Titan IV: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{Infobox rocket

|image =Titan4B on Launch Complex 40.jpg

|caption = A Titan IV-B rocket carrying the ''[[Cassini-Huygens]]'' space research mission before takeoff from [[Launch Complex 40]] on [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station|Cape Canaveral]], 12 October 1997 (NASA).

|name = Titan IV

|function = [[Heavy-lift launch vehicle]]

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|type = booster

|diff = IV-A

|name = [[UA120UA1207]]7

|number = 2

|engines = United Technologies UA1207

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|type = stage

|stageno = First

|engines = 2 [[LR87]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Analysis of Titan IV Launch Responsiveness |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA259021.pdf |website=Analysis of Titan IV Launch Responsiveness (pg. 28) |access-date=February 26, 2024}}</ref>

|engines = [[LR87]]

|thrust = 2,440 kN

|alt-thrust = 548,000 lbf

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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 [[Multistage rocket|upper stage]], the [[Inertial Upper Stage]] (IUS), or the [[Centaur (rocket stage)|Centaur upper stage]].

The Titan IV was made up of two large [[solid-fuel rocket|solid-fuel rocket boosters]] and a two-stage liquid-fueled core. The two storable liquid fuel core stages used [[Aerozine 50]] fuel and [[nitrogen tetroxide]] oxidizer. These propellants are [[hypergolic]], (igniteigniting on contact), and are liquids at room temperature, so no tank insulation is needed. This allowed the launcher to be stored in a ready state for extended periods, but both propellants are extremely toxic.

The Titan IV could be launched from either coast: [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40|SLC-40]] or [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41|41]] at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station near Cocoa Beach, Florida and at [[Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 4|SLC-4E]], at [[Vandenberg Air Force Base#Launch sites|Vandenberg Air Force Base launch sites]] 55 miles northwest of [[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]] California. Launches to [[polar orbit]]s occurred from Vandenberg, with most other launches taking place at Cape Canaveral.

===Titan IV-A===

Titan IV-A flew with steel-cased solid [[UA120|UA1207]] rocket motors (SRMs) produced by Chemical Systems Division.<ref name=perfImprovement>{{cite documentreport|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19720007149.pdf|title=A STUDY OF PERFORMANCE AND COST IMPROVEMENT POTENTIAL OF THE 120-IN.- (3.05 M) DIAMETER SOLID ROCKET MOTOR|publisher=United Aircraft Corporation|date=December 1971|access-date=26 February 2016|last1=Backlund|first1=S. J.|last2=Rossen|first2=J. N.}}</ref><ref name=shuttleBoosters>{{cite documentreport|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19720015135.pdf|title=Study of Solid Rocket Motors for a Space Shuttle Booster|publisher=United Technology Center|date=15 March 1972|access-date=26 February 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/engines/ua1207.htm|title=UA1207|publisher=Astronautix|access-date=26 February 2016|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000325/http://www.astronautix.com/engines/ua1207.htm|archivedate=4 March 2016}}</ref>

===Titan IV-B===

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<gallery>

First TITAN IV launch from Complex 41 - 14 June 1989.jpg|Titan IVAIV-A

Titan-4(01)A Centaur - ELINT-Payload.jpg|Titan-4(01)A Centaur

Titan IVB Centaur launching ELINTspy satellite.jpg|Titan IVBIV-B Centaur

LR91-AJ-11 rocket engine - Thrust chamber.jpg|[[LR91-AJ-11]] rocket engine thrust chamber and injector

Bottom of First Stage of Titan IVB Rocket - LR87 rocket engine nozzles.jpg|Bottom of first stage of Titan IVBIV-B rocket

</gallery>

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===Upgrades===

====Solid Rocket Motor Upgrade test stand====

In 1988–89, The R.[[Parsons Corporation|Ralph M. Parsons Company]] designed and built a full-scale steel tower and deflector facility, which was used to test the Titan IV Solid Rocket Motor Upgrade (SRMU).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ceqanet.opr.ca.gov/1990040020/2|title=TITAN IV - SOLID ROCKET MOTOR UPGRADE PROGRAM AT VANDENBURG|first=Air Force, United|last=States|website=ceqanet.opr.ca.gov|date=26 February 1990 }}</ref> The launch and the effect of the SRMU thrust force on the Titan IV vehicle were modeled. To evaluate the magnitude of the thrust force, the SRMU was connected to the steel tower through load measurement systems and launched in-place. It was the first full-scale test conducted to simulate the effects of the SRMU on the Titan IV vehicle.<ref>Chalhoub, Michel S., (1990) "Dynamic Analysis, Design, and Execution of a Full Scale SRMU Test Stand," Parsons Engineering Report No. 027-90</ref>

====Proposed aluminum-lithium tanks====

In the early 1980s, [[General Dynamics]] developed a plan to assemble a lunar landing spacecraft in-orbit under the name [[First Lunar Outpost|Early Lunar Access]]. A Space Shuttle would lift a [[Apollolunar Lunar Module|Lunar Module]]lander into orbit and then a Titan IV rocket would launch with ana modified [[Project Apollo|Apollo]]Shuttle-type [[Service moduleCentaur|ServiceCentaur ModuleG-Prime]] stage to rendezvous and dock. The plan required upgrading the Space Shuttle and Titan IV to use lighter [[aluminium-lithium alloy]] propellant tanks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/e/earlylunaraccess.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820151430/http://www.astronautix.com/e/earlylunaraccess.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 20, 2016|title=Early Lunar Access|website=www.astronautix.com}}</ref> The plan never came to fruition, but in the 1990s the Shuttle's [[External Tank]] was converted to aluminum-lithium tanks to rendezvous with the highly inclined orbit of the Russian [[Mir]] [[Space station|Space Station]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Super Lightweight External Tank|url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/113020main_shuttle_lightweight.pdf {{Bare URL PDF |publisher=NASA.gov|access-date=JanuaryNovember 3, 2022}}</ref>

== Type identification ==

The IV -A (40nA) used boosters with steel casings, the IV -B (40nB) used boosters with composite casings (the SRMU).

Type 401 used a Centaur 3rd stage, type 402 used an IUS 3rd stage. The other 3 types (without 3rd stages) were 403, 404, and 405:

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==History==

[[File:Titan-IV.stl|alt=Interactive 3D model of the Titan IV|thumb|274x274px|Interactive 3D model of the Titan IV, fully assembled (left) and in exploded view (right).]]

The [[Titan (rocket family)|Titan rocket family]] was established in October 1955 when the Air Force awarded the [[Glenn L. Martin Company]] (later [[Martin-Marietta]], now part of [[Lockheed Martin]]) a contract to build an [[intercontinental ballistic missile]] ([[SM-68 Titan|SM-68]]). The resulting [[Titan I]] was the nation's first two-stage ICBM and complemented the [[SM-65 Atlas|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.

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===CELV===

By the mid-1980s the United States government worried that the Space Shuttle, designed to launch all American payloads and replace all unmanned rockets, would not be reliable enough for military and classified missions. In 1984 [[Under Secretary of the Air Force]] and [[Director of the National Reconnaissance Office]] (NRO) [[Pete Aldridge]] decided to purchase '''Complementary Expendable Launch Vehicles''' (CELV) for ten NRO payloads; the name came from the government's expectation that the rockets would "complement" the shuttle. Later renamed Titan IV,<ref name="day20061120">Day, Dwayne A. "[http://www.thespacereview.com/article/748/1 The spooks and the turkey]" ''The Space Review'', 20 November 2006.</ref> the rocket would only carry three military payloads<ref name="eleazer20200706">{{Cite web |last=Eleazer |first=Wayne |date=2020-07-06 |title=National spaceports: the past |url=https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3982/1 |access-date=2020-07-07 |website=The Space Review}}</ref> paired with Centaur stages and fly exclusively from LC-41 at Cape Canaveral. However, the [[Challenger accident]] in 1986 caused a renewed dependence on [[expendable launch system]]s, with the Titan IV program significantly expanded. At the time of its introduction, the Titan IV was the largest and most capable [[expendable launch vehicle]] used by the USAF.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/systems/dvic468.htm

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000823221640/http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/systems/dvic468.htm

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=August 23, 2000

|title=Titan IV

|publisher=USAF Air University |year=1996}}</ref>

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===Surviving examples===

In 2014, the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]] in [[Dayton, Ohio]], began a project to restore a Titan IV-B rocket. This effort was successful, with the display opening June 8, 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Upcoming/Press-Room/News/Article-Display/Article/792421/national-museum-of-the-us-air-force-fourth-building-now-open/|title=National Museum of the U.S. Air Force fourth building now open|website=National Museum of the United States Air Force™|date=7 June 2016 }}</ref> The only other surviving Titan IV components are at the [[Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum]] in Denver, Colorado which has two Titan Stage 1 engines, one Titan Stage 2 engine, and the interstage ‘skirt’ on outdoor display;<ref>{{cite web |title=Titan Missile Program |url=https://wingsmuseum.org/portfolio/titan-missile-program/ |publisher=Wings over the Rockies Museum}}</ref> and at the [[Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum]] in McMinnville, Oregon, including the core stages and parts of the solid rocket motor assembly.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.spacearchive.info/news-2006-09-26-laafb.htm|title=Titan IV Solid Rocket Motors Destroyed|website=www.spacearchive.info}}</ref><gallery mode="nolines">

File:U.S. Air Force Museum C (26).jpg|Titan IV-B in the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]]

File:U.S. Air Force Museum (53).jpg|Titan IV-B in the National Museum of the United States Air Force

File:2014 08 140829-F-IO108-012.jpg|Titan IV-B in the restoration hangar at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. This is Stage One aft with two Aerojet LR87-AJ-11 engines.

File:160323-F-IO108-008.jpg|Titan IV-B stage one and SRMU's at the National Museum of the United States Air Force

File:Vasters 1589 (6586633721).jpg|Titan IV-B at the [[Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum]]

File:Vasters 1591 (6586634435).jpg|Titan IV-B at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum

File:Vasters 1599 (6586636607).jpg|Titan IV-B at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum

</gallery>

==Launch history==

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| USA-39 ([[Defense Support Program|DSP]]-14)

| {{Success}}

| An engine bell burn-through left only a narrow margin for success.

|

|-

| 8 June 1990 <br /> 05:21

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| USA-143 ([[Milstar]]-3)

| {{Failure}}

| Centaur software database error caused loss of [[Spacecraft attitude control|attitude control]], insertion burns done incorrectly. Satellite deployed into useless orbit.

|-

| 22 May 1999 <br /> 09:36

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===1993 booster explosion===

[[File:Titan IVA K-11 failure (August 1993).jpg|thumb|upright|Titan IVA K-11 moments before the August 1993 failure.]]

On August 2, 1993, Titan IV K-11 lifted from SLC-4E carrying a NOSS SIGNIT satellite. Unusually for DoD launches, the Air Force invited civilian press to cover the launch, which became more of a story than intended when the booster exploded 101 seconds after liftoff. Investigation found that one of the two SRMs had burned through, resulting in the destruction of the vehicle in a similar manner as the earlier 34D-9 failure. An investigation found that an improper repair job was the cause of the accident.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/t/titan403a.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228002517/http://astronautix.com/t/titan403a.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 28, 2016|title=Titan 403A|website=www.astronautix.com}}</ref>

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==External links==

{{Commons category|Titan IV}}

* [http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/space/factsheets/titan_ivb.htm USAF Titan IVB Fact Sheet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430145108/http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/space/factsheets/titan_ivb.htm |date=2018-04-30 }}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080503143356/http://www.pr.afrl.af.mil/archive/video.html Titan IV Ignition Videos]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060929003140/http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/videos/launch/index.cfm Cassini Huygens Aboard a Titan IV-B Launch Videos]