🚀 go-pugleaf

With all this talk about no expendable boosters around to put
satellites into orbit, I was thinking: what about the (remaining)
Titan II missiles used by the USAF as ICBMS in silos in Arkansas?
They are being decommissioned - there have been several failures
due to leaks causing fires, explosions, etc. So why not use the
ones remaining?

Pros:

o	The missiles take 1/2 hour to fuel, so their military usefulness
	is limited at best (first strike, anyone?)

o	They don't have to be moved; just remove the warhead bus and
	replace with a satellite & shroud & ... (I didn't say this
	was free or even cheap; just available soon)

Cons:

o	Are they reliable enough to use as satellite launchers?

o	Would the Soviets be nervious if they saw a (single)
	launch of a Titan II into circum-polar orbit? [i.e.,
	would they think it's a pin-down strike?]

o	Military: We can't spare a single missile.

Unknowns:

o	Cargo weight of a Titan II to LEO? to GSO?

o	Time to build a housing for a satellite for the Titan II?


Anyway, if anyone knows more about this than I (That is to say,
any real facts), I would be curious about this.
-- 

						-- Bob Gottlieb
UUCP: ...!linus!alliant!gottlieb
Mail: Alliant Computer Systems Corp, 42 Nagog Park, Acton, MA 01720
Phone: (617) 263-9110
Foot:  "You can't get there from here".
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