Nov 262011
In order to launch something as big as a solar power satellite into orbit, you need to have big rockets. And few were bigger than a conceptual design produced at NASA-JSC in 1976. Two similar but differently-sized vehicles were considered. The basic layout was of a simple two-stage vehicle; both stages would be ocean recovered and reusable. The upper stages of both were oxygen/hydrogen. The first stages used either LOX/RP-1 LOX/propane in the first stage. The smaller vehicle had a payload of 454 tons (998,800 pounds), while the larger vehicle had a payload of 907 tons (1,995,400 pounds).
8 Responses to “JSC HLLV 1976”
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What giants
with Nova and Nexus HLLV
were even bigger HLLV projected ?
Boeing’s AMLLV pushed 4,000,000 pounds in its biggest form (three expendable stages, 12 260-inch solids).
Was recovery nose-down like Nexus or tail-sitter like Rombus?
Data on these designs is at best lean (basically, yer lookin’ at it). But most likely they’d be nose-first.
How does one build a launch pad that could take the abuse from enough thrust to get about 31 million pounds (sorry, English units only for this old fart) off the ground?
> How does one build a launch pad …
Typically, the truly enormous designs like this launched from water. Either floating directly in water, like Sea Dragon, or more typically mounted on pylons or some largely open support structure built over a deep water-filled crater.
The exhaust can stir up the water all it wants without causing any real damage.
31 million lbs mass, assuming 1.25 T/W ratio, needs about 40 million lbf. For 24 engines, that’s about 1.65 million lbf per engine, or maybe round up to 1.75 million to allow for an engine-out capability.
Maybe this is outside the scope of this thread, but what is it with the resistance to HLLVs on so many blogs and boards these days?
Even these behemoths pale in comparison with structures like Burj Kalifa (Burj Dubai), the Troll platform (that was towed through water vertically), etc. Planes have grown 747-8, A-380, AN-225–but ask for rockets that carry an ounce more than 20-40 tons to orbit, and folks want to cut your head off.