Page 183 - Intro to Space Sciences Spacecraft Applications

170 Introduction to Space Sciences and Spacecraft Applications

constant tally of information in the form of mass, envelope, and power
“vital statistics” must be tracked indicating the degree of launch vehicle
capacity, e.g., envelope and lift, used as the design proceeds through the
satellite bus subsystem analysis. Conversely, if the satellite bus subsystem
design proceeds without a launch vehicle first being selected (the case for a
preselected “common bus” heritage design path), then the resulting satellite
design must be matched to an available launch vehicle. Figure 8-3 identifies
a few candidate launch vehicles that are available to spacecraft designers.
Table 8- 1 provides an example of a typical launch performance database for
the Pegasus XL that can be launched from an aircraft platform. Pegasus is a
leading launch vehicle candidate for smaller satellites such as SMALLSATs
and LIGHTSATs.
The following summary discussion of each of the satellite bus subsys-
tems serves to introduce the more detailed elements of design associated

ATLAS DELTA TITAN SHUTTLE
Figure 8-3. Launch vehicles. While the major types of United States launch
vehicles are shown, there are several smaller U.S. launchers available as well
as several foreign vehicles.