Vandenberg Air Force Base is a United States military installation
with a spaceport, in Santa Barbara County, California, United
States.
The Titan IV was retired in 2005. The final launch (B-30) from
Cape Canaveral AFS occurred on April 29, 2005, and the final launch
from Vandenberg AFB occurred on October 19, 2005.
Background
The Titan rocket family was established in October 1955 when the Air
Force awarded Lockheed Martin a ctract to build an ICBM.
Lockheed Martin is a large Multinational corporation aerospace
manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the Horizontal
integration of Lockheed with Martin Marietta....
(the former Glenn L. Martin Company) a contract to build an intercontinental
ballistic missile
Intercontinental ballistic missile
An intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, is a long-range
ballistic missile typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery, that
is, delivering one or more nuclear weapon (SM-68). It became known as
the Titan I.
The Titan I was the United States first true multistage
rocket ICBM. It was the first in a series of Titan , but was unique
among them in that it used LOX and RP-1 as its propellants, while the
later Titan versions all used storeable fuels instead., the nation's
first two-stage ICBM and replaced the Atlas ICBM as the second underground
vertically stored, silo-based ICBM. Both stages of the Titan I used
liquid oxygen.
Liquid oxygen is a form of the element oxygen. It has
a pale blue color and is strongly paramagnetism. Liquid oxygen has a
density of 1.141 g/cm and is moderately cryogenics ...
and RP-1.
RP-1 is a highly refined form of kerosene outwardly similar
to jet fuel, used as a rocket fuel. Although having a lower specific
impulse than liquid hydrogen and thus less thrust per unit mass, RP-1
is cheaper, can be stored at room temperature, is far less of an explosive
hazard and is far more dense as propellants. A subsequent version of
the Titan family, was the Titan II
The Titan II was an Intercontinental ballistic missile
and space launcher developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the
earlier Titan I missile was similar to the Titan I, but was much more
powerful. Designated as LGM-25C, the Titan II was the largest missile
developed for the USAF at that time. The Titan II had newly developed
engines which used Aerozine 50 and Nitrogen Tetroxide as fuel and oxidizer.
Titan IIIC was a space booster used by the United States
Air Force. It was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.,
and Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA..Development began in 1961 with the
Titan IIIA. Years later, the Titan IVB evolved from the Titan III family
and is similar to the Titan 34D. The last Titan IVA was launched in
August 1998. The first Titan IVB flew on Feb. 23, 1997. The Titan IVB
was an upgraded rocket having a new guidance system, flight termination
system, ground checkout system, solid rocket motor upgrade and a 25
percent increase in thrust capability.
In the early 1980s, General Dynamics planned to use a
Space Shuttle.
NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation
System , is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government
for its human spaceflight missions to lift a Lunar Module into orbit
and then launch a Titan IV rocket with Project Apollo.
The Apollo program was a human spaceflight program undertaken
by NASA during the years 1961?1975 with the goal of conducting manned
moon landing missions - type Service Module to rendezvous and dock –
making a moonship for a lunar landing. The plan required the Space Shuttle
and Titan IV to use aluminum-lithium fuel tanks instead of aluminum
to make a greater payload weight for takeoff. The original plan never
came to fruition but in the 1990s both the Shuttle and the Titan IV
were converted to aluminum-lithium tanks to rendezvous with the highly
inclined orbit of the Russian Mir.
Mir was a Soviet Union orbital station. Mir was the world's
first consistently inhabited long-term research station in space, and
the first 'third generation' type space station, constructed over a
number of years with a Space station.
A space station is an artificial structure designed for
humans to live in outer space. So far only low earth orbit stations
are implemented, also known as orbital stations, The Titan IVB became
obsolete with the advent of the Atlas V.
The Atlas V rocket is an expendable launch vehicle formerly
built by Lockheed Martin and now built by the Lockheed Martin-Boeing
joint venture United Launch Alliance rocket and the Delta IV rocket.
Delta IV is an active expendable launch system in the
Delta rocket family. Delta IV uses rockets designed by Boeing's Boeing
Integrated Defense Systems and built in the United Launch Alliance facility
in Decatur, Alabama heavy rocket booster launch vehicles in 2005.
A Titan IVB launched NASAs Cassini Saturn orbiter in October
15th 1997.
General characteristics
* Primary Function: Space booster
* Builder: Lockheed-Martin Astronautics
* Power Plant:
* Stage 0 consisted of two solid-rocket motors.
* Stage 1 used an LR87 liquid-propellant rocket engine.
* Stage 2 used the LR91 liquid-propellant engine.
* Optional upper stages included the Centaur (rocket stage)
Centaur is a rocket stage designed for use as the upper stage of space
launch vehicles. Centaur boosts its satellite payload to its final orbit
or, in the case of an interplanetary space probe, to escape velocity
Inertial Upper Stage.
The Inertial Upper Stage , originally known as the Interim Upper Stage,
is a two-stage solid-fueled booster rocket developed by the U.S. Air
Force for the launching of large payloads from either a Titan III rocket
or from the payload bay of the Space Shuttle....
* Guidance System: A ring laser gyro
A ring laser gyroscope uses interference of laser light within a optical
ring to detect changes in orientation and spin. It is an example of
a Sagnac effect.... guidance system manufactured by Honeywell.
Honeywell is a major United States multinational corporation list
of conglomerates company that produces a variety of consumer products,
engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers,
from private consumers to major corporations and governments....
* Thrust: Solid rocket motors provide 1.7 million pounds force (7.56
MN) per motor at liftoff.
* First stage provides an average of 548,000 pounds force (2.44 MN)
* second stage provides an average of 105,000 pounds force (467 kN).
* Optional Centaur upper stage provides 33,100 pounds force (147 kN)
and the Inertial Upper Stage provides up to 41,500 pounds force (185
kN).
* Length: Up to 204 feet (62.17 m)
* Lift Capability:
* Can carry up to 47,800 pounds (21,680 kg) into a low-earth orbit
* up to 12,700 pounds (5,760 kg) into a geosynchronous orbit.
A geosynchronous orbit is an orbit around the Earth with an orbital
period matching the Earth's sidereal day rotation period. This synchronization
means that for an observer at a fixed location on Earth, a satellite
in a geosynchronous orbit returns to exactly the same place in the sky
at exactly the same time each day....
when launched from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla.;
* and up to 38,800 pounds (17,600 kg) into a low-earth orbit.
A Low Earth Orbit is generally defined as an orbit within
the Locus extending from the Earth?s surface up to an altitude of 2,000
km. Given the rapid orbital decay of objects below approximately 200
km, the commonly accepted definition for LEO is between 160 - 2,000
km above the Earth surface.
A polar orbit is an orbit in which a satellite passes above or nearly
above both Geographical poles of the body being orbited on each revolution....
when launched from Vandenberg AFB.
* into geosynchronous orbit:
* with Centaur upper stage 12,700 lb (5,760 kg)
* with Inertial Upper Stage 5,250 pounds (2,380 kg)
* Maximum Takeoff Weight: Approximately 2.2 million pounds (1,000,000
kg)
* Cost: Approximately $250-350 million, depending on launch configuration.
* Date deployed: June 1989
BACK
TO: THE USAF SPACE INDEX
