[GioFX]

Panel: NASA Needs New Heavy-Lift Launch Vehicles

By Tariq Malik
SPACE.com Staff Writer
posted: 06:00 am ET
29 April 2004

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL -- In order to support future space exploration, both manned and unmanned, NASA will have to rely on new, expendable launch vehicles capable lofting much more cargo than current rockets, a panel of aerospace experts said Wednesday.

An incremental approach to rocket design could develop boosters to rival the immense Saturn 5 launch vehicle that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon. But NASA could take the same step-by-step approach with its space shuttle launch vehicle with the advantage of already having a human-rated system to build on.


"There are benefits to a shuttle-derived launch system," explained Michael Khan, vice president of space programs for the Brigham City, Utah-based ATK Thiokol Inc. "Everything is already human-rated and the workforce is already in place."

Khan spoke during a panel discussion on the future of expendable launch vehicles held here at the 41st Space Congress.

Khan outlined a plan that starts with the replacement of the space shuttle’s position in the current launch configuration with a cargo module capable of carrying 160,000 pounds (72,000 kilograms) into low Earth orbit by 2008. The system could then be gradually upgraded with a larger external tank and booster to loft 200,000 pounds (90,750 kilograms) by 2015, leading to an in-line ultra-heavy launch vehicle.

A mid-size booster developed the same way could serve the future Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) that will transport astronauts once the space shuttle is retired.

ATK Thiokol has already tested a larger, five-segment solid rocket boosters that, if adopted into NASA’s booster/external tank shuttle launch system, could increase the amount of material the shuttle could loft into space by up to 22,928 pounds (10,400 kilograms).

"We need performance and we need reliability and safety," said Stephen Francois, manager of NASA’s launch services program, of future launch systems, during the panel discussion. "Where the crew is concerned, safety is paramount."

Meanwhile, aerospace juggernauts Boeing and Lockheed Martin are each planning heavy-lift versions of their respective rocket workhorses. Boeing is preparing for a summer test of its Delta 4 Heavy booster under its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. Lockheed Martin is also developing a heavy-lift version of its Atlas launch vehicle for 2006.

"It’s a pretty exciting time for all of us," said Dan Collins, vice president of Boeing’s Delta program, adding that new launch vehicles will play a critical role in the human exploration of the moon, Mars and beyond included in President Bush’s space vision announced earlier this year. "How we plan to get there will obviously affect what launch vehicles are used, but we don’t know what the mission is yet."