Delta Force
Banned
I was going to write a PoD here, but I think it would be best to start with a discussion of the rocket and spacecraft families themselves. The setting is the mid-1960s to early 1970s. The Space Shuttle system as we know it has been rejected in favor of separate manned and cargo flights. There's no need to launch a huge system for routine spaceflight, and payload recovery and relaunch is an expensive option. A crewed flight will be sent to do in flight repairs and/or recover any important components from unmanned flights. This really isn't that different, it's what the Shuttle ended up doing for most of its career anyways (I think it recovered all of two satellites).
The American space industry faces foreign competition to put payloads into space from a consortium of Commonwealth and European companies (more information here). Government payloads are likely to be flown on American rockets, but with foreign competition all commercial payloads are going to be flown on the rocket with the best value and/or capabilities. The government has the following needs going into the future:
1. Routine manned access to space. The military and civilian sides both want the ability to dock with space stations and interact with satellites. The military wants the ability to carry out major delta-V changes after launch (to become less predictable and/or access many satellites). The military also wants the ability to launch with and/or recover up to a metric ton of payload for return to Earth (cameras, sensors, objects taken from orbit) and carry out a soft landing.
2. The civilian program wants the ability to launch a variety of scientific probes and payloads. The objects might be a bit larger than in our timeline though, conducting a Planetary Grand Tour in the late 1970s and sending sophisticated rovers similar to the Lunokhods to the Moon and Mars. The military wants the ability to deploy typical military payloads such as communications, positioning, and reconnaissance satellites.
3. The civilian program is interested in flights to Venus (obviously just a flyby) and Mars, but only if flight times can be brought down to a safer limit. They are interested in large space stations, but they don't have to be monolithic. Basically, they are willing to consider Earth Orbit Rendezvous (and other forms of multiple launch) if it offers a higher degree of safety and/or lowered costs. The military program is interested in smaller space stations on par with the Manned Orbiting Laboratory or Salyut.
Obviously, there are also potential commercial sales. What launch vehicles and/or spacecraft families will best meet the needs of government and industry going forward?
Some launch families that were prominent in this era (other variants and families are possible):
-- Atlas
-- Delta
-- Saturn
-- Titan
Some vehicle families that were prominent in this era (other variants and families are possible):
-- Advanced Gemini
-- Apollo
-- Big Gemini
-- Dyna-Soar
The American space industry faces foreign competition to put payloads into space from a consortium of Commonwealth and European companies (more information here). Government payloads are likely to be flown on American rockets, but with foreign competition all commercial payloads are going to be flown on the rocket with the best value and/or capabilities. The government has the following needs going into the future:
1. Routine manned access to space. The military and civilian sides both want the ability to dock with space stations and interact with satellites. The military wants the ability to carry out major delta-V changes after launch (to become less predictable and/or access many satellites). The military also wants the ability to launch with and/or recover up to a metric ton of payload for return to Earth (cameras, sensors, objects taken from orbit) and carry out a soft landing.
2. The civilian program wants the ability to launch a variety of scientific probes and payloads. The objects might be a bit larger than in our timeline though, conducting a Planetary Grand Tour in the late 1970s and sending sophisticated rovers similar to the Lunokhods to the Moon and Mars. The military wants the ability to deploy typical military payloads such as communications, positioning, and reconnaissance satellites.
3. The civilian program is interested in flights to Venus (obviously just a flyby) and Mars, but only if flight times can be brought down to a safer limit. They are interested in large space stations, but they don't have to be monolithic. Basically, they are willing to consider Earth Orbit Rendezvous (and other forms of multiple launch) if it offers a higher degree of safety and/or lowered costs. The military program is interested in smaller space stations on par with the Manned Orbiting Laboratory or Salyut.
Obviously, there are also potential commercial sales. What launch vehicles and/or spacecraft families will best meet the needs of government and industry going forward?
Some launch families that were prominent in this era (other variants and families are possible):
-- Atlas
-- Delta
-- Saturn
-- Titan
Some vehicle families that were prominent in this era (other variants and families are possible):
-- Advanced Gemini
-- Apollo
-- Big Gemini
-- Dyna-Soar