From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle
Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle
A Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle or HLLV, is a launch vehicle
Vehicle,
capable of lifting more mass into Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
References
than Medium Lift or Mid-Heavy Lift Launch Vehicles. [1] HSF Final Report: Seeking a Human Spaceflight
There is no universally accepted capability require- Program Worthy of a Great Nation, October 2009,
ments for heavy-lift launch vehicles.[citation needed] The Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee, p.
minimum threshold for Super Heavy Lift Vehicles de- 64-66: "5.2.1 The Need for Heavy Lift ... require a
fined in the Augustine report of 2009 is 50,000 kg to low- “super heavy-lift” launch vehicle ... range of 25 to
Earth orbit.[1] 40 mt, setting a notional lower limit on the size of
the super heavy-lift launch vehicle if refueling is
available ... this strongly favors a minimum heavy-
Fuel requirements lift capacity of roughly 50 mt ..."
Several different fuel combinations have been used in [2] "US co. SpaceX to build heavy-lift, low-cost
heavy lift launch vehicles. The earliest ones were simply rocket". Reuters. 5 April 2011. Archived from the
liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which, when com- original on 5 April 2011.
bined, produces a very significant amount of thrust, and http://www.webcitation.org/5xjAMAFGO.
whose only combustion byproducts are heat and water Retrieved 6 April 2011. "Falcon Heavy can put about
vapor. This approach was used for the main engines of 117,000 pounds (53,071 kg) into orbit, twice the shuttle’s
the Space Shuttle and for the upper stages of the Saturn 50,000-pound (22,680-kg) lift capability."
V, and is still used for the main engines on some HLLVs,
such as the Ariane 5 and Delta IV. It is also often used for
upper-stage motors, due to its high specific impulse.[cita-
See also
tion needed] • Comparison of orbital launch systems
Other fuel options include those used by solid-fuel • Rocket
rockets, combinations of various liquid fuels such as RP-1 • Spacecraft propulsion
and liquid oxygen as used in the Atlas 5 first stage[citation
needed] or in both the main and upper stages of the Falcon
Heavy,[2] and hypergolic fuels, such as unsymmetrical
Further reading
dimethyl hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, used in the • Mallove, Eugene F. and Matloff, Gregory L. The
Proton rocket.[citation needed] Starflight Handbook: A Pioneer’s Guide to Interstellar
Travel, Wiley. ISBN 0-471-61912-4.
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Categories:
• Space launch vehicles
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