The Space Congress® Proceedings 1981 (18th) The Year of the Shuttle Apr 1st, 8:00 AM Centaur for the 1980's John E. Niesley Advanced Systems Project Engineer, Advanced Centaur Programs, General Dynamics Convair Division Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings Scholarly Commons Citation Niesley, John E., "Centaur for the 1980's" (1981). The Space Congress® Proceedings. 4. https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings/proceedings-1981-18th/session-6/4 This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Conferences at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Space Congress® Proceedings by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. CENTAUR FOR THE 1980s JOHN E. NIESLEY Advanced Systems Project Engineer Advanced Centaur Programs General Dynamics Convair Division San Diego, California ABSTRACT Currently, Centaur is undergoing additional per Centaur is currently the world's only operational high- formance improvements for Intelsat, which will energy upper stage, and is the United States primary enhance its capabilities for the 1980s. NASA has also upper stage for launching solar system probes, large recently decided to integrate Centaur with the Space geosynchronous communication satellites, and obser Shuttle for solar exploration missions, large future vatories to study the farthest limits of space. Centaur is geosynchronous commercial satellites, and potential currently launched on Atlas, but has also flown with Department of Defense (DoD) missions. These appli the larger Titan booster. NASA recently decided to in cations will ensure continued use of Centaur through tegrate Centaur with the Space Shuttle for future solar the remainder of the 1980s.