N-3 launch vehicle: What could have been an effective light carrier rocket?

[xenomorph555]

When Korolev was designing the N-1 it was said that he designed it to be a "universal rocket" (non dedicated, "add more boosters", exp angara) a trend that was becoming popular in the 60's USSR due to the thought of it being cheaper. So n-1 was designed so all of the 3 main stages would be their "own" LV.

The third stage with the mini 4th stage would be the N-3 rocket capable of 2.5 tonnes to leo.

2nd, 3rd and 4th stage would be the N-2 capable of 25 tonnes to leo.

And the complete N-1 with 95 tonnes to leo.

However I want to focus on the small N-3, I personally believe this could have been a very good LV. It would have stood at 25 meters (not counting fairings) with 5 engines in total (1s:4, 2s:1) I believe it could have been very cheap, there are also lots of 2.5- payloads these days. Also who knows, maybe n-2 could have outdone the proton.

What do you think?

Edited July 24, 2014 by xenomorph555

[BadRocketsCo.]

Man, I don't know, 2.5 tonnes sounds a bit low for todays standards (?) . The N-2 is a whole another thing though! But would it be cost effective?

[jwenting]

N1 outdid the proton, if you count the kaploowie when it blows up.

And that's the basic flaw in the design...

[Tommygun]

I wonder if something like the N-3 could be a good "science and research" rocket.

Two and a half tons is still a lot of cubeSats and small science experiments.

[jwenting]

the only reason cubesats can work at all is because they're stuffed in dead space of existing launchers, essentially bringing the launch cost to zero for them.

[xenomorph555]

N1 outdid the proton, if you count the kaploowie when it blows up.

And that's the basic flaw in the design...

I meant n-2, whoops