National Security Space Launch Report
ResearchPublished Jul 21, 2006
In 1994, the National Space Transportation Policy laid the framework for appropriate government agencies to maintain strong launch systems and infrastructure while modernizing space transportation capabilities and encouraging cost reductions. More than a decade later, through combined Department of Defense (DoD) and industrial investment, the two Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) families of U.S. rockets (Atlas V and Delta IV) have proved to be maturing, reliable state-of-the-art technologies. In 2004, Congress directed the Secretary of Defense to establish a panel of experts with extensive space launch and operations background to address the future National Security Space launch requirements and the means of meeting those requirements. DoD selected RAND to facilitate and support this panel in its deliberations between May 2005 and May 2006. This report analyzes the National Security Space Launch Requirements Panel’s major findings and recommendations. In short, the Panel concludes that, because basic rocketry principles, use of chemically derived thrust, and multiple expendable stages seem certain to remain the design of choice for operational space launch vehicles, the EELV can satisfy all known and projected NSS requirements through 2020.
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- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Available
- Year: 2006
- Print Format: Paperback
- Paperback Pages: 110
- Paperback Price: $65.00
- Paperback ISBN/EAN: 978-0-8330-3959-0
- Document Number: MG-503-OSD
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McCartney, Forrest, Peter A. Wilson, Lyle Bien, Thor Hogan, Leslie Lewis, Chet Whitehair, Delma Freeman, T. K. Mattingly, Robert Larned, David S. Ortiz, William A. Williams, Charles J. Bushman, and Jimmey Morrell, National Security Space Launch Report, RAND Corporation, MG-503-OSD, 2006. As of September 19, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG503.html
McCartney, Forrest, Peter A. Wilson, Lyle Bien, Thor Hogan, Leslie Lewis, Chet Whitehair, Delma Freeman, T. K. Mattingly, Robert Larned, David S. Ortiz, William A. Williams, Charles J. Bushman, and Jimmey Morrell, National Security Space Launch Report. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2006. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG503.html. Also available in print form.
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