I'm sorry if I'm posting on the wrong thread here; please feel free to redirect me if I am.I'm wondering if there were ever any plans to use Saturn V for anything other than human spaceflight applications of various kinds? This question arises from a documentary the I read last night of the limitations on energy that required the use of gravitational sling-shots to get the Voyager probes to the outer solar system in a reasonable time-frame.Now, IIRC, the Saturn-V could insert about 70,000kg into LEO. Even assuming that the J-2 was very inefficient, the third stage should have been able to push tens of tonnes through TMI or even TJI, which might have allowed for much more powerful probes (possibly even with a very small-scale NEP main thruster). Was the Saturn ever considered as a launcher for flagship robotic missions like the Grand Tour and the Mars lander?
I'm wondering if there were ever any plans to use Saturn V for anything other than human spaceflight applications of various kinds?