An expendable launch system is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once,after which its components are either destroyed during reentry or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of several rocket stages that are discarded sequentially as their fuel is exhausted and the vehicle gains altitude and speed. As of 2024,less and less satellites and human spacecraft are launched on ELVs in favor of reusable launch vehicles. However,there are many instances where a ELV may still have a compelling use case over a reusable vehicle. ELVs are simpler in design than reusable launch systems and therefore may have a lower production cost. Furthermore,an ELV can use its entire fuel supply to accelerate its payload,offering greater payloads. ELVs are proven technology in widespread use for many decades.
The Centaur is a family of rocket propelled upper stages that has been in use since 1962. It is currently produced by U.S. launch service provider United Launch Alliance,with one main active version and one version under development. The 3.05 m (10.0 ft) diameter Common Centaur/Centaur III flies as the upper stage of the Atlas V launch vehicle,and the 5.4 m (18 ft) diameter Centaur V has been developed as the upper stage of ULA's new Vulcan rocket. Centaur was the first rocket stage to use liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellants,a high-energy combination that is ideal for upper stages but has significant handling difficulties.
Convair,previously Consolidated Vultee,was an American aircraft-manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953,it was purchased by General Dynamics,and operated as their Convair Division for most of its corporate history.
The H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV),also called Kounotori,is an expendable,automated cargo spacecraft used to resupply the Kibō Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) and the International Space Station (ISS). The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been working on the design since the early 1990s. The first mission,HTV-1,was originally intended to be launched in 2001. It launched at 17:01 UTC on 10 September 2009 on an H-IIB launch vehicle. The name Kounotori was chosen for the HTV by JAXA because "a white stork carries an image of conveying an important thing,therefore,it precisely expresses the HTV's mission to transport essential materials to the ISS". The HTV is very important for resupplying the ISS because after the retirement of the Space Shuttle it is the only vehicle that can transfer new 41.3 in (105 cm) wide International Standard Payload Racks (ISPRs) and dispose old ISPRs that can fit the 51 in (130 cm) wide tunnels between modules in the US Orbital Segment.
IHI Corporation,formerly known as Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co.,Ltd. is a Japanese engineering corporation headquartered in Tokyo,Japan that produces and offers ships,space launch vehicles,aircraft engines,marine diesel engines,gas turbines,gas engines,railway systems,turbochargers for automobiles,plant engineering,industrial machinery,power station boilers and other facilities,suspension bridges and other structures.
The M-V rocket,also called M-5 or Mu-5,was a Japanese solid-fuel rocket designed to launch scientific satellites. It was a member of the Mu family of rockets. The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) began developing the M-V in 1990 at a cost of 15 billion yen. It has three stages and is 30.7 m (101 ft) high,2.5 m in diameter,and weighs about 140,000 kg (310,000 lb). It was capable of launching a satellite weighing 1,800 kg (4,000 lb) into an orbit as high as 250 km (160 mi).
The staged combustion cycle is a power cycle of a bipropellant rocket engine. In the staged combustion cycle,propellant flows through multiple combustion chambers,and is thus combusted in stages. The main advantage relative to other rocket engine power cycles is high fuel efficiency,measured through specific impulse,while its main disadvantage is engineering complexity.
Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family. It was originally designed by Lockheed Martin,now being operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA),a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. It is used for DoD,NASA,and Commercial payloads. It is America's longest-serving active rocket. After 87 launches,in August 2021 ULA announced that Atlas V would be retired,and all 29 remaining launches had been sold. As of January 2024,17 launches remain. Other future ULA launches will use the new Vulcan Centaur rocket.
The RD-180 is a rocket engine designed and built in Russia. It features a dual combustion chamber,dual-nozzle design and is fueled by a RP-1/LOX mixture. The RD-180 is derived from the RD-170/RD-171 line of rocket engines,which were used in the Soviet Energia launch vehicle. The engine was developed for use on the US Atlas III and Atlas V launch vehicles and first flew in 2000. It was never used on any other rocket. The engine has flown successfully on all six Atlas III flights and on 99 Atlas V flights,with just a single non-critical failure in March 2016.
H-IIB (H2B) was an expendable space launch system jointly developed by the Japanese government's space agency JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It was used to launch the H-II Transfer Vehicle cargo spacecraft for the International Space Station. The H-IIB was a liquid-fueled rocket,with solid-fuel strap-on boosters and was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. H-IIB made its first flight in 2009,and had made a total of nine flights through 2020 with no failures.
United Launch Alliance,LLC,commonly referred to as ULA,is an American aerospace manufacturer,defense contractor and launch service provider that manufactures and operates rockets that launch spacecraft into Earth orbit and on trajectories to other bodies in the Solar System. ULA also designed and builds the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage for the Space Launch System (SLS).
The Atlas III was an American orbital launch vehicle,used in the years between 2000 and 2005. It was developed from the highly successful Atlas II rocket and shared many components. It was the first member of the Atlas family since the Atlas A to feature a "normal" staging method,compared to the previous Atlas family members,which were equipped with two jettisonable outboard engines on the first (booster) stage. The Atlas III was developed further to create the Atlas V.
The H-II (H2) rocket was a Japanese satellite launch system,which flew seven times between 1994 and 1999,with five successes. It was developed by NASDA in order to give Japan a capability to launch larger satellites in the 1990s. It was the first two-stage liquid-fuelled rocket Japan made using only technologies developed domestically. It was superseded by the H-IIA rocket following reliability and cost issues.
Atlas is a family of US missiles and space launch vehicles that originated with the SM-65 Atlas. The Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program was initiated in the late 1950s under the Convair Division of General Dynamics. Atlas was a liquid propellant rocket burning RP-1 kerosene fuel with liquid oxygen in three engines configured in an unusual "stage-and-a-half" or "parallel staging" design:two outboard booster engines were jettisoned along with supporting structures during ascent,while the center sustainer engine,propellant tanks and other structural elements remained connected through propellant depletion and engine shutdown.
The Common Core Booster (CCB) is a rocket stage,which is used as the first stage of the American Atlas V rocket as part of its modular design. It was also intended that two additional CCBs would be used as boosters on the Atlas V Heavy,however this configuration has not been developed. Use of a Common Core Booster as the first stage of the Japanese GX was also planned;however,this program was cancelled in late 2009.
The Epsilon Launch Vehicle,or Epsilon rocket,is a Japanese solid-fuel rocket designed to launch scientific satellites. It is a follow-on project to the larger and more expensive M-V rocket which was retired in 2006. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) began developing the Epsilon in 2007. It is capable of placing a 590 kg payload into Sun-synchronous orbit.
The H3 Launch Vehicle is a Japanese expendable launch system. H3 launch vehicles are liquid-propellant rockets with strap-on solid rocket boosters and are launched from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and JAXA are responsible for the design,manufacture,and operation of the H3. The H3 is the world's first rocket to use an expander bleed cycle for the first stage engine.
SRB-A is a series of Japanese solid-fueled rocket booster manufactured by IHI Corporation for use on the H-IIA,H-IIB,and Epsilon rockets.
The BT-4 is a pressure-fed liquid rocket engine designed and manufactured by IHI Aerospace of Japan. It was originally developed for the LUNAR-A project,but it has been used as a liquid apogee engine in some geostationary communications satellite based on the Lockheed Martin A2100 and GEOStar-2 satellite buses. It has also been used on the HTV and Cygnus automated cargo spacecraft.
WIRES is a Japanese project developing a winged single-stage reusable suborbital rocket as a test bed for a reusable orbital launch system or a crewed suborbital spaceplane. The full-size prototype,called WIRES-X,is expected to be launched in 2020.
