Delta IV(and EELV) propellant tank derived space station business case

Delta IV propellant tank derived space station business case

Delta IV CBC stage without its engine is 20 metric tons wich is 8 MT tons less than Delta Heavy to LEO

The Stage atop the Delta IV Heavy would reach above 92 meters

The stage as space station would require a robust stage adapter (weight?)An option would be to design a stage adapter between the future Vulcan first stage and a Delta IV derived space station

The stage would need a 4-way docking port forward and aft and in the LH2 &LO2  intertank area (weight?)weight issues might lead us to have one simple docking collar with approach radar and a 4-way docking mechanism in the intertank region and aft.

This is 12 docking ports and is the business case along with the cubic meters offered by the Delta IV derived space station.The length of this space station places the docking port well clear of the existing ISS geometry if docked there.The original ISS had long X, Y & Z Keels, and backup this EELV derived space stations expands the geometry of the ISS outwards.

EELV derived space stations as stand-alone stations provide docking and backup about options for other space station operators.space stations buy and sell to one another power and docking space as well as consumables.An EELV derived space station could be lofted with Gases propellants and oxidizer and generate power with the ULA proposed internal combustion engine for power and space station reboost and would produce a great deal of residual H2O.In another blog post we proposed the ULA ACES internal combustion engine could burn a mix of ISS produced methane and GH2/GO2.

EELV derived space station architectures expand the payback on invested EELV manufacturing capacity, this might make the case for white tail Delta IV common core boosters left in partially unfinished state in order to modify into space stations later.ULA has a pie chart that explains the manufacturing costs of launch vehicles, it’s the engines that make up much of the costs so EELV derived space stations might be a profit and marketing center for EELV manufacturers.