Liberty (rocket)
 |
|
| Manufacturer |
Alliant Techsystems Astrium |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United States Europe |
| Size | |
| Height | 90.00 m (300 ft) |
| Diameter | 5.40 m (18 ft) |
| Stages | 2 |
| Capacity | |
| Payload to LEO | 20,000 kg (44,500 lb) |
| Associated rockets | |
| Family |
Preceded by Ares I Followed by Next Generation Launcher |
| First stage | |
| Engines | 5-segment Shuttle-derived Solid Rocket Booster |
| Fuel | Solid |
| Second stage | |
| Engines | 1 × Vulcain 2 |
| Thrust | 1,340 kN |
| Specific impulse | 431 seconds (vacuum) |
| Burn time | 650 seconds |
| Fuel | LOX/LH2 |
Preceded by Ares I
Liberty was a 2011 launch vehicle concept proposed by Alliant Techsystems (ATK) and Astrium for phase 2 of the NASA Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program intended to stimulate development of privately operated crew vehicles to low Earth orbit.
Similar to the defunct Ares I project, which consisted of a five segment Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) and a new cryogenic second stage, Liberty would combine a five-segment SRB with the core stage of the European Ariane 5 as a second stage. It was intended to be launched from Kennedy Space Center.
Liberty was proposed as a vehicle to service the International Space Station for crew and cargo, but its capacities and could potentially have allowed for government and commercial satellite launches, including to Geostationary transfer orbit.
The launcher was proposed to be 90 metres (300 ft) in height, with an advertised at a price of $180 million per launch. Liberty had a projected payload of 20,000 kg (44,500 lb) to Low Earth orbit.
The ATK/Astrium Liberty proposal was not initially selected by NASA in the 2011 contract awards to assist development of a commercial space transportation system to replace the Space Shuttle; however, the team continued development in the hope of gaining funding from NASA in future years. On September 13, 2011, NASA and ATK held a joint news conference to announce they had signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA) to collaborate on the development of the Liberty Transportation System as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Development Round 2 activities. NASA suggested this agreement could "accelerate the availability of U.S. commercial crew transportation capabilities."
...
Wikipedia