An expendable launch system (or expendable launch vehicle/ELV ) is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are either destroyed during reentry or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of several rocket stages that are discarded sequentially as their fuel is exhausted and the vehicle gains altitude and speed. As of 2024, fewer and fewer satellites and human spacecraft are launched on ELVs in favor of reusable launch vehicles . However, there are many instances where a ELV may still have a compelling use case over a reusable vehicle. ELVs are simpler in design than reusable launch systems and therefore may have a lower production cost. Furthermore, an ELV can use its entire fuel supply to accelerate its payload, offering greater payloads. ELVs are proven technology in widespread use for many decades.
22-632: The Thor-Ablestar , or Thor-Able-Star , also known as Thor-Epsilon was an early American expendable launch system consisting of a PGM-17 Thor missile, with an Ablestar upper stage . It was a member of the Thor family of rockets, and was derived from the Thor-Able . The Ablestar second stage was an enlarged version of the Able , which gave the Thor-Ablestar a greater payload capacity compared to
44-527: A Transit satellite on 22 February 1961 was successful, but its companion Lofti satellite failed to separate from the second stage. On 29 June 1961, a Thor-Ablestar successfully inserted a Transit-4A into orbit, but two hours later the Ablestar exploded for unknown reasons into hundreds of pieces, which remained in orbit. This is the first known artificial object to break up unintentionally in space. The third launch failure occurred on 24 January 1962 when
66-522: A core diameter of 1.25 m, with two liquid propellant stages, a single thrust chambered first stage and a two-thrust chambered, step-throttled second stage, the SLV has a lift off mass exceeding 26 tons. The first stage consists of a lengthened up-rated Shahab-3C . According to the technical documentation presented in the annual meeting of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs , it is
88-546: A partial failure, as only one of two payloads separated from the upper stage. The first failure was the launch of Courier 1A , an experimental communications satellite, on 19 August 1960 when the first stage shut down 30 seconds earlier than planned and was destroyed by the Range Safety Officer . On 30 November, another launch involving a Transit satellite failed in practically identical fashion. This episode nearly created an international incident as parts of
110-462: A two-stage rocket with all liquid propellant engines. The first stage is capable of carrying the payload to the maximum altitude of 68 kilometres. The Israel Space Agency is one of only seven countries that both build their own satellites and launch their own launchers. The Shavit is a space launch vehicle capable of sending payload into low Earth orbit . The Shavit launcher has been used to send every Ofeq satellite to date. The development of
132-507: Is a French company founded in March 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider . It operates two launch vehicles : Vega C , a small-lift rocket , and Ariane 6 , a medium -to- heavy-lift rocket. Arianespace is a subsidiary of ArianeGroup , a joint venture between Airbus and Safran . European space launches are carried out as a collaborative effort between private companies and government agencies. The role of Arianespace
154-663: Is a launch vehicle that improved reliability while reducing costs by making significant improvements to the H-II, and the M-V was the world's largest solid-fuel launch vehicle at the time. In November 2003, JAXA's first launch after its inauguration, H-IIA No. 6, failed, but all other H-IIA launches were successful, and as of February 2024, the H-IIA had successfully launched 47 of its 48 launches. JAXA plans to end H-IIA operations with H-IIA Flight No. 50 and retire it by March 2025. JAXA operated
176-632: Is also an ELV customer, having designed the Titan, Atlas, and Delta families. The Atlas V from the 1994 Evolved ELV (EELV) program remains in active service, operated by the United Launch Alliance . The National Security Space Launch (NSSL) competition has selected two EELV successors, the expendable Vulcan Centaur and partially reusable Falcon 9 , to provide assured access to space. Iran has developed an expendable satellite launch vehicle named Safir SLV . Measuring 22 m in height with
198-694: Is to market Ariane 6 launch services, prepare missions, and manage customer relations. At the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in French Guiana , the company oversees the team responsible for integrating and preparing launch vehicles. The rockets themselves are designed and manufactured by other companies: ArianeGroup for the Ariane 6 and Avio for the Vega. The launch infrastructure at the CSG is owned by
220-631: The European Space Agency , while the land itself belongs to and is managed by CNES , the French national space agency. During the 1960s and 1970s, India initiated its own launch vehicle program in alignment with its geopolitical and economic considerations. In the 1960sā1970s, the country India started with a sounding rocket in the 1960s and 1970s and advanced its research to deliver the Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 and
242-813: The H-IIB , an upgraded version of the H-IIA, from September 2009 to May 2020 and successfully launched the H-II Transfer Vehicle six times. This cargo spacecraft was responsible for resupplying the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module on the International Space Station . To be able to launch smaller mission on JAXA developed a new solid-fueled rocket, the Epsilon as a replacement to the retired M-V . The maiden flight successfully happened in 2013. So far,
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#1732783456278264-665: The Redstone missile to the Delta , Atlas , Titan and Saturn rocket families, have been expendable. As its flagship crewed exploration replacement for the partially reusable Space Shuttle , NASA's newest ELV, the Space Launch System flew successfully in November 2022 after delays of more than six years. It is planned to serve in a major role on crewed exploration programs going forward. The United States Air Force
286-465: The Thor-Ablestar 2 , which had a DSV-2A Thor first stage, and an uprated AJ-10-104D engine on the second stage. Thor-Ablestar 1 launches occurred from LC-17 at Cape Canaveral , and Thor-Ablestar 2 rockets were launched from LC-75-1 at Vandenberg Space Force Base (now designated SLC-2 ). Nineteen Thor-Ablestar were launched between 1960 and 1965, of which four failed, and a fifth resulted in
308-584: The Shavit began in 1983 and its operational capabilities were proven on three successful launches of the Ofek satellites on September 19, 1988; April 3, 1990; and April 5, 1995. The Shavit launchers allows low-cost and high-reliability launch of micro/mini satellites to a low Earth orbit . The Shavit launcher is developed by Malam factory, one of four factories in the IAI Electronics Group. The factory
330-624: The Thor landed in Cuba . War was threatened. Cuban leader Fidel Castro subsequently sold off the Thor's engine to the Soviets and the Chinese received its thrust vectors, which ended up proving valuable to the latter's development of a ballistic missile capability. To prevent this from happening again, future Thor Ablestar launches had their flight paths modified to avoid passing over Cuba. The launch of
352-471: The Thor-Able. It also incorporated restart capabilities, allowing a multiple-burn trajectory to be flown, further increasing payload, or allowing the rocket to reach different orbits. It was the first rocket to be developed with such a capability and development of the stage took a mere eight months. Two versions were built; the Thor-Ablestar 1 , with a DM-21 Thor and an AJ-10-104 second stage engine, and
374-546: The more advanced Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), complete with operational supporting infrastructure by the 1990s. Japan launched its first satellite, Ohsumi , in 1970, using ISAS' L-4S rocket. Prior to the merger, ISAS used small Mu rocket family of solid-fueled launch vehicles, while NASDA developed larger liquid-fueled launchers. In the beginning, NASDA used licensed American models. The first model of liquid-fueled launch vehicle developed domestically in Japan
396-809: The most famous of them being the R-7 , commonly known as the Soyuz rocket that is capable of launching about 7.5 tons into low Earth orbit (LEO). The Proton rocket (or UR-500K) has a lift capacity of over 20 tons to LEO. Smaller rockets include Rokot and other Stations. Several governmental agencies of the United States purchase ELV launches. NASA is a major customer with the Commercial Resupply Services and Commercial Crew Development programs, also launching scientific spacecraft. The vast majority of launch vehicles for its missions, from
418-468: The rocket has flown six times with one launch failure. In January 2017, JAXA attempted and failed to put a miniature satellite into orbit atop one of its SS520 series rockets. A second attempt on 2 February 2018 was successful, putting a four kilogram CubeSat into Earth orbit. The rocket, known as the SS-520-5, is the world's smallest orbital launcher. Roscosmos uses a family of several launch rockets,
440-745: The second stage produced insufficient thrust to achieve orbital velocity for several piggybacked satellites. The fourth and final failure was the launch of an Anna geodetic satellite on 10 May 1962 when the second stage completely failed to ignite. ( UTC ) 12:02:36 Ablestar 002 05:54 Ablestar 003 19:58 Ablestar 004 17:50 Ablestar 005 19:50 Ablestar 006 03:45 Ablestar 007 04:22 Ablestar 008 22:26 Ablestar 009 09:30 Ablestar 010 12:06 Ablestar 011 08:08 Ablestar 012 18:50 Ablestar 014 17:04:21 Ablestar 016 Dragsphere 1 , Dragsphere 2 00:08:10 Ablestar 017 13:39 Ablestar 018 22:35 Ablestar 019 22:11 Ablestar 020 Expendable launch system Arianespace SA
462-537: Was carried over to its successor, the H-IIA and H-IIB and became the basic configuration of Japan's liquid fuel launch vehicles for 30 years, from 1994 to 2024. In 2003, JAXA was formed by merging Japan's three space agencies to streamline Japan's space program, and JAXA took over operations of the H-IIA liquid-fueled launch vehicle, the M-V solid-fuel launch vehicle, and several observation rockets from each agency. The H-IIA
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#1732783456278484-619: Was the H-II , introduced in 1994. NASDA developed the H-II with two goals in mind: to be able to launch satellites using only its own technology, such as the ISAS, and to dramatically improve its launch capability over previous licensed models. To achieve these two goals, a staged combustion cycle was adopted for the first stage engine, the LE-7 . The combination of the liquid hydrogen two-stage combustion cycle first stage engine and solid rocket boosters
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