Would a stretched core + 2 x AJ-26-500 be viable?Regarding possible GTO ambitions, I think that this would require boosting Antares to a three stage vehicle with a further stage for the insertion to GTO. Would Core>Castor-30XL>Castor-30 be viable?
Here's a big challenge though: Can ATK crew-rate the Castor? That way, Orbital can possibly fly their space-plane on their own LV. I'm sure the MARS guys would love to be a crew launch facility!
Quote from: Kaputnik on 04/22/2013 07:51 pmif there would be a case for gaining performance through small strap-on SRMs.Eastern Bloc launch vehicles are not designed for SRM acoustics. My educated guess is that it would lose a lot of the Zenit heritage. The NK-33 nozzles would probably not like the radiative heating from the SRM plumes either.
if there would be a case for gaining performance through small strap-on SRMs.
Quote from: asmi on 04/23/2013 12:30 amAnd if you add NK-43 (hmm AJ26-60? ) in the second stage I think performance will be even better - I couldn't find Castor's specs but I'm pretty sure NK-43 has better Isp...It does have a very nice Isp. However, it would be a little like putting a V10 in a motorcycle. It'd be a fun ride, but you're unlikely to survive it. If you dig back, Antonio mentions the work done on a high energy liquid upper stage powered by an RD-0124. That's a 70,000lbf engine (which is pretty close to the thrust output of a Castor 30) Contrast that with about 400,000 lbf for the NK-43. The Antares first stage won't lift an upper stage large enough to justify that, so if you were silly enough to build such a thing, you'd have a small-ish upper stage with a big honking engine, topped by what would rapidly become a very flat payload.
And if you add NK-43 (hmm AJ26-60? ) in the second stage I think performance will be even better - I couldn't find Castor's specs but I'm pretty sure NK-43 has better Isp...
Aerojet's purchase of PWR (P&W was the original U.S. participant in RD AMROSS) will in part determine how NK-33, etc., plays out. Will Aerojet-PWR ever actually build kerosene rocket engines? - Ed Kyle
Would a stretched core + 2 x AJ-26-500 be viable?
Quote from: Ben the Space Brit on 04/23/2013 09:34 amWould a stretched core + 2 x AJ-26-500 be viable?Any comments about this?
Quote from: edkyle99 on 04/23/2013 04:24 amAerojet's purchase of PWR (P&W was the original U.S. participant in RD AMROSS) will in part determine how NK-33, etc., plays out. Will Aerojet-PWR ever actually build kerosene rocket engines? - Ed Kyle Well maybe Aerojet needs to pass around a copy of that "came in from the cold" video to management. Sometimes an issue is so close that you can't see what you have. If Russia wants to slap Mr. Kuznetsov around again, then it's their loss. Let's not forget the history. Mr. Kuznetsov hid those engines at a risk I'm sure to himself and others. I for one would enjoy having Mr. Kuznetsov and some of the dev team at one of the Orbital launches
Quote from: Prober on 04/23/2013 02:52 pmQuote from: edkyle99 on 04/23/2013 04:24 amAerojet's purchase of PWR (P&W was the original U.S. participant in RD AMROSS) will in part determine how NK-33, etc., plays out. Will Aerojet-PWR ever actually build kerosene rocket engines? - Ed Kyle Well maybe Aerojet needs to pass around a copy of that "came in from the cold" video to management. Sometimes an issue is so close that you can't see what you have. If Russia wants to slap Mr. Kuznetsov around again, then it's their loss. Let's not forget the history. Mr. Kuznetsov hid those engines at a risk I'm sure to himself and others. I for one would enjoy having Mr. Kuznetsov and some of the dev team at one of the Orbital launches Unfortunately, he's been deceased for nearly two decades. It's a real shame he never got to see his engines fly. A brave and brilliant man.
9 x NK-33 + NK-43 = Antares 9 ?
Quote from: R7 on 04/23/2013 10:41 am9 x NK-33 + NK-43 = Antares 9 ? Well in N-1 they were supposed to be 30:8 = 3.75, so for one NK-43 you would need 4 NK-33.
If that does happen, they might look into swapping out the current AJ's for higher thrust versions from Aerojet, or maybe RD-191's. There's only so many NK-33s; they'd have to make a switch anyway.
Yeah what exactly is Orbitals plan for that? They bought like 30 Nk-33s? They are now down 2. Eight resupply missions puts them at minus 16. so there is 18. Then the next demo is 2 more so that leaves them with 5 flights worth. Will they even bother launching more with Antares or just shelve the program at that point?
May be, it is possible to order single-chamber RD809 in Ukraine? Or to try to buy the license for production RD0110 (it is the simple engine with a cycle of the gas generator) in Russia. But in any case, loading capacity growth only at the expense of the second stage is limited by 8 metric tons on LEO.