Detko ATV
Launch vehicle · USA
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
Credit: Gary Hudson
American SSTO VTOVL orbital launch vehicle. George Detko of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center produced designs for SSTO vehicles as early as 1960. This final design for a minimum SSTO VTOVL vehicle was completed in 1972. The expendable vehicle had a gross liftoff mass of only 22 metric tons, and could deliver a two-person crew to orbit.
Alternatively it could be used to deliver as a rapid response transport to deliver critical goods anywhere on earth within 30 minutes. Detko continued to refine the design, proposing a reusable version in 1972. NASA managers remained indifferent to Detko's proposals, as was their attitude to all SSTO concepts. Detko's design was refined by Gary Hudson and Tom A Brosz and renamed the 'Aerospike Test Vehicle'. This was the precursor of Hudson's smaller Phoenix designs, notably the Phoenix L (light) and Phoenix L-Prime.
Crew Size: 2. LEO Payload: 1,000 kg (2,200 lb).