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 26, 2023 at 1:52
