/sci/ - Science & Math

>>12156913
Centaur V is a refinement of Centaur G, which was designed to fly as a Shuttle kickstage but got cancelled after Challenger.

>>12156972
A kickstage on a TSTO is basically a third stage. Two kerolox/methalox stages plus a hydrolox stage is what the Saturn V used. Starship/Centaur would be the same performance class for way less money. Retanking the big fucker up is definitely better for going to the Moon or Mars, but if you're throwing probes on one way missions, Centaur is just going to give you more dV and C3.