Posts: 44028 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-04-2020 05:28 PM
Hazegrayart video
Chrysler Aerospace was already contracted for the Saturn I and IB first stage, so in 1971 they proposed an alternate shuttle program, the SERV and MURP.
The Single-stage Earth-orbital Reusable Vehicle (SERV) had:
a 53 metric ton payload in a 7m x 18m payload bay
12 LH2/LOX aerospike engines were arranged around the rim of the base, covered by movable metal shields
jet engines, which were fired just prior to touchdown in order to slow the descent
MURP, the Manned Upper-stage Reusable Payload was based on the HL-10 lifting body (Six Million Dollar Man test Vehicle). A larger version (the D-34) could carry up to ten passengers.
oly Member
Posts: 1055 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
posted 06-04-2020 07:07 PM
An interesting idea.
Headshot Member
Posts: 920 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 06-08-2020 10:15 AM
Thanks for that video.
I had seen still pictures of this concept in old issues of Aviation Week and could not determine how the thing worked. None of the captions mentioned engines around the circumference of that huge base. Interesting concept, but aesthetically jarring.
posted 06-08-2020 06:00 PM
I wonder what the development cost was compared to the shuttle. Where it would be built would have been a political factor, California would be a plus for Nixon.