Mission

The Titan IIIC is a space booster used by the United States Air Force. It is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL., and Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. It was to be used as a launch vehicle in the cancelled Dyna-Soar and Manned Orbiting Laboratory programs. The Titan III has also been used to launch multiple satellites during a single mission.

Features

The Titan IIIC was the most recent and largest unmanned space booster used by the Air Force until the Titan IV was developed in 1988. It provides assured capability for launch of large-class payloads. The vehicle is flexible in that it can be launched with no upper stage, or one of two optional upper stages for greater and varied carrying ability.

The Titan IIIC consists of a hypergolic liquid-fueled core and two large solid rocket boosters. It is launched on the solid boosters; the liquid core ignites about 2 minutes into flight.

The Titan IIIC core consists of two stages. The first, the Titan 3A-1, has two LR87 liquid propellant rocket engines that features structurally independent tanks for its fuel (Aerozine 50) and oxidizer (Nitrogen Tetroxide). This minimizes the hazard of the two mixing if a leak should develop in either tank. Additionally the engine propellant can be stored in a launch-ready state for extended periods. The second stage, the Titan 3A-2, consists of an LR91 liquid propellant rocket engine attached to an airframe, much like stage 1. The third stage, the Titan Transtage, was a restartable upper stage used with the Titan IIC, Titan IIIA, and Titan 34D. The Transtage, like the two core stages, uses liquid hypergolic fuels. For increased performance Titan IIIC also uses two solid propellant strap-on boosters.

Background

The Titan rocket family was established in October 1955 when the Air Force awarded the Glenn L. Martin Company (later Martin Marietta and now Lockheed Martin) a contract to build an intercontinental ballistic missile (SM-68). It became known as the Titan I, the nation's first two-stage ICBM and replaced the Atlas ICBM as the second underground vertically stored, silo-based ICBM. Both stages of the Titan I used liquid oxygen and RP-1 (kerosene) as propellants. A subsequent version of the Titan family, the Titan II, was similar to the Titan I, but was much more powerful. Designated as LGM-25C, the Titan II was the largest missile at the time, to be developed by the USAF. The Titan II had newly developed engines which used Aerozine 50 and Nitrogen Tetroxide as fuel and oxidizer.

Titan III development began in 1961 with the Titan IIIA. Years later, the Titan IIIC evolved from the Titan III family. The first Titan IIIC flew on June 18, 1965. The last Titan IIIC was launched in March 1982. A later derivative is the Titan 34D.

General characteristics

• Primary Function: Space booster
• Builder: Martin Marietta
• Power Plant:
  • Stage 0 currently consists of two solid rocket motors.
  • Stage 1 uses two LR87 liquid propellant engines.
  • Stage 2 uses one LR91 liquid propellant engine.
  • Stage 3 uses two Aerojet AJ-10-138 liquid propellant engines.
• Length: 42 m
  • Stage 0: 25.91 m
  • Stage 1: 22.28 m
  • Stage 2: 7.9 m
  • Stage 3: 4.57 m
• Diameter:
  • Stage 0: 3.05 m
  • Stage 1: 3.05 m
  • Stage 2: 3.05 m
  • Stage 3: 3.05 m
• Mass:
  • Stage 0: Empty 33,798 kg/ea; Full 226,233 kg/ea
  • Stage 1: Empty 5,443 kg; Full 116,573 kg
  • Stage 2: Empty 2,653 kg; Full 29,188 kg
  • Stage 3: Empty 1,950 kg; Full 12,247 kg
• Lift capability:
  • Up to 28,900 lb (13,100 kg) into a low-earth orbit with 28 degrees inclination.
  • Up to 6,600 lb (3,000 kg) into a geosynchronous transfer orbit when launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.
• Maximum takeoff weight: 626,190 kg
• Cost:
• Date deployed: June 1965.
• Launch sites: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL., and Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA.

External links

Titan3C

Reference