Saturn II

This article is about the rocket. For the Moon, see sic concept of the Saturn II was to save money by ceas-
Enceladus. ing production of the Saturn IB rocket, and replacing it
with launch vehicles built entirely with current Saturn V
The Saturn II was a series of American expendable components. This would allow closing down Chrysler
Space Division production lines for the S-IB rst stage,
launch vehicles, studied by North American Aviation un-
der NASA contract in 1966, derived from the Saturn V and would allow for more ecient integration of rocket
systems.
rocket used for the Apollo lunar program.[1] The intent
of the study was to eliminate production of the Saturn
IB, and create a lower-cost heavy launch vehicle based
on Saturn V hardware. North American studied three 2 Design
versions with the S-IC rst stage removed: the INT-17,
a two-stage vehicle with a low Earth orbit payload capa-
The baseline for the Saturn II was a Saturn V, with-
bility of 47,000 pounds (21,000 kg); the INT-18, which
out the Boeing-built S-IC rst stage. The Saturn Vs
added Titan UA1204 or UA1207 strap-on solid rocket
second stage S-II became the rst stage, and the non-
boosters, with payloads ranging from 47,000 pounds
restartable S-IVB-200 used on the Saturn IB became the
(21,000 kg) to 146,400 pounds (66,400 kg); and the INT-
second stage. Such a vehicle could not y without mod-
19, using solid boosters derived from the Minuteman mis-
ication, because the S-II was designed to operate in the
sile rst stage.
near-vacuum of high altitude space. Atmospheric thrust
For this study, the Boeing company also investigated con- suppression reduced the ve Rocketdyne J-2 engines
gurations designated INT-20 and INT-21 which em- 1,000,000 pounds-force (4,400 kN) of vacuum thrust to
ployed its S-IC rst stage, and eliminated either North 546,500 pounds-force (2,431 kN) at sea level,[2] insuf-
Americans S-II second stage, or the Douglas S-IVB third cient to lift the 1,364,900-pound (619,100 kg) weight
stage. Budget constraints led to cancellation of the study of the two stages, even without a payload, o of the
and exclusive use of the Space Shuttle for orbital pay- ground. This required that the S-II be either ret with
loads. higher thrust engines, augmented with solid rocket boost-
ers, or both. Another design variable was the amount of
the full 1,005,500 pounds (456,100 kg) propellant load
carried in the S-II, and 241,300 pounds (109,500 kg) in
1 Concept the S-IVB stage.
Before any version could be put into production, work on
There was a large payload gap between the Saturn IB's all Saturn variants was stopped in favor of launching all
46,000-pound (21,000 kg) low Earth orbit capacity and future payloads from the Space Shuttle.
the Saturn V's 310,000-pound (140,000 kg) capability.
In the mid-1960s NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center
(MSFC) initiated several studies to extend the capabili-
ties of the Saturn family. NASA specied a LEO of 100 3 Saturn INT-17
nautical miles (185 km), 28 inclination for payload cal-
culations, and the studies examined a number of Modi- The Saturn INT-17 was the rst version of the Saturn II
ed Launch Vehicle (MLV) congurations based on the to be considered. It replaced the rst stages ve J-2 en-
Saturn IB and Saturn V launch vehicles as well as Inter- gines with seven higher thrust HG-3-SL engines, giving
mediate Payload (INT) launch vehicles based on modi- 1,334,000 pounds-force (5,930 kN) of sea level thrust.
ed Saturn V stages (MS-IC, MS-II, and MS-IVB). Mar- It would burn a reduced S-II propellant load of 986,000
tin Marietta (builder of Atlas and Titan rockets), Boeingpounds (447,000 kg) in 200 seconds. The vehicle had
(builder of S-IC rst stages), and North American Avia- a LEO payload capability of 92,000 pounds (42,000 kg)
tion (builder of the S-II second stage) were three of thewith a gross weight of 1,112,000 pounds (504,000 kg).
companies that provided responses. The reduced payload permitted a savings of 660 pounds
North American considered the best way to ll the gap (300 kg) in structural weight, and omitting the [3]
S-IVB
was to use the Saturn Vs second stage, the S-II, as the restart capability saved 1,500 pounds (700 kg).
rst stage of an intermediate launch vehicle. The ba- This conguration was dropped when it was deter-

1
2 8 REFERENCES

mined that the HG-3-SL could not compete with the J-
2 in terms of overall performance, reliability, and cost-
eectiveness.[3] This required the addition of booster
stages in order to provide more takeo thrust.
8 References
[1] Studies of Improved Saturn V Vehicles and Intermediate
payload Saturn Vehicles (PDF). Boeing Space Division.
7 October 1966.

[2] J-2, Astronautix

4 Saturn INT-18 [3] Saturn INT-17,Encyclopedia Astronautica

The Saturn INT-18 would have used the standard S-II
with J-2 engines, augmented by two or four Titan SRBs.
The UA1204 and UA1207 boosters were considered,
with the highest total impulse conguration using four
UA1207 boosters, capable of placing 146,000 pounds
(66,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit. Designers
considered changing the amount of fuel loaded into the
rocket, and whether to ignite the S-II stage on the ground,
or whether to launch using the solids, and start the main
stage in ight. Two versions omitted the S-IVB stage.
[4] Saturn INT-18, Astronautix
[5] Saturn INT-19, Astronautix
Encyclopaedia Astronautica Saturn II stage
Encyclopaedia Astronautica Saturn INT-17
Encyclopaedia Astronautica Saturn INT-18
Encyclopaedia Astronautica Saturn INT-19

The following congurations were studied:[4] Final Report - Studies of Improved Saturn V Vehi-
cles and Intermediate Payload Vehicles (PDF for-
mat), October 7, 1966.

5 Saturn INT-19
The Saturn INT-19 would have used smaller solid boost-
ers, derived from the rst stage of the Minuteman missile,
to supplement the thrust of the S-II. Eleven congurations
were studied, using between four and twelve solids, with
some being started at lift-o, and some being started in
ight, and varying propellant loads in the Saturn stages.
The S-II stage would have been modied by retting the
J-2SL engines with reduced expansion ratio nozzles, to
increase sea level thrust to 174,400 pounds-force (776
kN) per engine. The highest total impulse conguration
would have used twelve boosters, with eight started at
launch and four started after the rst group had been jet-
tisoned. It would have been capable of lofting a payload
of 75,400 pounds (34,200 kg).[1]
The following congurations were studied:[5]

6 See also

Apollo Applications Program

Saturn INT-20

Saturn INT-21

7 Notes
[1] Includes S-II/S-IVB interstage

[2] Includes Instrument Unit

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9 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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