Big dumb booster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Big Dumb Boosters (BDB) are a general class of launch vehicle
built around the idea that it is cheaper to mass produce and operate large,
strong, heavy rockets of simple design than it is to build a few smaller,
lighter, more cleverly designed ones. Even though the large booster is less
efficient for an all around operation, its total cost of operation is cheaper
because it is easier to build, operate and maintain. As with all forms of mass production,
it is likely that, as builders gain more experience with production of parts
and construction, and more production infrastructure is established, costs may
go down further. However, in having a bigger rocket, a smaller number of
rockets need to be produced to launch a certain mass of payload into orbit,
thereby working against mass production.
Concept work was led by proponents
at Aerospace Corporation, TRW, and Aerojet General,
beginning in the late 1950s. The typical formula included maraging steel
(HY-140) for structure, pressure-fed
engines using N2O4/UDMH, later LOX/RP-1, with pintle injectors scaled up from TRW's Lunar
Module Descent Engine (LMDE).[1]
TRW developed and fired several engines, including their TR-106 a robust, low-cost engine of
250,000 pounds thrust to demonstrate the engine technology readiness.[2]
In general, Russian rockets are closer to the BDB
concept than their US counterparts. US rockets tend to be built of the most
modern, lightest materials available and to extremely tight tolerances, using
often purpose-built custom parts, resulting in great expense. Many of them
require very careful handling to avoid being damaged while on the ground.
Russian rockets, on the other hand, tend to be built more heavily, and are
easier to handle. They are built with larger margins of strength and to looser
tolerances.
The entire wiki link can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_dumb_booster
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