Saturn C - friznit/Unofficial-BDB-Wiki GitHub Wiki
Background
Saturn (literally "the one after Jupiter") development studies oversaw the evolution of a heavy launch vehicle that would eventually become the Saturn V. Only Saturn C-1 and C-5 derivatives actually flew, as Saturn I and Saturn V respectively.
The earliest "Super-Jupiter" studies involved strapping a Titan I rocket on top of a cluster of Jupiter tanks and explored three, four and even five stage launch vehicles using an early Centaur cryogenic upper stage.
Saturn C-2 is a four-stage launch vehicle using the S-I and S-IV stages from Saturn I, and inserting either an S-III second stage powered by two J-2 engines or a stretched S-II (a smaller variant of the five engine S-II used on Saturn V) and an S-V on top.
Saturn C-3 features a widened S-IB-2 first stage tank with two F-1 engines, a widened S-II of the same diameter and topped by the S-III, S-IV and S-V stages. Other considerations included a three engines C-3B with a first stage tank widened even further (6.25m KSP Scale) and the C-3N, which features a nuclear NERVA engine in the third stage.
Saturn C-4 consists of three stages: an S-IB-4 first stage with four F-1 engines, the S-II second stage and a single J-2 powered S-IVB third stage.
The C-5 adds a fifth F-1 engine to a stretched first stage tank and a fifth J-2 to the S-II stage, finalising the configuration that would become the Saturn V launch vehicle.
C-8 is not part of the Saturn development studies. It is a larger than Saturn V study that proved the impracticality of Apollo direct ascent lunar missions and is almost but not quite entirely identical to the post-Apollo Nova concept for manned Mars missions. The C-8 features eight F-1 engines on a widened (7.6m KSP Scale) S-IC-8 first stage, eight J-2 engines on the S-II-8 second stage and a stretched S-IVB stage with a single J-2 engine. For the avoidance of doubt, C-8 is not a Nova and you can't build one out of BDB parts.
Tags: Sarnus
Variants
These were only ever conceptual rockets and there are multiple variants that evolved over many years of studies. Dimensions, naming conventions and configurations are not entirely consistent in the NASA records, which can lead to some confusion. The numbers in parentheses refer to the dimensions of the stage, scaled to KSP and rounded to the closest length & diameter of the parts in BDB.
| Saturn Development | First | Second | Third | Fourth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Super-Jupiter | S-I 4xE1 (15x4) | Titan 1-1 (2xLR-87-3) | Titan 1-2 (LR-91-3) | |
| Juno V-A | S-I 8xH1 | Jupiter Cluster 4xS-3 | Titan 1-1 | Titan 1-2 |
| Juno V-B | S-I | Jupiter Cluster (11.5x3.3) | Titan 1-1 | Centaur C (2x RL-10A-1) |
| A-1 | S-I | Titan 1-1 | Centaur C | |
| A-2 | S-IB 8x H1 (15x4) | Jupiter Cluster | Centaur C | |
| B-1 | S-IB | Titan Cluster 4xLR-89-5 (10x4) | S-IV 6xRL-10 (8x3.75) | S-V (Centaur C) (1.875x5.6) |
| C-1 | S-I (Bl. 1) | S-IV | S-V | |
| C-2 (1959) | S-I | S-III 2xJ2 (8x4) [SIVB Tank] | S-IV | |
| C-2 (1961) | S-I | S-II 4xJ2 (14x4) [SIVB+6m] | S-IV | S-V |
| C-3 (1959) | S-IB-2 2xF1 (22x5) | S-II-C3 4xJ2 (8.75x5) | S-III | S-IV + S-V |
| C-3 (1961) | S-IB-2 | S-II-C3 4xJ2 (13.5x5) | S-IV | S-V |
| C-3B | S-IC-C3B 5xF1 (22x6) | S-II-C5B 5xJ2 (-2.5m) | S-IVB-C3B 1xJ2 (9.5x3.5) | S-V (Centaur E) |
| C-4 | S-IB-4 4xF1 (18x6) | S-II-4 4xJ2 (-5m) | S-IVB 1xJ2 (11x4) | |
| C-4B | S-IC-C4B 5xF1 (21x6) | S-II-C5B | S-IVB-C5A (12x3.5) | |
| C-5 | S-IC 5xF1 (26x6) | S-II 5xJ2 (15.5x6) | S-IVB |
Basic Build Guide
From top to bottom
The S-V stage is a Centaur C or E (both the same, just renamed by Nasa) powered by 2x RL10B-3 engines. It's not exactly a Centaur D but close enough to use here.
- Super Jupiter: Prometheus I, Sarnus-SIVB-425 adapter, standard length S-I tank & S-I engine mount (Juno V config) with 4x E1 engines
- Juno: BDB does not feature the upper stage Jupiter clustered tanks for these rockets
- A-1: Inon D (insulation installed), Prometheus I first stage, Sarnus-SIVB-425 adapter, standard length S-I tank & S-I engine mount (Block 1 config) with 4x Sarnus-HD1-270 outer and 4x Sarnus-HC1-280 inner engines
- A-2 / B-1: BDB does not feature any upper stage Jupiter or Titan clustered tanks
- C-1: Same build as a Sarnus I except the engine fairing uses Block 1 config with no fins
- C-2: Use Inon D (insulation installed) as the S-V stage; S-IV stage is the same as Sarnus I; S-III uses standard length Sarnus-SIVB tank, SIVB Engine Mount and 2x Sarnus HE2J "Dnoces" cryogenic engines; S-II (used on the 1961 version of C-2) is a Sarnus-SIVB tank with 6m stretch; S-I stage same as Sarnus I
- C-3 / C-4: KSP scale would be 5.25m diameter. 5m stock (or Restock) tanks can be substituted to get a roughly close enough fit
- C-5: S-II is actually a slightly different diameter to the Saturn V but not available in game so go with the Saturn V build!
