Asked what he foresaw as the launch vehicle beyond an uprated Titan III-C (Titan III-M, seven-segment solid rocket motors and a stretched first stage), Col. Taliaferro said:"That is about the extent of the growth potential of the present Titan III. Beyond that, if and when a firm requirement exists for a booster in the 50,000 to 100,000 lb. payload class, I like the fat-core Titan with optimized 156-in.-dia. solid rocket motors."Col. Taliaferro defined "fat core" as a Titan III vehicle with the diameter extended to 156 in. Four of the current Aerojet liquid-fuel engines are clustered and fed from common tankage.Martin-Marietta Corp. has funded an in-house effort of this nature for some time and such a vehicle has been well defined.
"The Titan IIIG has a 15 ft. diameter core with a 4 engine first stage, and can use 7-segment 120-inch or 5-segment 156-inch diameter SRM. Low earth orbit payloads up to 100,000 lbs are claimed. Martin has generated a serious sales effort to sell this vehicle in competition to the Saturn derivative intermediate family (e.g., INT-20)."
How close was Titan 3M to a first launch? Was the first unmanned MOL to be the payload of the first launch?The Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missles http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app3/b-6.html says only the first and second stages had undergone static tests.But Astronautix.com http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/titan3m.htm says the UA1207 solid rocket motor had its first static test firing on April 27, 1969, in Coyote Canyon, CA.
Aerospace Technology article on 29 January 1968QuoteAsked what he foresaw as the launch vehicle beyond an uprated Titan III-C (Titan III-M, seven-segment solid rocket motors and a stretched first stage), Col. Taliaferro said:"That is about the extent of the growth potential of the present Titan III. Beyond that, if and when a firm requirement exists for a booster in the 50,000 to 100,000 lb. payload class, I like the fat-core Titan with optimized 156-in.-dia. solid rocket motors."Col. Taliaferro defined "fat core" as a Titan III vehicle with the diameter extended to 156 in. Four of the current Aerojet liquid-fuel engines are clustered and fed from common tankage.Martin-Marietta Corp. has funded an in-house effort of this nature for some time and such a vehicle has been well defined....TITAN IIIGSelected Comments on Agena and Titan III Family Stages, Case 720; 26 March 1968Quote"The Titan IIIG has a 15 ft. diameter core with a 4 engine first stage, and can use 7-segment 120-inch or 5-segment 156-inch diameter SRM. Low earth orbit payloads up to 100,000 lbs are claimed. Martin has generated a serious sales effort to sell this vehicle in competition to the Saturn derivative intermediate family (e.g., INT-20)."...Titan III Large Diameter Core (LDC) Family(aka Titan IIIL)Notes: This family was proposed from mid-1971 onwards by Martin Marietta. It would have increased the core stage diameter up from the existing 10 feet (3m) and would have used a varying number of UA-1207 SRMs developed for the Titan IIIM program.
Hey Mr Kyle, where there ever plans to have a Titan 3 with GEM's (like on Delta) and not UA-1207's? i have seen renders to the effect ( captioned as "an american equivalent to Ariane") but they might have been fanciful.
Any more information on these as they seem really interesting.
captioned as "an american equivalent to Ariane"
(180 inch is 4.572 m for those that use normal units)
4 SRBs! That would have been spectacular to see!