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Titan family

''Titan II launching a Gemini spacecraft.''



Titan I
Stages 2
1 Engines 1 × LR87-AJ-3
Thrust 300,000 lbf (1,334 kN)
Burn time 140 s
Fuels RP-1/LOX
2 Engines 1 × LR91-AJ-3
Thrust 80,000 lbf (356 kN)
Burn time 155 s
Fuels RP-1/LOX
Payload to LEO 4,000 lb (1,800 kg)
Payload to GTO



Titan II
Stages 2 (nominally)
1 Engines 1 × LR87-AJ-5
Thrust 430,000 lbf (1,913 kN)
Burn time
Fuels A-50 Hydrazine / N204
2 Engines 1 × LR91-AJ-5
Thrust 100,000 lbf (445 kN)
Burn time
Fuels A-50 hydrazine/N204
Payload to LEO 8,250 lb (3,750 kg)
Gemini spacecraft
Payload to GTO 500 lb (227 kg)
Clementine Lunar Probe



Titan III
Stages 3
0 Engines Solid Rocket Motors
Thrust
Burn time
Fuels
1 Engines 1 × LR87-AJ-11
Thrust
Burn time
Fuels A-50 hydrazine/N204
2 Engines 1 × LR91-AJ-11
Thrust
Burn time
Fuels A-50 hydrazine/N204
Payload to LEO 23,000 lb (10,400 kg)
Payload to GTO



Titan IVA
Stages 3
0 Engines Solid Rocket Motors
Thrust
Burn time
Fuels
1 Engines 1 × LR87-AJ-11
Thrust 511,200 lbf (2,273 kN) average
Burn time
Fuels A-50 hydrazine/N204
2 Engines 1 × LR91-AJ-11
Thrust 106,150 lbf (472 kN) average
Burn time
Fuels A-50 hydrazine/N204
Payload to LEO 39,100 lb (18,000 kg)
Payload to GEO 10,000 lb (4,500 kg)



Titan IVB
Stages 3
0 Engines Solid Rocket Motors
Thrust 1,700,000 lbf (3,114 kN) each
Burn time
Fuels 88% HTP
1 Engines 1 × LR87-AJ-11
Thrust 511,200 lbf (2,273 kN) average
Burn time
Fuels A-50 hydrazine/N204
2 Engines 1 × LR91-AJ-11
Thrust 106,150 lbf (472 kN) average
Burn time
Fuels A-50 hydrazine/N204
Payload to LEO 47,800 lb (21,700 kg)
Payload to GEO 12,700 lb (5,800 kg)



Titan was a family of U.S. Expendable Rocket s used between 1959 and 2005 . A total of 368 rockets of this family were launched.


TITAN I

The Titan I was the first version of the Titan family of rockets. It began as a backup ICBM project in case the Atlas was delayed. It was a two-stage rocket powered by RP-1 and LOX . The Titan I and Atlas ICBM's using RP-1/LOX fuel did not have a fast reaction time. They took about 1/2 hour to fuel and launch.


TITAN II


Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM)

Most Titan rockets were derivatives of the Titan II ICBM . The Titan II ICBM had one W-53 warhead with a 9 Megaton Yield , making it the most powerful ICBM on-standby in the US nuclear arsenal. All of the ICBM Titan II missile sites have been decommissioned since 1984 but the Titan Missile Museum south of Tucson, Arizona has preserved one silo.


Space launch vehicles

The Titan II was a capsules.

The Titan 23B and its derivatives (24B, 33B, and 34B) were Titan IIs with an Agena D upper stage. This combination was used to launch the KH-8 GAMBIT series of spy satellites. They were all launched from Vandenberg AFB , CA, into polar orbits. The payload was about 7,500 lb (3,000 kg).


TITAN III

The Titan III was a stretched Titan II with optional Solid Rocket Booster s. It was developed by the U.S. Air Force as a heavy-lift satellite launcher to be used mainly to launch U.S. Military payloads such as DSP early-warning, intelligence (spy), and defense communications satellites. It was also used to launch some NASA scientific probes such as the Voyager s.


TITAN IV

The Titan IV is a stretched Titan III with non-optional solid rocket boosters. It could be launched either with the Centaur upper stage, with the IUS (Inertial Upper Stage) or without any upper stage. It was almost exclusively used to launch U.S. Military payloads, though it was also used to launch NASA's Cassini Probe to Saturn after the Shuttle- Centaur program was cancelled following the loss of Challenger . Titan IV was the largest launch vehicle flying As Of 2005 . It was extremely expensive to operate.


ROCKET FUEL

Liquid oxygen is very dangerous to use in an enclosed space, such as a Missile Silo . Several Atlas and Titan I rockets exploded and destroyed their silos. The Martin Company was able to improve the Titan design in the Titan II. The LOX/RP-1 was replaced by storable fuel in the Titan II. The same first stage rocket engines were used with some modifications. The diameter of the second stage was increased to match the first stage. The Titan II storable fuel and oxydizer are hypergolic, they ignite on contact when mixed. This also was dangerous to handle in an enclosed space. There were several accidents in Titan II silos resulting in loss of life. In August 1965, 53 construction workers were killed when hydraulic fluid used in the Titan II, caught fire in a missile silo in Arkansas. In the 1980s, in another Arkansas Titan II silo, leaking rocket fuel ignited and blew the 6,000 lb nuclear warhead out of the silo and several hundred feet away. This marked the beginning of the end for the Titan II as an ICBM. The 54 Titan II's were replaced in the U.S. arsenal by 50 MX Peacekeeper solid fuel missiles in late 1980s. Approximately 50 Titan IIs were fielded along with some 1000 Minutemen from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s.


CURRENT STATUS OF TITANS

As of 2006, the Titan family of rockets are obsolete. The high cost of Hydrazine and Nitrogen Tetroxide proved too much compared to Hydrogen or Kerosene fuelled vehicles. The current owners of the Titan line ( Lockheed-Martin ) decided to extend their Atlas family of rockets instead of the more expensive Titans, along with joint ventures to sell launches on the Proton and the new Delta IV class of medium and heavy-lift launch vehicles. The second-to-last Titan launched successfully from Cape Canaveral on April 29 , 2005 . The final Titan launched successfully from Vandenberg on October 19 , 2005 , carrying a secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office . There are said to be a number of old Titan II's at AMARC in Tucson, Arizona set to be scrapped.


USES OF TITANS






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