The Saturn V-3, also known as the Saturn MLV 5-3, was a conceptual heavy-lift

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

that would have utilized new engines and new stages that were never used on the original

Saturn V The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had multistage rocket, three stages, and was powered by liquid-propel ...

. The Saturn V-3 was studied by the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Marshall Space Flight Center Marshall Space Flight Center (officially the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center; MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville postal address), is the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government's ...

in 1965. The first stage, called MS-IC-1, was to have used new F-1 engines designated F-1A which utilized a pump-fed design, an anticipated 20% additional thrust, and a six-second improvement in

specific impulse Specific impulse (usually abbreviated ) is a measure of how efficiently a reaction mass engine, such as a rocket engine, rocket using propellant or a jet engine using fuel, generates thrust. In general, this is a ratio of the ''Impulse (physics), ...

on an F-1, with the first stage stretched 20 feet. The second and third stages, MS-II-2 and MS-IVB-2, were proposed to use new HG-3 engines in place of the J-2 engines, but were never used, although the HG-3 led to the development of the

Space Shuttle Main Engine The RS-25, also known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine that was used on NASA's Space Shuttle and is used on the Space Launch System. Designed and manufactured in the United States by Rocketd ...

. The V-3 booster was one of six

Saturn MLV The Saturn MLV was a proposed concept family of rockets, intended as a follow-on to the Saturn V. MLV stands for "Modified Launch Vehicle". Vehicle configurations representative of several alternative uprating methods were specified by the Mars ...

designs that never flew, but if these vehicles had been manufactured, they could possibly have been used for the

Apollo Applications Program The Apollo Applications Program (AAP) was created as early as 1966 by NASA headquarters to develop science-based human spaceflight missions using hardware developed for the Apollo program. AAP was the ultimate development of a number of official ...

, Manned Orbiting Research Laboratory,

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

fly-by and Mars landing missions in the 1970s and 1980s.

References

* Lowther, Scott, ''Saturn: Development, Details, Derivatives and Descendants'' * Saturn V Improvement Study, Final report, NASA Contract NAS8-11359. Saturn V {{Rocket-stub