- Source: Saturn V-3
The 3/info/saturn" target="_blank">Saturn 3/info/v" target="_blank">V-3, also known as the 3/info/saturn" target="_blank">Saturn MLV 5-3, was a conceptual heavy-lift launch vehicle that would have utilized new engines and new stages that were never used on the original 3/info/saturn" target="_blank">Saturn 3/info/v" target="_blank">V. The 3/info/saturn" target="_blank">Saturn 3/info/v" target="_blank">V-3 was studied by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in 1965.
The first stage, called MS-IC-1, was to have used new F-1 engines designated F-1A which utilized a pump-fed design, an anticipated 20% additional thrust, and a six-second improvement in specific impulse on an F-1, with the first stage stretched 20 feet.
The second and third stages, MS-II-2 and MS-IVB-2, were proposed to use new HG-3 engines in place of the J-2 engines, but were never used, although the HG-3 led to the development of the Space Shuttle Main Engine.
The 3/info/v" target="_blank">V-3 booster was one of six 3/info/saturn" target="_blank">Saturn MLV designs that never flew, but if these vehicles had been manufactured, they could possibly have been used for the Apollo Applications Program, Manned Orbiting Research Laboratory, Mars fly-by and Mars landing missions in the 1970s and 1980s.
References
Lowther, Scott, 3/info/saturn" target="_blank">Saturn: Development, Details, Derivatives and Descendants
3/info/saturn" target="_blank">Saturn 3/info/v" target="_blank">V Improvement Study, Final report, NASA Contract NAS8-11359.