Location

Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel

Start Date

29-4-1998 8:00 AM

Description

The space launch industry is experiencing a tremendous transition from a government dominated customer base to a commercial customer base. According to the Teal Group World Space Briefing, nearly 75 percent of satellites launched from 1997 to 2006 will be civil and commercial satellites (figure 1). Of these, the vast majority are commercial ventures in mobile communications, broadband multi-media services, or direct broadcast television satellites. Nearly three quarters of all proposed payloads are destined for Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Virtually all LEO satellites will belong to multi-satellite systems involving mobile communications or multimedia services. Lockheed Martin is a world leader in the expendable launch vehicle industry. Our heritage which began with the Titan and Atlas launch systems in the late 1950’s, has spanned four decades and over 1,000 launches. In the late 1980’s, the former General Dynamics Space Systems (GD), recognized the need to develop a launch vehicle that could compete in the international commercial market. In 1987, GDinitiated the first commercial launch vehicle, the Atlas II. TheAtlas vehicle has successfully evolved from II to IIA to IIAS and into today’s newest most powerful system yet - the Atlas IIAR which will be operational in late 1998. The driving force behind each system upgrade has been to improve performance while reducing cost and increasing reliability.

Lockheed Martin combined the commercial industry expertise of the Atlas program with the heritage hardware of both the Atlas and Titan programs to develop their next generation launch vehicle the Common Core BoosterTM family. The Common Core BoosterTM family of launch vehicles will accommodate a wide range of customers, by providing a highly reliable, responsive system with streamlined launch operations. The Common Core BoosterTM vehicle allows Lockheed Martin tol effectively compete in international commercial markets, while satisfying the United States government requirements for low cost, reliable access to space. The purpose of this paper is to describe Lockheed Martin’s approach to incorporating the benefits and lessons learned from the Atlas and Titan launch systems into a launch vehicle family that will serve the payload community well into the 21st Century.

Comments

Session Chairman: Jean-Michel Desobeau, Director of Engineering, Arianespace, Inc.

Session Organizer: Craig McAlister

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Apr 29th, 8:00 AM

Paper Session II-A - Lockheed Martin's Next Generation Launch Systems

Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel

The space launch industry is experiencing a tremendous transition from a government dominated customer base to a commercial customer base. According to the Teal Group World Space Briefing, nearly 75 percent of satellites launched from 1997 to 2006 will be civil and commercial satellites (figure 1). Of these, the vast majority are commercial ventures in mobile communications, broadband multi-media services, or direct broadcast television satellites. Nearly three quarters of all proposed payloads are destined for Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Virtually all LEO satellites will belong to multi-satellite systems involving mobile communications or multimedia services. Lockheed Martin is a world leader in the expendable launch vehicle industry. Our heritage which began with the Titan and Atlas launch systems in the late 1950’s, has spanned four decades and over 1,000 launches. In the late 1980’s, the former General Dynamics Space Systems (GD), recognized the need to develop a launch vehicle that could compete in the international commercial market. In 1987, GDinitiated the first commercial launch vehicle, the Atlas II. TheAtlas vehicle has successfully evolved from II to IIA to IIAS and into today’s newest most powerful system yet - the Atlas IIAR which will be operational in late 1998. The driving force behind each system upgrade has been to improve performance while reducing cost and increasing reliability.

Lockheed Martin combined the commercial industry expertise of the Atlas program with the heritage hardware of both the Atlas and Titan programs to develop their next generation launch vehicle the Common Core BoosterTM family. The Common Core BoosterTM family of launch vehicles will accommodate a wide range of customers, by providing a highly reliable, responsive system with streamlined launch operations. The Common Core BoosterTM vehicle allows Lockheed Martin tol effectively compete in international commercial markets, while satisfying the United States government requirements for low cost, reliable access to space. The purpose of this paper is to describe Lockheed Martin’s approach to incorporating the benefits and lessons learned from the Atlas and Titan launch systems into a launch vehicle family that will serve the payload community well into the 21st Century.

 

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