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Otrag
Encylopedia Astronautica ^ | Mark Wade

Posted on 07/05/2006 11:04:53 AM PDT by nuke rocketeer

Low cost orbital launch vehicle. Year: 1977. Family: LCLV. Country: Germany. Status: Hardware. $200 million was spent from 1975-1987 by Lutz Kayer in a serious attempt to develop a low-cost satellite launcher using clusters of mass-produced pressure-fed liquid propellant modules. The project was finally squelched by the German government under pressure from the Soviet and French.

In the early 1970's Willy Brandt's Ministry of Science and Technology solicited a contract for demonstration of launch vehicle technology an order of magnitude cheaper and more reliable than existing boosters. Lutz Kayser's research company won the contract and developed a radically new rocket technology, making more than 20 inventions in the process.

Kayser's concept involved the parallel clustering of large numbers of identical propellant tank and rocket engine modules.

(Excerpt) Read more at astronautix.com ...


TOPICS: Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: rockets; space; spaceexploration; spacelaunches
Reading this article makes me wonder why someone has not revived this guy's stuff for the new privatized push for LEO launchers.
1 posted on 07/05/2006 11:04:55 AM PDT by nuke rocketeer
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To: KevinDavis

Space ping?


2 posted on 07/05/2006 11:05:20 AM PDT by nuke rocketeer
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To: nuke rocketeer

I do know he's trying to get some money guy interested.


3 posted on 07/05/2006 11:08:25 AM PDT by nuke rocketeer
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To: nuke rocketeer
Reading this article makes me wonder why someone has not revived this guy's stuff for the new privatized push for LEO launchers.

Perhaps "someone" ran the numbers, and didn't see any financial incentive to add complexity and weight to the existing tried-and-true set of boosters.

4 posted on 07/05/2006 11:12:43 AM PDT by r9etb
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