Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Heavy Lift Capacity Boosters
Message-ID: <1988Sep21.164415.19974@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <677@eplrx7.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 21 Sep 88 16:44:15 GMT

In article <677@eplrx7.UUCP> lad@eplrx7.UUCP (Lawrence A. Deleski) writes:
>She stated that NASA at this time does not have any heavy lift capacity
>boosters,  and that it would take ~1.2 Billion dollars to design and build
>one.  
>This struck me as rather odd since the Saturn V booster to this date has
>the heaviest lift capability of any booster built by anyone.  
>Now,  I know that the Saturn V has been scrapped,  but with such a capable
>booster having already been designed and flown several times,  wouldn't it
>be easier to resurrect the Saturn booster and fly them again rather than
>designing a new one?

Eugene, better hurry up with the revised frequently-asked-questions list!

For those who can't wait, one of the things I sent in to Eugene to be added
to the list was this:

--------
Q. Could the Saturn V be revived as a heavylift booster?

A. In principle, yes.  In practice, there are many problems.  Most of the
	specialized production tooling is gone.  Some of the plans are gone.
	Some of the subcontractors are gone.  Nobody remembers how to start
	an F-1 engine safely (!) (some of the details never got into the
	documentation).  The launch facilities at the Cape have all been
	altered for the shuttle.  It wouldn't be quite as hard as building
	a heavylift booster from scratch, but much of the work would have
	to be done over.
--------

Incidentally, there is reason to believe that the heaviest version of
Energia probably has greater lift capacity than the Saturn V had.
-- 
NASA is into artificial        |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
stupidity.  - Jerry Pournelle  | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu