Delta III

Delta III

Delta III rocket diagram
Function	Orbital launch vehicle
Manufacturer	Boeing (design, manufacturing and assembly) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (RP-1 tank and upper stage manufacturing) NASDA (upper stage design) Contraves (fairing and payload adapters)
Country of origin	United States
Size
Height	35 m (115 ft)
Diameter	4 m (13 ft)
Mass	301,450 kg (664,580 lb)
Stages	2 or 3
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass	8,290 kg (18,280 lb)[1]
Payload to GTO
Mass	3,810 kg (8,400 lb)[1]
Associated rockets
Family	Delta
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	Cape Canaveral, SLC-17B
Total launches	3
Success(es)	0
Failure(s)	2
Partial failure(s)	1
First flight	26 August 1998
Last flight	23 August 2000
Boosters – GEM 46
No. boosters	9
Maximum thrust	628.3 kN (141,200 lbf)
Specific impulse	273 seconds (2.68 km/s)
Burn time	75 seconds
Propellant	AP / HTPB / Al
First stage
Powered by	1 × RS-27A
Maximum thrust	1,085.79 kN (244,100 lbf)
Specific impulse	254 seconds (2.49 km/s)
Burn time	260 seconds[2]
Propellant	LOX/RP-1
Second stage – DCSS
Powered by	1 × RL10B
Maximum thrust	110.03 kN (24,740 lbf)
Specific impulse	462 seconds (4.53 km/s)[3]
Burn time	700 seconds[2]
Propellant	LOX / LH2
Third stage (Optional) – Star 48B
Maximum thrust	66.723 kN (15,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	286 seconds (2.80 km/s)
Burn time	87 seconds
Propellant	HTPB
[edit on Wikidata]

Delta III was an expendable launch vehicle made by McDonnell Douglas (later acquired by Boeing). Development was canceled before the vehicle became operational. The vehicle is the third generation of the Delta rocket family, developed from the highly successful Delta II to help meet the launch demand of larger satellites. While the Delta III never had a successful launch, some of the technologies developed were used in its successor, the Delta IV.

The Delta III was the first to use the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage, which was designed by the National Space Development Agency of Japan based on the second stage it developed for the H-IIA rocket and built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Contraves built the fairing and payload adapters based on designs it used on the Ariane 4.

The first Delta III launch was on August 26, 1998.^[4] Of its three flights, the first two were failures, and the third, though declared successful, reached the low end of its targeted orbit range and carried only a dummy (inert) payload. The Delta III could deliver up to 3,810 kilograms (8,400 lb) to geostationary transfer orbit, twice the payload of its predecessor, the Delta II.^[1] Under the four-digit designation system from earlier Delta rockets, the Delta III is classified as the Delta 8930.