VANDENBERG SPACE CENTER STATUS

The Vandenberg Shuttle launch pad is in a minimum caretaker status bringing it down to a $50 million a year operations and maintenance cost that would permit us to reactivate Vandenberg in the nineties if the requirements dictate. But at this time, there are no DoD requirements from Vandenberg that we can currently identify for the Shuttle.

However, there are still uncertainties existing as to how the SDI programs will impact DoD requirements or some other future capabilities for us in space.

At this point, with Titan IV and its capabilities, we currently see no requirements to reactiviate the Vandenberg Shuttle facility for space purposes.

HEAVY LIFT LAUNCH VEHICLE

Mr. McDADE. You mentioned in passing the HLLV. Where would you launch from should that eventually occur?

Secretary ALDRIDGE. To be determined. I will talk about that as the far-term solution. We have two programs underway to do that. [Chart follows:]

RECOVERY LAUNCH VEHICLES

Secretary ALDRIDGE. This is the midterm. Our plans assume that funding has been provided for the replacement of the Challenger with a fourth orbiter, we anticipate that will be available for flight in about 1992. We will have Titan IVs. We now have contracted for 23 Titan IVs through the Five Year Defense Plan. That number could change if the Shuttle downtime is extended beyond the February 1988 timeframe. That is our plan at this time, to buy 23 of those, and they are under contract to do so.

The Delta II, which is an upgrade of the current Delta, will be used to launch our NAVSTAR Global Positioning System satellites. We have plans for at least 20 of those. I believe we now have seven under actual contract with priced options for 13 more.

On the Titan II, we have contracted for 13 of those. We have 43 remaining that could be converted to space launch vehicles in the future.

The plan, of course, is to launch the Shuttle in February of 1988. The Titan IV is available for launch in late 1988, the Delta II in late 1988, and the Titan II in early 1988. As a matter of fact, just a little less than a year from now we will be able to launch a Titan II.

[CLERK'S NOTE.-Classified chart removed.]

The next chart shows the status of our most important satellite programs.

Let me explain the status of the Defense Satellite Communications System.

The nomenclature there is green for fully operational, yellow says it begins to get degraded, gray says it is severely degraded, and red says it is not operational. That would happen if we had no future launches. That is the status of our constellations without any additional launches.

GPS, of course, is a new system in its operational stage. We currently have seven satellites on-orbit in an R&D state.

Milstar is
is a

future.

new opportunity which will come in the

GPS will launch late in 1988 off the Delta II. We will have both the Delta II and Shuttle launching to fill up the constellation of 18 satellites and then a Titan IV Centaur will launch Milstar in late

The point of this chart is that if we can get our space launch capabilities back on track with the Titan IV then the Shuttle can come on board in the 1988, 1989 and 1990 period for DoD, and we will be in good shape with our constellations.

[Chart follows:]

LAUNCH BASE STRATEGY

• KENNEDY AND CAPE CANAVERAL

-2 SHUTTLE PADS

-1 TITAN IV PAD (ILC 1988)

-1 TITAN 34D PAD (THROUGH 1989)

-2 DELTA II PADS (ILC 1988)

• VANDENBERG

-1 SHUTTLE PAD (FACILITY CARETAKER STATUS) -2 TITAN IV PADS (ILC 1989/1993)

-1 TITAN II PAD (ILC 1988)

LAUNCH BASE STRATEGY

Secretary ALDRIDGE. On launch base strategy, we want flexibility there as well. On the East Coast, we will have two Shuttle pads. We will have one Titan IV pad which will have a launch capability in late 1988. We also have one Titan 34D pad, even though DoĎ would not use it past 1989. It would be available for commercial use if Martin-Marietta does, in fact, provide for the commercial application.

At Vandenberg, we have one Shuttle pad which we will keep in caretaker status and reactivate if the need arises. We will have two Titan IV pads if Congress approves our request. The initial launch capability will be in 1989 and the second pad will be available in 1993. We will have one Titan II pad available in April of 1988.

So that is a mixture of Shuttle and ELVs from both coasts that will meet our strategy for launching over the mid-term.

SPACE TRANSPORTATION ARCHITECTURE STUDY

Now, for the future, we got together a year or so ago with NASA and completed an effort which we call the Space Transportation Architecture Study. It was a joint study directed by the President for NASA and DoD.

I was a cochair of that committee with Jess Moore who, at the time, was here in Washington. We started with an objective of developing a future launch capability, but with lower payload cost to orbit.

The conclusions of the study which are still being worked were to start off with a three-element program, one was to build an unmanned heavy lift launcher that will be a basic cargo vehicle. The technology seemed to imply that we could, in fact, get the cost down by as much as a factor of 10 if it worked. If it was a factor of 3, we would be delighted.

The second part of the program was a need for a manned system that would replace the Shuttle. It did not define exactly which it was, but it said we need some type of manned capability. We have several study activities underway there.

The third element was an orbital transfer vehicle to be developed as soon as practicable to keep the costs down. The plan is to develop a heavy lifter with the supplemental which has been requested from the Congress. We could, in fact, begin utilizing the technologies for a heavy lift vehicle now that could get us a capability in the mid-nineties.

I am not able to argue whether that is 1993, 1994 or 1995 because we won't know until the studies are completed. Again, an Orbital Transfer Vehicle that would be availble to us in the 2000 time frame and we could get on a manned system that could be based on Shuttle II or a National Aerospace Plane, but we need to begin developing the technology that could get us a capability after the year 2000.

Secretary ALDRIDGE. On the upper part of the chart, you see a high-energy upper stage. We also suggested that as a result of the Centaur cancellation on Shuttle, there needed to be a higher energy upper stage available for the Shuttle for launching larger payloads. It would have to be some type of storable propellant to avoid the safety problems that Centaur experienced. We are beginning studies of that now, although no plan will be submitted until the studies are completed.

Sir, that gives you a sense for where we are heading for the future. Let me just say there is still the possibility of other shoes to fall.

ORBITAL TRANSFER VEHICLE

Mr. McDADE. Mr. Secretary, I am having trouble remembering what the Orbital Transfer Vehicle is and how it works.

Secretary ALDRIDGE. Basically it is an upper stage that is reusable, not like a Centaur where you use it and throw it away. It can go up to geosynchronous orbit, deliver payloads and come down and be reused over and over again.

Mr. McDADE. So it is a recapture of an upper stage, be it on a Shuttle or

Secretary ALDRIDGE. Yes, sir. There are several design concepts that we are talking about. The most intriguing part of this is what they call an aeroballistic mode which uses, as the OTV returns to earth orbit, the ultra thin upper atmosphere for slowing down. It does not have to burn a retro-rocket or use its own energy for slowing down and it can make the vehicle last longer.

We do have some lingering problems that we have not found complete answers to and that is the Shuttle standdown duration could still be longer. There is also uncertainty in the flight rate, even though it is planned for 16 flights a year, once we get flying again and build up confidence.

There may be further performance degradations of the Shuttle as increasing safety margins are added, or the astronaut recovery systems are added, or for other types of things which occur such as rescheduling priorities. We know there are pressures for the scientific community to use these flights as well as our own. We all have backlogs of satellites waiting to fly.

On the Titan, we have liens against possible Titan future performance such as completing the nondestructive testing of the solid rocket motor. There could be surprises from that. Also, the impact of any problems with Shuttle performance or standdown duration is the funding that may be required to build up Titan flights in order to get us those launch capacities and capabilities.

Those are still outstanding issues and they could impact our future plans. We hope they turn out for the best so we don't have to worry about making major perturbations in the program.

SUMMARY

That is a brief summary of where we stand on our recovery efforts. I think we have met the objectives for a robust launch fleet of boosters, at least over the midterm. We will have a robust capability for launch pads, both at the West and East Coasts, for getting to space and I think the program we have laid out accomplishes that. We obviously appreciate the support of this Committee and the rest of the Congress in making sure the funds are there to get us these capabilities.

Mr. Chairman, I am prepared to answer any questions now in this session or we could proceed on to the special access, however you would like to proceed.

[The statement of Secretary Aldridge follows:]