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Reusable Orbital Carrier

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ROC
Reusable Orbital Carrier
Credit: NASA

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Status: Study 1964. Payload: 11,340 kg (25,000 lb). Gross mass: 453,000 kg (998,000 lb).

The expected development cost was $3 billion at 1964 rates ($16 billion at 1999 rates) and the cost per flight was $100/lb, or $1,184/kg at 1999 rates. NASA saw the small 10-passenger ROC as a vehicle to prove out in small scale a larger 100-passenger "Reusable Aero-Space Transport" for the 1980s. RAST would use high-pressure oxygen+hydrogen engines and turbojets for landing on both stages. The booster rocketplane would be a multipurpose vehicle, with the 2nd stage being tailored to fit specific applications such as global passenger transportation, NASA space station resupply or military missions. The designers felt ballistic "recoverable" vertically launched vehicles make more sense for launching heavy unmanned one-way payloads, since the recovery system (chutes or retrorockets) will cost less. On the other hand, winged vehicles and lifting recovery will be safer for returning manned crews. The marginal cost per flight and the turnaround time will also be less, if the flight rates are high enough.

LEO Payload: 11,340 kg (25,000 lb). Development Cost $: 3,000.000 million. Launch Price $: 2.500 million in 1964 dollars in 1964 dollars.