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A super heavy-lift launch vehicle (SHLLV) is a launch vehicle capable of lifting more than 50,000 kg (110,000 lb) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO).

Successful vehicles

Three retired vehicles have successfully launched super heavy lift payloads:

• Saturn V, with an Apollo program payload of a Command Module, Service Module, and Lunar Module. The three had a total mass of 45,000 kg (99,000 lb). When the third stage and Earth-orbit departure fuel was included, Saturn V actually placed 140,000 kg (310,000 lb) into low Earth orbit.
• Energia launched two payloads before the program was cancelled: the Polyus weapons platform at approximately 80,000 kg (180,000 lb) and the automated Buran spaceplane at 105,000 kg (231,000 lb), both to low Earth orbit.
• The Space Shuttle orbited a combined 122,534 kg (270,142 lb) when launching the Chandra X-ray Observatory on STS-93. Chandra and its two-stage Inertial Upper Stage booster rocket weighed 22,753 kg (50,162 lb).
• SpaceX Falcon Heavy in a fully expendable configuration can launch 63,800 kg (140,700 lb) to low Earth orbit. In a partially reusable configuration in which its two boosters are recovered, it can launch an estimated 57,420 kg (126,590 lb) to low Earth orbit. Its first launch occurred on 6 February 2018, but it has not yet launched a super-heavy lift payload.

The Space Shuttle and Energia-Buran orbiter differed from traditional rockets in that both launched what was essentially a reusable, manned stage that carried cargo internally.

In development

Proposed designs

The 140,000 kg (310,000 lb) class Long March 9 has been proposed by China and is in early stages of development. It has a targeted capacity of 50 tonnes to lunar transfer orbit and first flight by 2030.

In August 2016, Russia's RSC Energia announced plans to develop a super heavy-lift launch vehicle using existing components instead of pushing the less-powerful Angara A5V project. This would allow Russia to launch missions towards establishing a permanent Moon base with simpler logistics, launching just one or two 80-to-160-ton super-heavy rockets instead of four 40-ton Angara A5Vs implying quick-sequence launches and multiple in-orbit rendezvous. In February 2018, the КРК СТК (space rocket complex of the super-heavy class) design was updated to lift at least 90 tonnes to LEO and 20 tonnes to lunar polar orbit, and to be launched from Vostochny Cosmodrome.

Cancelled proposals

Numerous super-heavy lift vehicles have been proposed and received various levels of development prior to their cancellation. Perhaps furthest along was the U.S. Ares V for the Constellation program. This was designed to carry 188,000 kg (414,000 lb) and was cancelled in 2010, though much of the work has been carried forward into the SLS program.

As part of the Soviet Lunar Project four N1 rockets with a payload capacity of 95,000 kg (209,000 lb), were launched but all failed shortly after lift-off (1969-1972). The program was suspended in May 1974 and formally cancelled in March 1976.

A 1962 design proposal, Sea Dragon, called for an enormous 150 m (490 ft) tall, sea-launched rocket capable of lifting 550,000 kg (1,210,000 lb) to low Earth orbit. While the design was validated by TRW, the project never moved forward due to the closing of NASA's Future Projects Branch.

SpaceX's first publicly released design of its Mars transportation infrastructure was the ITS launch vehicle unveiled in 2016. The payload capability was to be 550,000 kg (1,200,000 lb) in an expendable configuration (equal to the Sea Dragon) or 300,000 kg (660,000 lb) in a reusable configuration. In 2017, it was succeeded by BFR.

Comparison

^A Includes mass of orbitter ^B No stages recycled, fairing may be landed on ship by parachute ^C Two outside cores landed on droneships, fairing may be landed on ship by parachute

See also

• Comparison of orbital launch systems
• Sounding rocket, suborbital launch vehicle
• Small-lift launch vehicle, capable of lifting up to 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) to low Earth orbit
• Medium-lift launch vehicle, capable of lifting 2,000 to 20,000 kg (4,400 to 44,000 lb) of payload into low Earth orbit
• Heavy-lift launch vehicle, capable of lifting 20,000 to 50,000 kg (44,000 to 110,000 lb) of payload into low Earth orbit

Notes

1. The Space Shuttle orbiter itself contributed to reaching low Earth orbit therefore the validity of its inclusion as payload mass is debatable.
2. A partially reusable configuration where three cores are recovered is classified as a heavy-lift launch vehicle since payload to LEO is under 50,000 kg

References

1. McConnaughey, Paul K.; et al. (November 2010). "Draft Launch Propulsion Systems Roadmap: Technology Area 01" (PDF). NASA. Section 1.3. Small: 0–2 t payloads; Medium: 2–20 t payloads; Heavy: 20–50 t payloads; Super Heavy: > 50 t payloads
2. "Seeking a Human Spaceflight Program Worthy of a Great Nation" (PDF). Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee. NASA. October 2009. p. 64-66. ...the U.S. human spaceflight program will require a heavy-lift launcher ... in the range of 25 to 40 mt ... this strongly favors a minimum heavy-lift capacity of roughly 50 mt....
3. "Apollo 11 Lunar Module". NASA.
4. "Apollo 11 Command and Service Module (CSM)". NASA.
5. Alternatives for Future U.S. Space-Launch Capabilities (PDF), The Congress of the United States. Congressional Budget Office, October 2006, pp. X, 1, 4, 9{{citation}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
6. "Polyus". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
7. "Buran". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
8. "STS-93". Shuttlepresskit.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2000.
9. "Heaviest payload launched - shuttle". Guinness World Records.
10. Musk, Elon (12 February 2018). "Side boosters landing on droneships & center expended is only ~10% performance penalty vs fully expended. Cost is only slightly higher than an expended F9, so around $95M" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
11. "Capabilities & Services". SpaceX. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
12. ^ "Space Launch System" (PDF). The Boeing Company. 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 23, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
13. Creech, Stephen (April 2014). "NASA's Space Launch System: A Capability for Deep Space Exploration" (PDF). NASA.
14. "Eutelsat first customer for Blue Origin's New Glenn". SpaceNews. 7 March 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
15. Leahy, Bart (12 September 2016). "Blue Origin reveals New Glenn launch vehicle plans". Spaceflight Insider. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
16. Elon Musk speech: Becoming a Multiplanet Species, 29 September 2017, 68th annual meeting of the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia
17. Covault, Craig (18 July 2012). "First Look: China's Big New Rockets". AmericaSpace.
18. "China achieves key breakthrough in multiple launch vehicles". Space Daily. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
19. ^ "Russia's A5V moon mission rocket may be replaced with new super-heavy-lift vehicle". RT.com. 22 August 2016. Energia and Roscosmos are "working on a super heavy-lift launch vehicle (SHLLV) that would use an engine that we already have, the RD-171," Vladimir Solntsev told Izvestia newspaper. The proposed new SHLLV would initially have a LEO lift of 80 tons with a potential to increase the figure to 120 tons or even 160 tons, according to Solntsev.
20. "«Роскосмос» создаст новую сверхтяжелую ракету". Izvestia (in Russian). 22 August 2016.
21. "РКК "Энергия" стала головным разработчиком сверхтяжелой ракеты-носителя" [RSC Energia is the lead developer of the super-heavy carrier rocket]. RIA.ru. RIA Novosti. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
22. "N1 Moon Rocket". Russianspaceweb.com.
23. Harvey, Brian (2007). Soviet and Russian Lunar Exploration. Springer-Praxis Books in Space Exploration. Springer Science+Business Media. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-387-21896-0.
24. van Pelt, Michel (2017). Dream Missions: Space Colonies, Nuclear Spacecraft and Other Possibilities. Springer-Praxis Books in Space Exploration. Springer Science+Business Media. p. 22. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-53941-6. ISBN 978-3-319-53939-3.
25. Grossman, David (3 April 2017). "The Enormous Sea-Launched Rocket That Never Flew". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
26. “Study of Large Sea-Launch Space Vehicle,” Contract NAS8-2599, Space Technology Laboratories, Inc./Aerojet General Corporation Report #8659-6058-RU-000, Vol. 1 – Design, January 1963
27. "Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species" (PDF). SpaceX. 27 September 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016.

Further reading

• Mallove, Eugene F.; Matloff, Gregory L. (1989). The Starflight Handbook: A Pioneer's Guide to Interstellar Travel. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-61912-4.

• Space launch vehicles