A Commercial Launch System for large payloads

摘要

Although it is not impossible, it is difficult to envision practical human exploratio nmissions beyond Earth orbit without the ability to launc payloads much larger than the capacity of the space shuttle and other existing launch systems. Assembling massive spaceraft from twenty-ton segments involves coordinatio of multiple launches fro mdifferent sites, long-term orbital storage, andcomplex integration activities in space. The only hope for his approach is to dramatically lower the cost per launch in order to balance the high integration cost and oeperational risk. Achieving lower launch costs with existing systems has proven to be an elusive goal.