Questions tagged [launch-vehicle]
Questions about a craft used to propel payloads into space, usually a rocket-powered vehicle
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Can ten (or more) rockets be used together to launch one massive object?
With computer flight controls where they are today, what would stop us from building a relatively large space station on earth, but then using 10 or 20 or even 100 falcon heavy or Starship or SLS ...
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1answer
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New Shepard payload capacity to orbit?
If the current Blue Origin New Shepard were modified as little as possible to work as the first stage of a two-stage rocket, what would be its maximal LEO payload?
To put it in other words: out of all ...
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2answers
544 views
Falcon 9 TVC: Which engines participate in roll control?
Stage 1 of Falcon 9 uses its gimballed engines during launch to control roll, pitch, and yaw.
Only the eight peripheral engines can be used for roll control since the center engine couldn't possibly ...
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0answers
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Small satellite launcher to LEO dedicated launch vehicle [duplicate]
well today i was thinking, why nobody do something like the SS-520 but comercial? a small rocket entry dedicated to launch a cubesat, that probably go to have a lot of adventages and probably is realy ...
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Will you be having rubber or wax with your peroxide? (hybrid engine fuel tradeoffs)
Hybrid engines offer some practical advantages and some budgetary ones that can offset lower ISP, including potentially safer solid fuel to store and non cryogenic storage of some oxidizers like ...
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1answer
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What is the maximum payload in terms of mass delivered to LEO by launch vehicle which used pressure fed cycle in all stages?
Launch vehicles can use pressure fed cycle in any stage of the rocket, but here i am interested for those vehicles which used this cycle in all stages. What is the current record in terms of mass of ...
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2answers
337 views
Rockets with boosters firing before first stage?
Is there any rocket where the first stage is ignited after the boosters? Say at least 30 seconds after the boosters.
Because in general the first stage is ignited in the same time with the boosters.
...
3
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1answer
104 views
Is the Ceres-1 the first Chinese rocket that was given an official Romanized name?
The news feed in the The Pod Bay links to NASA Spacelfight's 2020-11-08 news item Introducing Chinaās new commercial rocket, Ceres-1.
Chinaās latest commercial rocket, the Ceres-1 (Gushenxing-1) ...
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80 views
Smallest orbital rocket by diameter?
Which orbital rocket has the smallest diameter?
Without fins.
Related question:
Smallest orbital rockets by height?
2
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1answer
130 views
Smallest orbital rockets by height?
Which orbital rocket is the smallest in height (or length) that ever launched?
Would be nice to know the second and third place too.
Similar questions:
What is/was the smallest orbital launch system, ...
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0answers
65 views
Low-pressure pump-fed rocket engine?
I saw the above suggested in LEO on the Cheap. In P.130 it says:
A compromise between high-performance/lightweight pump-fed vehicle designs
and cost-optimized pressure-fed vehicles with heavier ...
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2answers
1k views
In what ways is helium used on modern launch vehicles?
Helium is a fairly rare material and does not remain in the atmosphere.
I'd like to know the uses of helium on modern launch systems?
Do most launch vehicles use helium in several different ways, or ...
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1answer
283 views
Did the Perseverance rover's Atlas 5 really “leap off the pad”? If so, was it because the payload is tiny, or because it's going to Mars?
Spaceflight Now's ULAās Atlas 5 is NASAās go-to rocket for nuclear-powered space probes quotes Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance:
āThis rocket is going to leap off the pad with ...
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1answer
114 views
Would an airship-launched rocket be practical?
This is essentially a mix of the rockoon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockoon) and air launch to orbit (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_launch_to_orbit) concepts. A rockoon is a rocket that's ...
5
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1answer
177 views
What kind of rocket will ESA(?) launch from Mars? Who will build it?
The NASA-credited images below are from the BBC News article Europe pushes ahead with 'dune buggy' Mars rover which explains that it will drive around quickly on it's big 70 cm wheels (see article for ...
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What parts of a rocket are particularly cheap or inexpensive?
Related: What is the most expensive part of a rocket?
What parts of a launch vehicle, if any, are particularly inexpensive?
This can mean "similar in cost to common commercial-grade analogues", "...
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5answers
417 views
Has any rocket been launched into orbit from a plain flat surface?
Related: Why will Superheavy/Starship have a landing pad so close to the launch pad?
Most launch vehicles are launched from somewhat complex launchpads with towers, erectors, flame trenches or ...
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1answer
215 views
How could the landing date of Perseverance Rover be fixed irrespective of 26 days launch window?
I am very much aware of this question from 2018 by @uhoh - Why would InSight's arrival date at Mars be fixed, and independent of the launch date?. I was led here by a similar question which arose in ...
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1answer
184 views
Is SLS capable of launching the core stage into LEO?
After watching the Hazegrayart video If Rockets were Transparent I realized that I didn't really have a clear idea what the Space Launch System (SLS) is capable of doing.
Question: Is SLS capable of ...
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1answer
140 views
Who started conducting multiple-payload launches routinely, and on which vechicle?
I know multiple-payload launches are routine these days, and everyone seems to have their own reignitable kick-stage. But who were the first to start doing that?
This is similar to this question, but ...
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1answer
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Could any modern launch vehicle have put Ulysses in it's polar heliocentric without going to another planet first?
This answer to Why aren't satellites launched into a Polar LEO to get into Polar Heliocentric Orbit? leaves me wondering if it could be done today without the trip to Jupiter.
Could a replica of the ...
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1answer
95 views
What criteria influence launcher aspect ratio?
One factor when designing a launcher is the total $\Delta V$ required. For a given $\Delta V$, engineers can define the propellant quantity. From this quantity they can define the volume of the ...
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Missing Launch Vehicle
Early Soviet era launch vehicles had a variety of designations, e.g. the well known Vostok launcher and its derivations have been known as the R7, 8K72, Semyorka, SS-6, Sapwood, A-1 and SL-3 .
I'm ...
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Would the 6.5 ton capable Blue Moon lander fit in New Glenn?
As the 2 massive projects of the same company, are they designed to be compatible for NASA's CLPS program ? New Glenn's said to have a 7 m payload fairing diameter but as far as I know, Blue Moon's ...
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3answers
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Why doesn't the USA use structurally stronger rockets for the more important launches?
Russia uses the R-7 ICBM-derived Soyuz launch vehicle for most of its space launches. The advantage of it is that there's no concern on what the weather is like on launch day and Soyuz launches almost ...
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2answers
309 views
How do spherical SRB's compare to long skinny ones? What do their thrust curves look like?
Most SRBs are long and skinny, probably because most are used low in Earth's atmosphere where aerodynamic drag is large.
But here are some very short SRBs, one seemingly spherical except for the ...
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2answers
163 views
How many stages were used to put Iran's satellite NOUR 01 (45529) into its orbit?
Fox News' Iran-launched military satellite entered Earth's orbit, US Space Command announces says:
āIranās first military satellite, Noor, was launched this morning from central Iran in two stages. ...
11
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2answers
351 views
Why are balloon tanks used by so few rocket designs?
Balloon tanks, first used on the MX-774 sounding rocket (the direct, though distant, ancestor of the Atlas family of missiles and launchers), are structurally stabilised by internal gas pressure, ...
2
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1answer
255 views
Does NASA really report the power of rockets in horsepower?
On a recent episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson said:
And to this day NASA will still report the power of rockets in horsepower, which is completely absurd, ...
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1answer
96 views
Shape of satellite launch vehicle
I was watching videos on YouTube, and I came across a fact that satellite launch vehicle has shape like a nose or you can ogive shape and I search on Google related to that, and I found that it ...
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Have studies / worked examples, including mass figures, been published for these reentry methods for reusable upper stages?
(Related: is there a general rule of thumb for thermal protection systems?)
For a fully-reusable launch vehicle to be developed, we need a lightweight thermal protection system and method for (...
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1answer
1k views
Rockoon on steroids
In typical rockoon a balloon is the lifting body to the upper atmosphere where a rocket is released and ignited. But I would like to ask about a variation to launch small payloads to space.
Instead ...
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2answers
445 views
Does Arianespace have a modified Soyuz launch vehicle?
Ars Technica's OneWeb joins the satellite Internet gold rush this week says:
The company chose to partner with Arianespace and its modified Soyuz launch vehicle for the 2020 launches because, ...
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2answers
1k views
Launch system to get a 75,000 kg object to geostationary orbit?
Is there any current launch system that could get a 75,000 kg object to geostationary orbit? If not, am I correct in assuming the Saturn V could have gotten such an object there?
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Were there any launch vehicles with so heavily pronounced Plume Induced Flow Separation (PIFS), other than Saturn V?
This answer describes a very interesting phenomenon of Plume Induced Flow Separation on Saturn V vehicle.
(Apollo-6 S68-29737 photo, courtesy NASA)
This is, basically, when "fire" from ...
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0answers
251 views
Why is the diameter of the boosters of some launch vehicles smaller than the diameter of their payload fairing?
Whilst watching yesterday's Starliner launch I've noticed how skinny that Centaur (3.1m) looks compared to the CST-100 (4.5m).
Looking up the Atlas V I was amazed to find out that it has even larger (...
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1answer
150 views
NASA's definition of a launch vehicle
Does NASA's use of the term launch vehicle apply only to those that ascend from the Earth's surface and leave the atmosphere? If so why is the term limited that way?
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141 views
Are RTG-powered spacecraft restricted to only some launch vehicles? [duplicate]
This answer by PearsonArtPhoto mentions for spacecraft powered by an RTG there's "only a single rocket that can launch them (Atlas rockets)". Of course that probably doesn't apply to non-US launches, ...
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Commercial 3DoF/6DoF trajectory simulation and optimization tool for launch vehicle
Is there any 3DoF/6DoF trajectory simulation and optimization tool for launch vehicles like POST available commercially? If there whether it's how reliable when it comes to using for real-time ...
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1answer
100 views
What is the purpose of the pairs of cylinders on the interstage of PSLV?
In the following images, it can be seen that the interstage (separating the first stage PS1 and the second stage PS2) of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (...
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1answer
165 views
Can a lighter rocket lift more than a heavier rocket?
Let us consider two launch vehicles - "A" and "B". If "A" has a larger wet mass than "B", does this imply "A" has a higher payload capacity to a particular orbit, from a particular launch site than "B"...
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2answers
189 views
Are solid-fueled launch vehicles faster to orbit than liquid-fueled ones?
The (relatively) new Kuaizhou family of launch vehicles is described as "quick-reaction", and is based on ASAT and ICBM heritage.
Solid-fueled rockets have been, historically, cheaper to launch on, ...
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4answers
2k views
Why do we need dedicated launch vehicles for small satellites?
The Wikipedia webpage on Small-lift launch vehicle gives a huge list of dedicated launch vehicles with a maximum payload capacity of 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) for small satellites, which are either retired,...
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1answer
378 views
Why doesn't Ariane-5 lift off at T=0 seconds?
I have seen Ariane-5 lift off at T+07 seconds and not at (or close to) T=00 seconds. The following statement is from the Ariane-5 User's Manual (Page 35, Section 2.3 - Typical Mission Profile):
The ...
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2answers
514 views
How many space launch vehicles are under development worldwide?
I need to know how many space launch vehicles (across categories - small, medium , heavy etc) are under development, worldwide.
For instance this report talks only about the number of Small Space ...
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1answer
143 views
If a comet-sniffing spacecraft were launched today, could it catch up to newly-discovered Īµ>3 C/2019 Q4 (Borisov)?
As found in this answer to What makes scientists already so certain that Comet C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) is a comet and not an asteroid? the orbital parameters of this eccentricity > 3 visitor to our solar ...
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1answer
147 views
What is “additional line load” [N/mm] for the Ariane 5 launch vehicle?
In the textbook Spacecraft Systems Engineering 4th ed. page 14, table 2.1 ("Acceleration values for the Ariane 5 launch vehicle") provides data on the loading of the Ariane 5 spacecraft. One of the ...
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3answers
495 views
Why don't launcher rockets ordinarily have names?
There are names for the class or family of launcher, e.g. Delta IV, Electron, Falcon.
Sometimes the launcher is "named" for a specific configuration of a class, e.g. "Delta IV Medium+ (4,2)", "Chang ...
5
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1answer
191 views
Launch vehicle trajectory tool for ascent phase to orbit using PYTHON
Currently, I am developing a trajectory optimization tool for launch vehicle from lift-off to orbit using python for my project. Since I'm new to optimization problem, I am finding it hard to ...
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1answer
332 views
If there “won't be” rockets to launch individual cubesats, then why did JAXA build exactly that? (SS-520-xx)
The question Why isn't there a rocket to launch a single cubesat? has several good answers that explain why there isn't and/or will not likely be one, based mostly on commercial viability, consistent ...
