Nova (NASA rocket)

The Nova was a series of rocket designs created by NASA. These designs were suggested both before and after the famous Saturn V rocket that helped carry astronauts to the Moon during the Apollo program. Nova was first proposed in 1958 as a big launcher for important space missions.

The Nova and Saturn V designs were very similar in size and power. However, Saturn V was chosen for the Apollo program because it could use existing buildings and get ready for launch sooner.

Later, in the late 1960s, NASA thought about sending people to Mars. They studied ways to build even bigger rockets, and created new designs under the Nova name. Some of these designs used up to eight Rocketdyne F-1 engines. Today, when people talk about Nova, they often mean these bigger designs meant for future missions beyond the Moon. So, Nova wasn’t one specific rocket, but a name for very large rockets that could be stronger than Saturn V.

Lunar rockets

NASA made the first Nova series of rockets in 1958. The smallest Nova design used four F-1s engines on the bottom and J-2s on top. These rockets could carry 24 tons to the Moon. NASA shared these ideas with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in January 1959.

Other groups were also working on Moon rockets. The US Air Force planned the Lunex Project. Wernher von Braun at the US Army’s Redstone Arsenal worked on a design called "Juno V". In 1959, the Army stopped working on big rockets and gave von Braun’s team to NASA. Now NASA had two big rocket designs: Nova and von Braun’s Saturn (named after Jupiter).

NASA first wanted to use Nova for a plan called "direct ascent". This would send one big spacecraft straight to the Moon. But this needed a very heavy rocket. Von Braun suggested building the spacecraft in pieces in Earth’s orbit. This would need less weight for each launch. As they studied this, they found the spacecraft would be heavier than they thought. So both Nova and Saturn designs had to change.

Nova kept using the direct ascent plan, which needed the strongest lift. The strongest Nova design, called 8L, could carry 68 tons to the Moon. Some other Nova designs used solid fuel instead of F-1 engines.

In 1961, a new plan called Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) was chosen. This needed less weight than the Nova or Saturn plans. They chose the Saturn C-5 because it could be built in an existing factory near New Orleans. Nova would need new, bigger factories.

NASA kept studying Nova until 1962 but later focused on Saturn for the Moon missions.

Mars rockets

As the Apollo program went on, NASA thought about future trips to Mars. They knew the Saturn V rocket was too small for this journey, so they made new plans under the name Nova. These plans were for rockets strong enough to carry up to 1,296,000 pounds into orbit by 1977.

Different companies worked on these designs. Some used what they already knew, while others tried new ideas like special aerospike engines. One design, called Nova C8, looked a lot like another plan named "Saturn C-8". But NASA stopped these Nova plans in 1964 because they did not have enough money.

Specifications for Nova C8

Major Nova specifications include:^{[citation needed]}