Von Neumann’s War

“Well, in order to get Percival to the planet Mars in as short a period of time possible, Dr. Tom Powell developed a strawman design for a launch vehicle. The Modified Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle out there on the SLC-37 CCAFS launch pad is the resultant product of his original design. It’s mostly the same as he originally suggested.” John paused and cleared his throat and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “It’s hot today,” he muttered.

“That’s right, John,” Tom interrupted. “You fellas did a good job and built the rocket I had in mind almost to a T or at least as near as makes no difference.”

“Uh, okay.” John nodded to Tom and continued. “Dr. Fines, as you may or may not be aware of the typical Delta IV Heavy configuration, this is a modified version of that. This rocket has even heavier capability than the Heavy. The rocket consists of the main common booster core (CBC) tube with a Rocketdyne RS-68 liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen (LO₂/LH₂) rocket motor base with a thrust vector control nozzle in the middle that can supply up to 650,000 pounds of thrust and 410 seconds of specific impulse. These CBCs were built in Decatur, Alabama, at the Boeing Delta IV rocket plant and they had to be modified slightly, but I’ll get to that in a minute.” John moved through the slides quickly.

“On either side of the central CBC tube is another CBC tube assembly strapped on. Each of these CBCs has a modified upper stage fairing atop and their engines should produce the same thrust characteristics as the central CBC. This portion of the rocket is the standard Delta IV Heavy that you may have seen before.” He paused and noticed that Ronny was nodding in acknowledgement.

“Now, in order to increase the throw weight of the launch vehicle and therefore the mission spacecraft velocity, eight Alliant Techsystems graphite-epoxy GEM-60 solid rocket strap-on boosters are also attached at the base of each of the three larger CBC tubes of the Boeing-built rocket. As you can see from the slide — or better yet from out the window — there are three of these boosters attached to each of the side CBCs: one at zero, ninety degrees and minus ninety degrees. Two solid boosters are placed on either side of the central CBC at ninety and minus ninety degree locations. The GEM-60 strap-ons enable the launch vehicle to accommodate a much larger spacecraft payload than the standard Delta IV Heavy, much larger.” Roger cleared his throat and nodded that he was going to interrupt.

“You see, Dr. Fines, this was required because Percival’s throw weight to Mars was on the upper limit for a long mission timeline. The half-meter diameter primary mirror for the telescope alone ended up being about eighty kilograms. And with the other instruments and spacecraft structure, there was just no way the Delta IV Heavy and three upper stages would get the satellite to Mars in the hoped for four-to-five-month mission time. Tom here came up with the idea of adding the solid strap-on boosters to the rocket for the added boost. This did it on paper.” Roger smirked, then added, “It took some doing and some expensive modifications contracts for Boeing to do it in reality, but they finally got the ball rolling and did it and on schedule.” Fines sat quietly and nodded in response without making any facial expressions whatsoever. Roger nodded back to John to take over.

“Above the CBCs we connected three modified and connected Pratt Whitney RL10B-2 cryogenic rocket motors to make up the second stage. Each of the modified engines will, hopefully, supply as much as 60,000 pounds of thrust over a burn time of 2250 seconds. Then above that is a single modified RL10B-2 making up the third stage. And finally, a standard RL10B-2 with half the burn time makes up the fourth stage.”

“Above that,” Roger stood and moved to the front of the room, “is the payload.” He pointed to the payload shroud section. “The reason we’re here is the payload, of course. It’s attached atop the fourth stage and housed via the aluminum isogrid payload fairing and shroud. Here is where Percival sits.” Roger nodded to John to click the slides.

“This project is a culmination of what mankind can do in a hurry if we really have to,” Ronny Guerrero added. He understood that it was a culmination of brilliant design, development, and manufacturing. It was also the culmination of less than five months worth of work that was completed by a small army of a few thousand men and women. Ronny wanted to make sure that the President’s advisor understood this.

“Let’s hope it’s a successful culmination,” the science advisor said, smiling faintly.

The Neighborhood Watch team sat quietly for the next hour and a half. John and Alan were in and out of the room checking with Launch Control to gather any good or bad news. The countdown was going as according to schedule. The men sat listening to the launch countdown protocols, anxiously awaiting the final countdown.