RE: SPACE: Loss of the Saturn V

From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Sat Sep 06 2003 - 14:36:06 MDT

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    On Sat, 6 Sep 2003, Spike wrote:

    > I wrote:
    > And then to make it really interesting -- you might take a stab at using
    > nuclear power... Robert

    > Nuclear power isn't applicable to first or second
    > stages, where you need very large thrust.

    I'm not so sure spike -- you are assuming current ion engine
    designs. I managed to find a couple of pages describing an
    enhanced Saturn V with a 3rd/4th stage Nerva (variously described
    as the Saturn MLV 5-23S or Saturn MLV 5-1 or Saturn MLV 5-23L) [1,2].

    While NERVA was pretty weak (< 75,000 lbs of thrust) vs. 1.5 million
    for the F-1 I want to know in *theory* what it would take to crank
    it up. URLs indicated earlier suggest we now have the technology
    for reactors ranging anywhere from kW to GW. Are you suggesting
    that 5 F-1's are more than a GW? Or that we don't currently have
    the technology to effectively take the output of a nuclear reactor
    and translate it into thrust effectively?

    And while I am at it, who the heck decided to downsize the RD-170
    into the RD-180? Its about a 1/3 reduction in thrust. Was that
    the idea of LMCo, or P&W or the Russians?

    > The other questions must wait, for there is an antique
    > motorcycle in the garage begging to go for a ride.

    Spike -- attach an RD-180 to the back and a couple of side-car tanks
    to it. It would be a short ride -- but oh boy would it be a thrill.

    R.

    1. http://home.att.net/~jdavid3/glist/f1/f1.html
    2. http://april.friends-partners.ru/partners/mwade/lvs/satv523l.htm



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