Jarvis (rocket)

History

Jointly proposed by Hughes and Boeing as a heavy-lift rocket, Jarvis was intended to use propulsion systems and equipment built for the Saturn V rocket and placed in storage at the end of the Apollo program, as well as Space Shuttle components. It was designed to be capable of launching multiple GPS satellites, major components of the planned Space Station Freedom, and commercial satellites. The rocket was named after Hughes employee and NASA mission specialist Gregory Jarvis, who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in January 1986.

Submitted as part of the Advanced Launch System studies jointly conducted by the United States Air Force and NASA for a new heavy-lift rocket system capable of substituting for the Space Shuttle and expanding upon its capabilities, Jarvis was planned as a three-stage rocket capable of launching a payload of up to 83000 lb to low Earth orbit, or 28000 lb to geosynchronous orbit. The rocket was projected to cost under $300 million USD per launch; some estimates had a per-launch cost as low as $150 million each, with $1 billion being cited as the projected development cost.

The first stage was designed to use two Rocketdyne F-1 engines powered by RP-1 and liquid oxygen; the second stage would use a single Rocketdyne J-2 LOX/liquid hydrogen engine; the third stage was intended to use eight Marquardt R-4D reaction control system thrusters fueled by a hypergolic mix of nitrogen tetroxide and monomethylhydrazine to provide final boost and allow deployment of multiple payloads into different orbits. Jarvis was designed to carry payloads up to 26 ft in diameter; as many as six satellites could be carried on a single rocket, and it was suggested that the GPS constellation be deployed in this manner.

While the Hughes proposal would have been powered by a pair of Saturn V F-1 engines, when Boeing joined the proposal they quickly shifted toward a Shuttle-derived in-line design consisting of an External Tank powered by a single aft-mounted Space Shuttle Main Engine augmented by a pair of Solid Rocket Boosters. This Revised Jarvis would be able to lift 80000 lb to LEO.