- Liquid rocket booster
A Liquid Rocket Booster (LRB) is similar to a
solid rocket booster (SRB) attached to the side of arocket to give it extra lift at takeoff. A LiquidRocket Booster hasfuel andoxidiser inliquid form, as opposed to asolid rocket orhybrid rocket .Like solid boosters, liquid boosters can considerably increase the total payload to orbit. Unlike solid boosters, LRBs can be throttled down and are also even capable of being shut down safely in an emergency, providing additional escape options to manned spacecraft.
For the
R7 missile, which later evolved into theSoyuz launch vehicle , this concept was chosen because it allows all of its many rocket engines to be ignited and checked for function with the rocket still on thelaunch pad . This avoided the complications of starting the engines of the second stage in-flight as in a "traditional" staged design.The Soviet
Energia rocket of the 1980s used four Zenit liquid fueled boosters to loft both theShuttle Buran and the experimentalPolyus space battlestation in two separate launches.Two versions of the
Japan eseH-IIA space rocket use (or will use) one or two LRBs to be able to carry extra cargo to higher geostationary orbits.The
Ariane 4 space launch vehicle also optionally could use two or four LRBs (the 42L, 44L, and 44LP configurations). As an example of the payload increase that boosters provide, the basic Ariane 40 model with no boosters could launch around 2,175 kilograms into a transfer orbit toGeostationary transfer orbit [http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/ariane4.htm] . The 44L configuration could launch 4,790 kg to the same orbit with four liquid boosters added [http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/arine44l.htm] .Various LRBs were considered early in the
Space shuttle development program. More recently, after theChallenger accident , LRBs were considered to replace the existingSRB s, and four companies proposed booster designs to NASA. While very attractive from the performance and safety perspective, the cost of developing the systems resulted in the decision to stick with (and improve as much as possible) the existing solid boosters.Common Core Booster
The
Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program produced new liquid fueled primary stages for the Atlas V and the Delta IV rockets calledCommon Core Booster (CCB) or Common Booster Core (CBC). These can be used alone (with possible strap-on solid rocket boosters) or in a configuration of three CCBs tied togetheree also
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rocket launch
*spacecraft propulsion
*solid rocket booster
*Common Core Booster
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