3 ms·
> LGM-30 climbs to 100km altitude before deploying the payload bus, which gives it ample range to hit GEO targets anywhere in the hemisphere. This doesn't make
by jessriedel 7y ago
> LGM-30 climbs to 100km altitude before deploying the payload bus, which gives it ample range to hit GEO targets anywhere in the hemisphere.
This doesn't make sense to me. Could you explain further? LGM-30 is a land-based ICBM designed to strike targets on the surface of the Earth, and hence to take a (just barely) sub-orbital trajectory <13,000 km from point-to-point, with maximum altitude a few hundred km. Wouldn't its thrust capability have to be drastically upgraded to reach 20,000km in altitude, where MEO satellites like GPS are?
- missosoup 7y agoIt takes about 0.6 tons of fuel to transfer from a 100km to a 20,000km orbit. Well within the payload limits of LGM-30. A derivative of the LGM-30, Minotaur, is used to launch satellites (or ordnance) directly to GTO @ ~30,000km.