Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Which is why I mentioned the VentureStar

Only if the technology lives up to its promise

During development, the powers that be said the Shuttle would only have a 2 week turn around time. Of course, it didn't work out that way. Since the X-33 is dead, the follow-on design is dead, too, so we may never know how well it would've worked in practice.

Some expendible boosters take a very long time to prepare for launch. I know of cases where Titan IVs have sat on the pad for many months while problems get corrected (or not) before launch.

On the other extreme, the Russian (actually Ukrainian) SL-16 Zenit booster (see here and here) can be prepped for launch in a very short time. The new ELVs were designed for a faster launch cycle, too. It all depends on the booster.

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