Nova (rocket)

Nova (rocket)

Nova was a series of proposed rocket designs, originally as NASA's first large launchers for missions similar to the production-level Saturn V, and later as larger follow-ons to the Saturn V intended for missions to Mars, although the Saturn MLV was also a contender to fill this role. The two series of designs were essentially separate, but shared their name. Thus, "Nova" does not refer to a specific rocket design, just a rocket larger than the Saturn V in most cases. To add more confusion, the final Saturn V design was larger than some of the early Nova proposals. The "Nova" depicted in the illustration is the "Nova C8" design (superficially akin to the "Nova 8L" proposal which, instead, had giant twin Aerojet M-1 engines in stage 2). It is also unclear in the historic record, but it appears the Nova C8 concept was nearly identical to the proposed "Saturn C-8"; there were differences in staging engines and in the stage-1 fin/flaring arrangement.