Pegasus Rocket Family

The Pegasus Rocket Family is a series of disposable 2 stage rockets developed by Rockomax as a medium lift rocket for KASA. Initially designed as apart of the KASA program to replace the Trojan II, the Pegasus would ultimately come into competition with the Trojan III and its successors.

Like the Trojan, the Pegasus Rocket Family was one of the most capable rocket families, as it had a wide range of available configurations that could be offered between Series. This allowed the Pegasus to be configured to each mission requirements.

The customization of the Pegasus was represented in the unique naming convention that indicated the configuration of any particular rocket. This 4--digit convention represented the configuration of the rocket. The members of the family are distinguished by the first number, which represents the type of first stage. The second digit represented the number of SRBs attached. The third digit represented the second stage used. The fourth digit was used to indicate an optional 3rd stage.

Pegasus 1000
Rockomax submission to the Trojan II replacement program was a cheap 1.8m 2 stage rocket, based on Artemis Era Technologies. The Pegasus 1000 would submit a 2-stage 1.8m diameter rocket concept based on Artemis Era Technology. In particular, the Pegasus 1000 was born out of a still-born Artemis rocket proposal that removed the powerful first stage, and relied on the second stage to put smaller payloads into orbit.

In this capacity, the Pegasus 1000-series first stage uses heavily reworked and uprated version of the KE-I2 "Skiff" rocket engine, the same engine used in the second stage of the early Artemis Family Rockets. However, in this application this The first stage is a 12.4m long tank, which was not reinforced for SRB use. In this sense the 1000 series tank was not reinforced, and not able to be equipped with SRBs, which greatly hampered its payload capabilities.

The 1000 series was very promising, capable of putting close to 5t in LKO. This compared very favorably to the 3.5t lifting weight of the Trojan I. The largest failure of this initial prototype was the inadequate Pegasus A Upperstage, powered by a LV-909 "Terrier". This upperstage would only be launched on the Pegasus 1000, being quickly replaced by the Pegasus B upperstage on the Pegasus 2000.

The 1000 Series was used very briefly, as it was only intended as a test bed for the later 2000 series.

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Pegasus 2000
Pegasus 2000 was the highly improved version of the Pegasus 1000, and the intended competitor to the Trojan II. The Pegasus 2000 used a stretched and reinforced 1.8m first stage. The first stage was stretched to 14.3m, and reinforced to allow the use of up to 6 SRBs. Due to the extra weight, without SRBs the overall capabilities of the rocket were lower then the preceding Pegasus 1000.

However, with just 2 SRBs the payload capability increased to 8t. And in its highest capacity form with 6 SRB, the Pegasus 2000 was capable of putting 12t into a 220km orbit.

This exceeded the capabilities of the Trojan II while remaining cheaper.

The Pegasus 2000 Series saw the introduction of the vastly improved Pegasus B Upperstage, which used the LV-T91 "Cheetah" Upperstage. While the Pegasus A Upperstage was still used for very small payloads in high orbits, the Pegasus B Upperstage became the de facto second stage.

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Pegasus 3000
 The Pegasus 3000 was the final iteration of the Pegasus 1000 derived launch vehicle, and the last 1.8m Pegasus Member. The Pegasus 3000 was a response to the Trojan III, itself a response to the Pegasus 2000. The Pegasus 3000 was essentially a further enlarged Pegasus 2000, with an extra stretched first stage, which increased the height of the first stage to 18m. This increased fuel load required that the Pegasus 3000 be launched with at least 4 SRBs. This was hardly an issue, as the Pegasus 3000 was intended to directly compete with the Trojan III, which itself was required to launch with two (larger) SRBs. As such, the Pegasus 3000 was launched with 8 SRBs for a large majority of its launches.

The Pegasus 3000 was less capable then the Trojan III, as the Pegasus 3000 only had a 15t lifting capacity to LKO as opposed to the Trojan III's 20t. Additionally, the Trojan III was cheaper to launch, costing $3000 less then a launch of the Pegasus 3000.

Many of these shortcomings was a result of the Pegasus B Upperstage, which was far inferior to the Trojan IIIs upperstage. Despite being powered by identical engines, the Trojan III's upperstage had more fuel and

 

Pegasus 4000
After the retirement of the Artemis III Rocket, KASA was looking for a medium lift expendable 2.5m rocket. Development of the Pegasus 4000 commenced in competition with the Kerbodyne Trojan IV proposal.

 

The Pegasus 4000 was a ground up redesign of the Pegasus 1000 era series, using the new RE-M3 “Mainsail” engine as the main power plant.

 

The Pegasus 4000 was much more stout then the preceding 1.8m design, but much more capable and efficient.

 

The Pegasus 4000 also introduced the availability of Pegasus C Upperstage, which used the RE-10 “Poodle” engine.

 

The Pegasus 4000 was still capable of using the Pegasus B Upperstage for smaller payloads.

 

The 4000 was also capable of using up to 6 SRBs, of the same design used on the preceding Pegasus 3000.

 

While the Trojan III submission had higher deltaV capabilities, the Pegasus 4000 had much higher LKO payload capabilities due to a smaller and more powerful first stage.

 

The Pegasus 4000 was primarily as the launch vehicle for large satillites into lower orbits.

 

Pegasus V

After the Explorer Space Shuttle was retired, KASA had the need for a heavy lift rocket capable of lifting similar payloads in orbit.

With the acquisition of Rockomax and Rocketdyne by Boing! Aerospace, work began on a “Heavy” Variant of the Pegasus 4000.

Dubbed the Pegasus V to meet Boing! Nomenclature, the Pegasus V used an extended tank over the Pegasus 4000.

 

While the Pegasus V otherwise had identical capabilities to the Pegasus 4000, the main advantage was the strengthening of the body.

 

This allowed for the use of the Pegasus in the “Heavy” configuration, which used 2 Pegasus V Common Core Boosters (CCB) as LF Booster Rockets. These boosters fed the central tank, leaving a fully fueled central Pegasus V.

This gave the Pegasus V extraordinary lifting capabilities, and was instrumental for putting large payloads into orbit.