Industrial Assessment for Space Launch Vehicles.

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DoD) uses a wide variety of satellites to carry out its responsibilities.These range from weather and navigation to communications and surveillance. To place satellites into orbit, the Department relies upon a range of different expendable launch vehicles, currently supplied by three prime contractors (Martin Marietta, McDonnell Douglas, and Orbital Sciences Corporation). All three firms are profitable. In addition, other manufacturers have begun investing in new vehicles to be used for commercial launches beginning in 1995. For the foreseeable future, the Department expects industrial space launch capabilities will be adequate to meet its needs. Additionally, DoD is supporting the development of a new evolved family of launch vehicles to reduce costs and ensure adequate space launch capability in the next century. This report summarizes our analysis of this industry. It relies upon the many previous studies undertaken by DoD and others (which are listed at the end of this section).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1995
Accession Number
ADA296490

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Department of Defense

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Facilities
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Booster Rocket Engines
  • Earth Orbits
  • Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
  • Launchers
  • Materials Processing
  • Navigation
  • Propulsion Systems
  • Rocket Engines
  • Rockets
  • Space Systems
  • Space Transportation
  • Spacecraft
  • Spacecraft Orbits
  • Test Facilities

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering.
  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Technical Research and Report Writing.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Satellites