摘要: The Department of Defense (DoD) uses a wide variety of satellites to carry outits responsibilities.These range from weather and navigation to communications and surveillance. To place satellites into orbit, the Department relies u... 展开 The Department of Defense (DoD) uses a wide variety of satellites to carry outits responsibilities.These range from weather and navigation to communications and surveillance. To place satellites into orbit, the Department relies upon a range of different expendable launch vehicles, currently supplied by three prime contractors (Martin Marietta, McDonnell Douglas, and Orbital Sciences Corporation). All three firms are profitable. In addition, other manufacturers have begun investing in new vehicles to be used for commercial launches beginning in 1995. For the foreseeable future, the Department expects industrial space launch capabilities will be adequate to meet its needs. Additionally, DoD is supporting the development of a new evolved family of launch vehicles to reduce costs and ensure adequate space launch capability in the next century. This report summarizes our analysis of this industry. It relies upon the many previous studies undertaken by DoD and others (which are listed at the end of this section). 收起