Titan IIIB

infobox rocket


caption = Titan 23B launching KH-8 reconnaissance satellite from Vandenberg AFB, CA. (USAF)
name = Titan IIIB
function = Medium launch vehicle
manufacturer = Martin
country-origin = United States
height = 45m
alt-height = 147.00 ft
diameter = 3.05m
alt-diameter = 10 ft
mass = 156,540kg
alt-mass = 345,110 lb
stages = 3
status = Retired
sites = SLC-4W, Vandenberg AFB
launches = 70
success = 68
fail = 2
first=29 July 1966
last=12 February 1987
LEO-payload = 3,000kg
alt-LEO = 7,500 lb (23B)

stage1diff = Titan 23B/33B
stage1engines = 2 x LR87-AJ-5
stage1thrust = 1,913 kN
alt-stage1thrust = 430,000 lb_f
stage1time = 147 seconds
stage1fuel = A-50 hydrazine/N2O4

stage2engines = 2 x LR91-AJ-5
stage2thrust = 445 kN
alt-stage2thrust = 100,000 lb_f
stage2time = 205 seconds
stage2fuel = A-50 hydrazine/N2O4

stage3name = Agena
stage3engines = 1 x Bell XLR81-BA-9
stage3thrust = 71.1 kN
alt-stage3thrust = 16,000 lb_f
stage3time = 240 seconds
stage3fuel = N2O4/UDMH

Titan IIIB was the collective name for a number of derivatives of the Titan II ICBM and Titan III launch vehicle, modified by the addition of an Agena upper stage. It consisted of four separate rockets. The Titan 23B was a basic Titan II with an Agena upper stage, and the Titan 24B was the same concept, but using the slightly enlarged Titan IIIM rocket as the base. The Titan 33B was a Titan 23B with the Agena (which had a smaller diameter than the Titan) enclosed in an enlarged fairing, in order to allow larger payloads to be launched. The final member of the Titan IIIB family was the Titan 34B which was a Titan 24B with the larger fairing used on the Titan 33B.

Titan 23B

Titan 23B is a medium-lift space launch vehicle used to carry payloads for the Air Force. The Titan 23B was launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Its main payload was the GAMBIT (KH-8 reconnaissance) satellites.

Features

The Titan 23B space launch vehicle was a three-stage liquid fueled booster, designed to provide a small-to-medium weight class capability. It is able to lift approximately 3,000 kg (7,500 lb) into a polar low-Earth circular orbit. The first stage consists of a ground ignited LR87 liquid propellant rocket, while the second stage consists of an LR91 liquid propellant rocket. The third stage is an Agena D XLR81-BA-9 liquid propellant rocket.

Various models of this Titan/Agena D rocket were called, "Titan 23B", "Titan 24B", "Titan 33B" and "Titan 34B".

Background

The Titan rocket family was established in October 1955, when the Air Force awarded The Martin Company a contract to build an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It became known as the Titan I, the nation’s first two-stage ICBM and first underground silo-based ICBM. More than 140 Titan II ICBMs, once the vanguard of America’s strategic deterrent force, were built. Titan IIs also were flown in NASA’s Gemini manned space program in the mid-1960s. The Titan 23B is a derivative of the Titan II vehicle with an Agena D upper stage added.

*Primary function: Launch vehicle used to lift medium class satellites into space

*Builder: The Martin Company

*Launch site: Vandenberg AFB, Calif.

*First stage: Length: 70 ft (21 m)
*Diameter: 10 feet
*Engine thrust: 474,000 lbf (2,108 kN) vacuum
*Weight: 258,000 lb (117,020 kg) Fueled
**Empty weight: 10,500 lb (4,760 kg)

*Second stage: Length: 24 ft (7.3 m)
*Diameter: 10 ft (3.0 m)
*Engine Thrust: 100,000 lbf (445 kN) vacuum
*Weight: 64,000 lb (29,030 kg) Fueled
**Empty weight: 6,100 lb (2,760 kg)

*Third stage: Length: 24.8 ft (7.6 m)
*Diameter: 5 ft (1.5 m)
*Engine thrust: 16,000 lbf (71 kN) vacuum
*Weight: 7160 kg (15800 lb) - fueled
**Empty Weight: 2300 lb (1045 kg)

*Guidance: Inertial
*Subcontractor: Delco Electronics

*Payload fairing: Diameter: 5 ft (1.5 m)
*Length: 20 to 25 ft (6.1 to 7.6 m)

*Skin and Stringer Constructionndash Tri-Sector Design
*Subcontractor: Boeing

*Date deployed: July 1966

Titan 24B

The Titan 24B differed from the Titan 23B in that the stretched Titan IIIM core was used in place of the original Titan II core.

Titan 33B

The Titan 33B was a Titan 23B with a larger payload fairing, which sat atop the second stage, enclosing the Agena, rather than atop the Agena, as had been flown on the 23B and 24B.

Titan 34B

The Titan 34B was a Titan 24B, modified by the addition of the larger fairing used on the Titan 33B.

ee also

*Titan (rocket family)
*KH-8 GAMBIT reconnaissance satellite.

External links

* [http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/launch/titan.htm Titan missiles & variations]