Battle of the Heavy Lift Launchers – Monster 200mt vehicle noted

[JohnFornaro]

Do I hear 400 tons?  400 tons?  350?  Ah, you in the corner there.  We have 350.  400?  Do I hear 400?

[Downix]

Do I hear 400 tons?  400 tons?  350?  Ah, you in the corner there.  We have 350.  400?  Do I hear 400?

I call your 400 and raise you 550mT:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Dragon_(rocket)

[Cinder]

That thing above's crazy.  What would the flame trench look like?

[kraisee]

That thing above's crazy.  What would the flame trench look like?

It would resemble The Caymen Trench.

But there have been plenty of threads about that monster in the past.   This is not the right place for continuing that discussion.

Ross.

[Cinder]

I'll look for them, thanks.

[FinalFrontier]

They'll have to show me the money to develop a 200mT launcher before I'll buy into that fantasy.

Ross.

I will second that statement.

[DLR]

They'll have to show me the money to develop a 200mT launcher before I'll buy into that fantasy.

Ross.

Such a rocket, if built, would most likely resemble a streched version of the Saturn V. It would probably be more expensive to develop than a Shuttle-derived vehicle, but it may pay off in the long run with lower operational costs and $ per kg to orbit.

I would design the rocket in a modular fashion. The core vehicle would be a Kerolox stage topped by a Hydrolox stage. Greater payload capability would be acquired by attaching Kerolox strap-on boosters and perhaps a Hydrolox third stage.

IMO a launch vehicle should not be sized by a specific mission. I'd rather err on the side of making it "too large" (if there is such a thing) for most missions, than having to shave mass off later just to make the payload fit the LV.



pure win.

[Chris Bergin]

Move and bump to the HLV section

[Vahe231991]

Do I hear 400 tons?  400 tons?  350?  Ah, you in the corner there.  We have 350.  400?  Do I hear 400?

I call your 400 and raise you 550mT:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Dragon_(rocket)

Although this thread is over a decade old, the 550 metric ton figure refers to the mass of any payload that the Sea Dragon SLV would have carried to low earth orbit. The actual total weight for the Sea Dragon SLV project was 39,998,000 pounds, which is the equivalent of 19,999 tons or 18,143 metric tons. With the SLS having accomplished its first flight and the Starship being prepared for its first launch, a new battle between two heavy-lift SLVs is now full-bore (the last previous battle of the super-heavy lift launchers was between the Saturn V and N1 during the late 1960s, and was won by the Saturn V), and the Starship's total weight of 11,000,000 lb, or 5,000 metric tons, makes it two times heavier than the SLS. In other words, if the Starship's first launch is successful, the Starship will win the gold medal in the early 21st century battle of the super heavy-lift launchers for the heaviest SLV ever launched. The first-ever design study for the Starship, Interplanetary Transport System, was designed to carry payloads into either LEO or Mars orbit with weights exceeding 200 metric tons.