Lockheed Martin launch vehicle application to small planetary missions

The development of a new family of launch vehicles by Lockheed Martin to support the current trend toward smaller, rapidly developed, cheaper spacecraft programs is described. An overview of the Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle (LMLV) family of launch vehicles is provided, with specific discussion of the propulsion, avionics, structures, payload options, and payload adapter and separation system options. LMLV's use of Thiokol's Star motors as injection stages is presented for mission requirements other than low Earth orbit. Typical launch environments at the spacecraft interface are identified, and the LMLV Program's special attention to reducing launch operations costs is presented through a discussion of LMLV's ''stack-and-shoot'' parallel-processing methodology; providing minimum interaction between the LMLV and spacecraft launch processing timelines. An overview of the standard LMLV launch services is presented, with discussion of the launch services flow, payload processing, and launch vehicle processing. The results of the first LMLV1 launch in August of 1995 are summarized, along with the current LMLV contract manifest. Copyright (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.