Gourt Home::Gourt :: Titan (rocket family)
|introduced=1959
|retired=2005
|status=
|primary user=United States Air Force
|more users=National Aeronautics and Space Administration
|produced=1957-2000s
|number built=368
|unit cost=US$250-350 million
|variants with their own articles=Titan I
Titan II
Titan 23B
Titan III
Titan IV
}}
Titan was a family of U.S. expendable rockets used between 1959 and 2005. A total of 368 rockets of this family were launched.
Titan I
The Titan I was the first version of the Titan family of rockets. It began as a backup ICBM project in case the Atlas was delayed. It was a two-stage rocket powered by RP-1 and LOX. The Titan I and Atlas ICBM's using RP-1/LOX fuel did not have a fast reaction time. They took about 1/2 hour to fuel and launch.
Titan II
Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM)
Most Titan rockets were derivatives of the Titan II ICBM. The Titan II ICBM had one W-53 warhead with a 9 Megaton yield, making it the most powerful ICBM on-standby in the US nuclear arsenal. All of the ICBM Titan II missile sites have been decommissioned since 1984 but the Titan Missile Museum south of Tucson, Arizona has preserved one silo.Space launch vehicles
The Titan II was a hypergolicly-fueled two-stage ICBM that was used by the U.S. Air Force from the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s. In the late 80s some of the deactivated Titan IIs were converted into space launch vehicles to be used launching U.S. Government payloads. The final such vehicle launched a DMSP weather satellite from Vandenberg AFB on October 18, 2003 *. Titan IIs were also used to launch the U.S. manned Gemini capsules.The Titan 23B and its derivatives (24B, 33B, and 34B) were Titan IIs with an Agena D upper stage. This combination was used to launch the KH-8 GAMBIT series of spy satellites. They were all launched from Vandenberg AFB, CA, into polar orbits. The payload was about 7,500 lb (3,000 kg).
Titan III
The Titan III was a stretched Titan II with optional solid rocket boosters. It was developed by the U.S. Air Force as a heavy-lift satellite launcher to be used mainly to launch U.S. Military payloads such as DSP early-warning, intelligence (spy), and defense communications satellites. It was also used to launch some NASA scientific probes such as the Voyagers.
Titan IV
The Titan IV is a stretched Titan III with non-optional solid rocket boosters. It could be launched either with the Centaur upper stage, with the IUS (Inertial Upper Stage) or without any upper stage. It was almost exclusively used to launch U.S. Military payloads, though it was also used to launch NASA's Cassini probe to Saturn after the Shuttle-Centaur program was cancelled following the loss of Challenger. Titan IV was the largest launch vehicle flying as of 2005. It was extremely expensive to operate.
Rocket fuel
Liquid oxygen is dangerous to use in an enclosed space, such as a missile silo. Several Atlas and Titan I rockets exploded and destroyed their silos. The Martin Company was able to improve the Titan design in the Titan II. The LOX/RP-1 was replaced by storable fuels. The same first stage rocket engines were used with some modifications. The diameter of the second stage was increased to match the first stage. The Titan II storable fuel and oxydizer are hypergolic (they ignite on contact when mixed). This can be quite dangerous in an enclosed space. There were several accidents in Titan II silos resulting in loss of life. In August 1965, 53 construction workers were killed when hydraulic fluid used in the Titan II, caught fire in a missile silo in Arkansas. In the 1980s, in another Arkansas Titan II silo, leaking rocket fuel ignited and blew the 6,000 lb nuclear warhead out of the silo; it landed several hundred feet away. This marked the beginning of the end for the Titan II as an ICBM. The 54 Titan II's were replaced in the U.S. arsenal by 50 MX Peacekeeper solid fuel missiles in late 1980s. Approximately 50 Titan IIs were fielded along with some 1000 Minutemen from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s.
Current status of Titans
As of 2006, the Titan family of rockets are obsolete. The high cost of Hydrazine and Nitrogen Tetroxide proved too much compared to Hydrogen or Kerosene fuelled vehicles. The current owners of the Titan line (Lockheed-Martin) decided to extend their Atlas family of rockets instead of the more expensive Titans, along with joint ventures to sell launches on the Proton and the new Delta IV class of medium and heavy-lift launch vehicles. The second-to-last Titan launched successfully from Cape Canaveral on April 29, 2005. The final Titan launched successfully from Vandenberg on October 19, 2005, carrying a secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. There are said to be a number of old Titan II's at AMARC in Tucson, Arizona set to be scrapped.
Specifications
- For the specifications, please see the articles on each variant.
Notes
External links
- Titan I ICBM History site
- Titan II ICBM History site
- Titan Missile Museum
- Photo of the last Titan launch, at the APOD archive. See also *
Related content
Intercontinental ballistic missiles of the United States | United States Air Force guided missiles | Space launch vehicles | Lockheed Martin
Titan (Rakete) | Титан (РН) | Titan IV | Titan (fusée) | Titan | Titan (raket) | Titan (rakieta)
"Titan (rocket family)"