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The New Heavy Lift Vehicle (NASA)

On Wednesday, NASA announced that they are developing a heavy-lift vehicle that will start launching in 2017. The Space Launch System (SLS) will be able to carry the Orion Multipurpose Launch Vehicle and will be able to launch crew to and from the International Space Station and eventually carry humans to a near-Earth asteroid and even Mars.

NASA says the rocket will use a liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propulsion system like the Space Shuttle and will use Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB) on the initial flights. The rocket will be able to carry a little more than 154,000 pounds of cargo with the capability to go to 286,600 pounds.

NASA originally got the idea of this rocket from DIRECT, which was an idea developed by a bunch of space enthusiasts and costs much less than the cancelled Project Constellation because it uses many of the technologies used by the Space Shuttle. This launch vehicle basically uses the External Tank and attached Solid Rocket Boosters but instead of using the shuttle, they put the Orion crew capsule on the top with launch pad abort system.

The Shuttle With The White External Tank

Although the concept shows the whole vehicle painted white (which makes it look a lot like a Saturn V), I think the white paint will be eliminated just like it was for the shuttle program. The paint adds a good amount of weight and costs a bit of money to use.

DIRECT's version of the rocket gives us a clear look at what the rocket looks like without white paint.

This was the project I was cheering for because It’s much more cheaper to create because It uses existing parts and it looks much more attractive than the proposed Ares 1 vehicle, but I just hope that Obama doesn’t decide to cancel this one.

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Image Credits:
First Image: NASA
Second Image: NASA
Third Image: DIRECT artwork from Philip Metschan