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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 0347.PDF
I FEBRUARY 12TH, 1942 FLIGHT LUNAR SPACE VESSEL The weight would be disposed, as follows: — Tons. Fig. 2. Ship as on arrival at lunar surface. (23) Outer airlock manhole ; (24) Retractable shock absorber legs. mixtures it is possible to control their rate of combustion. This is a perfectly valid argument, so far as it goes, and no doubt liquid fuels are very suitable for any purpose other than that of providing the main bulk of the fuel of a large-scale space ship. Liquid Fuels Liquid fuels exist which could pro vide a high order of thermo-chemical energy, and there are few solid fuels, as yet' developed, that can compare with them in this respect. The British Interplanetary Society, prior to the outbreak of war, were engaged in a very interesting line of research, and it is hoped that when it is found possible to resume, considerable improvement will be shown in the performance of solid fuels. If this proves to be the i-ase, their greater density and in- ' herent structural rigidity will make important foundation for their claim as the most suitable fuel for large-scale rockets. The B.I.S. published a design for a space-ship using multi-tube solid fuel rocket-motors, arranged so that they could be electrically ignited in mul tiples to provide any desired thrust factor. The arrangement of these tubes, in honeycomb formation, is of such inherent rigidity that great struc tural economy may be achieved. An additional advantage claimed for this type of construction is that they may so be linked that when they cease thrust they automatically detach themselves and drop off, thus increas ing efficiency by reducing deadweight at the earliest possible moment. One-and-a-half Tons A ship constructed on this prin ciple, using a fuel producing 3.9 kms. / sec. exhaust velocity, and with a re turn weight to the earth's atmosphere °f 0-75 tP*lC would have an initial weight oi 1,512 tons. parachute and harness. Batteries, landing legs food stores, tools, water air Outer shell .. General structure Tubes, lagging, nozzles Fuel .. . wiring. chokes 0.75 5-0 2.0 80.0 275.0 1,150.0 1-512.75 There is far more to designing a space-ship than the finding of a suffi ciently energetic fuel. It is possible for a fuel to be abundantly ener getic, yet useless. It may be unstable, liable to detonation, or of too low density. Apart from the question of suitable Fig- 3. (25) Rearward axial observa tion ports and (27) inner airlock manhole. fuel, there are, as with the airplane, questions of stability and control. Many of the so-called '' designs '' for space-ships are equipped with an im posing array of wings and fins which could serve no possible purpose in the absence of an atmosphere. In a rocket flight to the Moon 99.9 per cent, of the journey would be in airless space. Three minutes after tak ing off, the limits of the atmosphere would be passed at an acceleration of 2g. and a further period of 4! minutes, at this rate of acceleration, would be required to obtain Release Velocity of 9.5 kms./sec. at 2,410 krj*#T Having attained this velocity, the rockets would cease firing, and the ship would "coast" under momentum, taking about 45 hours to reach the lunar orbit. Any attempt to direct the flight by fins, once free of atmosphere, would therefore be foredoomed to failure. The B.I.S. Research Committee sug gest the alternative of rotating the ship about its axis. It has been calcu lated that if the ship revolves once in three seconds, the gyro inertia would be such that if 10 per cent, of the tubes failed completely and if they were all placed in the most unfavour able position, as far from the centre of gravity as possible, the deflection would still be restrained within limits from which recovery could be made. Once rotation has been established, it will continue until some torque force is opposed to check it. The moment of greatest direc tional instability is that immediately succeeding launching. A launching cradle has been devised, as an integral part of the scheme, which will enable the machine to accumulate sufficient rotary momentum before launching. An additional advantage of axial rotation lies in the fact that the cen trifugal force set up will simulate gravitation, which otherwise would appear XT the crew to be lacking, directly the thrust impulse ceased. The apparent lack of any effective gravitation '' would cause nervous and digestive disorders, such as to pro duce acute nausea, rendering the crew powerless and probably senseless. Gyro-precession It is essential that it should be pos sible to stop or start rotation at will, as any attempt at change of direction would introduce gyro-precession which might become uncontrollable. Tan- gentially mounted opposed sets of manually controlled rockets are pro vided for this purpose. Six batteries of axially directed auxiliary rockets would provide adequate stability for approach manoeuvres, and it is sttg*""" gested that manually controlled liquid fuel rockets be used for this purpose. It is fortunate that the low gravita tional potential of the Moon auto matically implies a vary slow rate of fall, thus mitigating, in part, the diffi culties of the final approach. Owing to the complete absence of eroding forces, the lunar surface will most probably consist of jagged splinters of rock intermingled with fissures to such an extent as to render a vertical approach the only possible Fig. 4. Ship as at entry to earth's atmosphere on return flight. (26) Parachute.
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