Nova (rocket)

Nova was a series of proposed rocket designs, originally as NASA's first large launchers for missions similar to the production-level Saturn V. Nova studied designs that closely mirrored the Saturn V in basic concept, power, size and function. Differences were minor but practical, and the Saturn was selected for the Apollo Project largely because they would re-use existing facilities to a greater extent and could make it to the pad slightly earlier.

During a series of post-Apollo studies in the 1960s, considerations for a manned mission to Mars revealed the need for boosters much larger than Apollo's, and a new series of designs with as many as eight Rocketdyne F-1 engines were developed under the Nova name (along with the Saturn MLV). The image of the Nova C8 is commonly used as a representative of the entire Nova series, and many references to Nova refer specifically to these post-Apollo versions. The two series of designs were essentially separate, but shared their name. Thus, "Nova" does not refer to a specific rocket design, just a rocket larger than the Saturn V in most cases. To add more confusion, the final Saturn V design was larger than some of the early Nova proposals.

The first Nova series was designed in-house at NASA in 1959. This project examined several designs, the smallest having four F-1s in the lower stage and J-2s in the uppers. This design placed 24 tons in a lunar injection trajectory. These designs were presented to President Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 27, 1959.

The Nova designs were not the only lunar rockets being considered at the time. The US Air Force was in the process of defining its Lunex Project, including a massive booster design using a cluster of solid fuel rockets in the lower stage with liquid hydrogen-powered uppers mounting the J-2 or M-1. Meanwhile, at the US Army's Redstone Arsenal, Wernher von Braun was developing his "Juno V" design, using a cluster of Jupiter and Redstone related engines and tanks for a lower stage, a Titan I missile as the second stage.

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