JSR Launch Vehicle Database, 2019 Nov 18 Edition

The LV_Stages list is quite simple. Each line represents a single stage within a vehicle, and gives the vehicle name, the vehicle variant (usually blank), the stage number (which can be -1 or 0 for strapons), the stage name (which maps to the Stages file), a flag to indicate uncertainty (not confirmed that this stage is the correct one) and a flag to indicate a dummy stage (e.g. the Cora vehicle always carries a dummy Astris stage), and finally the stage multiplicity: e.g. stage 0 of the ASLV consists of two AS-0 strapon stages, and so has multiplicity 2. Here is a complicated example, for the Atlas IIAS.

Atlas IIAS    -   -1 Atlas Booster        - -  1   340725.0    90 -5900 ?
Atlas IIAS    -    0 Castor 4A            - -  4    97495.0    50 -6000 ?
Atlas IIAS    -    1 Atlas II             - -  1   104284.0   200 -5550
Atlas IIAS    -    2 Centaur IIA          - -  1    73408.0   200   200
Atlas IIAS    -    F Fairing              - -  2              100 -5900 ?

This tells us that the first stage of the Atlas IIAS is considered to be the Atlas II, but it has two sets of booster stages: stage -1, the Atlas Booster, and stage 0 consisting of four strapon Castor 4A stages. There is a second stage, the Centaur IIA, and a fairing with two pieces. The fairing is not further described in the LVDB.

For some rockets, and this example is one, estimated per-stage impulse in kNs is given. I haven't filled this in for most entries, and suggest that this column be ignored.

Finally we see representative apogee and perigee values for each stage. You shouldn't take these too seriously either.

To summarize, the columns are:

• LV_Name - the name of the rocket
• LV_Variant - string to distinguish different versions with the same name
• Stage_No - integer from -1 to 6, indicating the sequence of stages, or the character F (for fairing).

  As a special case the interstage adapter and SOZ ullage motors jettisoned from Proton Blok DM stages are listed as stage 4 and stage 6 respectively even though they are not really stages, to allow them to be accounted for in software which verifies that all expected pieces of a launch are present.

• Stage_Name - the name of the stage exactly as found in the Stages list.
• Qualifier - optionally, the character ? to indicate the identity of the stage used is uncertain. For example. the STAR rocket's first and only stage is listed as a Super Loki, but I am not confident that's correct, so it gets the question mark.
• Dummy - if the character d is present in this field, the indicated stage is always a dummy (unfuelled) stage in this variant of the rocket.
• Multiplicity: the number of times this stage is clustered at this level of the launch vehicle. This is used most often for strapon boosters.
• Impulse: Stage impulse, mostly not filled in.
• Apogee: a representative value, usually an estimated maximum value for suborbital rockets
• Perigee: a representative value, usually a total guess.