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Titan IV
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The Titan IV family (including the IVA and IVB) of space boosters were used by the U.S. Air Force. They were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
The Titan IV was retired in 2005. The final launch (B-30) from Cape Canaveral AFS occurred on April 29, 2005, and the final launch from Vandenberg AFB occurred on October 19, 2005.
Titan IV was developed to provide assured capability to launch space shuttle-class payloads for the Air Force.
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Encyclopedia
The Titan IV family (including the IVA and IVB) of space boosters were used by the U.S. Air Force. They were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
The Titan IV was retired in 2005. The final launch (B-30) from Cape Canaveral AFS occurred on April 29, 2005, and the final launch from Vandenberg AFB occurred on October 19, 2005.
Features
The Titan IV was developed to provide assured capability to launch space shuttle-class payloads for the Air Force. The Titan IV could be launched with no upper stage, or either of two upper stages, the IUS (Inertial Upper Stage), and the Centaur Upper Stage.
The Titan IV was made up of two large Solid-fuel rocket boosters and a two stage liquid-fueled core. It was launched using the solid-fuel boosters alone. The first liquid core stage ignited about 2 minutes into flight.
The two storable liquid fuel core stages used Aerozine 50 fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer. These propellants are hypergolic (ignite on contact) and are liquids at room temperature, so no tank insulation is needed. This allows the launcher to be stored in a ready state for extended periods. However, both propellants are extremely toxic.
The Titan IV could be launched from either coast: SLC-40 or 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station near Cocoa Beach, FL and at SLC-4E, at Vandenberg Air Force Base launch sites sixty miles north of Santa Barbara in California. Choice of launch site depended on mission parameters and mission goals.
Background
The Titan rocket family was established in October 1955 when the Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin (the former Glenn L. Martin Company) a contract to build an intercontinental ballistic missile (SM-68). It became known as the Titan I, the nation's first two-stage ICBM and replaced the Atlas ICBM as the second underground vertically stored, silo-based ICBM. Both stages of the Titan I used liquid oxygen and RP-1 as propellants. A subsequent version of the Titan family, the Titan II, was similar to the Titan I, but was much more powerful. Designated as LGM-25C, the Titan II was the largest missile developed for the USAF at that time. The Titan II had newly developed engines which used Aerozine 50 and Nitrogen Tetroxide as fuel and oxidizer.
Titan III development began in 1961 with the Titan IIIA. Years later, the Titan IVB evolved from the Titan III family and is similar to the Titan 34D. The last Titan IVA was launched in August 1998. The first Titan IVB flew on Feb. 23, 1997. The Titan IVB was an upgraded rocket having a new guidance system, flight termination system, ground checkout system, solid rocket motor upgrade and a 25 percent increase in thrust capability.
In the early 1980s, General Dynamics planned to use a Space Shuttle to lift a Lunar Module into orbit and then launch a Titan IV rocket with an Apollo-type Service Module to rendezvous and dock – making a moonship for a lunar landing. The plan required the Space Shuttle and Titan IV to use aluminum-lithium fuel tanks instead of aluminum to make a greater payload weight for takeoff. The original plan never came to fruition but in the 1990s both the Shuttle and the Titan IV were converted to aluminum-lithium tanks to rendezvous with the highly inclined orbit of the Russian Mir Space Station. The Titan IVB became obsolete with the advent of the Atlas V rocket and the Delta IV heavy rocket booster launch vehicles in 2005.
A Titan IVB launched NASAs Cassini Saturn orbiter in October 15th 1997.
General characteristics
- Primary Function: Space booster
- Builder: Lockheed-Martin Astronautics
- Power Plant:
- Stage 0 consisted of two solid-rocket motors.
- Stage 1 used an LR87 liquid-propellant rocket engine.
- Stage 2 used the LR91 liquid-propellant engine.
- Optional upper stages included the Centaur and Inertial Upper Stage.
- Guidance System: A ring laser gyro guidance system manufactured by Honeywell.
- Thrust: Solid rocket motors provide 1.7 million pounds force (7.56 MN) per motor at liftoff.
- First stage provides an average of 548,000 pounds force (2.44 MN)
- second stage provides an average of 105,000 pounds force (467 kN).
- Optional Centaur upper stage provides 33,100 pounds force (147 kN) and the Inertial Upper Stage provides up to 41,500 pounds force (185 kN).
- Length: Up to 204 feet (62.17 m)
- Lift Capability:
- Can carry up to 47,800 pounds (21,680 kg) into a low-earth orbit
- up to 12,700 pounds (5,760 kg) into a geosynchronous orbit when launched from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla.;
- and up to 38,800 pounds (17,600 kg) into a low-earth polar orbit when launched from Vandenberg AFB.
- into geosynchronous orbit:
- with Centaur upper stage 12,700 lb (5,760 kg)
- with Inertial Upper Stage 5,250 pounds (2,380 kg)
- Maximum Takeoff Weight: Approximately 2.2 million pounds (1,000,000 kg)
- Cost: Approximately $250-350 million, depending on launch configuration.
- Date deployed: June 1989
- Launch sites: Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., and Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
See also
External links
- [https://www.maxwell.af.mil/au/awc/space/factsheets/titan_ivb.htm USAF Titan IVB Fact Sheet]
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