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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1798.PDF
ROCKETS FOR RESEARCH . . . The Rockoon consists of a small rocket such as a Deacon whichis carried aloft by a high-altitude balloon (itself released from either ground base or ship) before firing. The most spectacular exampleof this was provided recently by the Project Farside rocket which is believed to have attained an altitude of no less than 4,000 milesafter being launched from a balloon at about 20 miles above Eniwetok Atoll. The Farside rocket has ten solid-propellant motorsmounted in four stages. Four Recruits form the first stage, a single Recruit the second stage, four Arrow II motors (used in the Aspsounding vehicle) the third, and a single Arrow II the fourth. The same objective of gaining altitude plus mobility in launchinglies behind the Rockair (Navy) and Rockaire (U.S.A.F.) projects. These involve airborne launching of the rocket from aircraft atabout 35,OOOft, the actual firing taking place as the aircraft pulls up into a vertical position prior to completing a loop. Navyresearch has included modifying a standard folding-fin aircraft rocket (basic cost $50) to accommodate a cosmic-ray counter andassociated telemetry; the Air Force have used a special Rockaire rocket, powered by a standard Jato unit and carried under the wingof an F-86D. In the latter case a 40 lb payload launched at M = 0.8 at 35,OO0ft will reach about 45 miles. Prior to the launching of the first Soviet sputnik, comprehensiveadvance details had been published concerning the U.S. satellite programme, Project Vanguard, and a description of the rocket EXOSPHERE < IONOSPHERE ' STRATOSPHERE] TROPOSPHERE! TARS IDEROCKOON 4OOOm F REGION -t V2 ROCKE1 E REGION D REGION EVEREST I fICBM eOOm PEAK SPUTNIK ,.- - VANGUARD -|- WAC-CORPORAL(V.2 BOOST) -I 1-AEROBEE *• JL VIKING -HI « 1 fl ft 1 •» X-15' AEROSEE. SKYLARK ~l~ NIKE-CAJUN WAC-CORPORAL ROCKAIRE — A— — O MAN-HIGH4f> BELL X-2 V BALLOON M~ -500 -4OO -2OO - 100 888 FLIGHT, 6 December 1957 Far left, French rocket Veronique, developed horn German V.2. Left, the first U.S. test satellite (note rect- angular ports tor solar batteries) in position with halt of phenolic asbestos nose cone. Right, a model of a full-size Vanguard satellite showing central instrumenta- tion pack, mountings tor antennae, and (mounted against shell) cells tor re- cording solar radiation. vehicle and Vanguard satellite itself was included in Flight's reportof the Cranfield conference in our issue of August 2. The main Vanguard experiments will relate to the firing (expected during1958) of six 20-inch instrumented spheres weighing 21J lb each into orbits around the Earth. These will be preceded by smaller,simpler satellites 6.4 inches in diameter and 4 lb in weight, the first of which is scheduled to be launched during this month. Instrumentation in the 20-inch satellites will include an ion-chamber unit (with associated electrometer circuit, solar battery used as an aspect photo-cell, magnetic memory circuits, orbitalswitch and resetting circuit) for the measurement of solar radiation; environmental instrumentation such as thermistors to measuretemperature, evaporated resistance strips sensitive to erosion by meteors, impact microphones to count meteorites, and pressuregauges to detect punctures of hermetically sealed zones; and the Minitrack transmitter which not only provides the tracking sourcebut also transmits the telemetered signals. Cosmic rays will be registered by means of a Geiger counter, 50 individual measure-ments per orbit being stored by a miniaturized magnetic tape recorder before being telemetered to the Minitrack stations. In addition, the Earth's main magnetic field and ionosphericcurrents will be studied from measurements made by a Varna proton precession magnetometer. Meteorological experimentsplanned are the determination of the radiation balance of the Earth and atmosphere, and measurement of the distribution ofthe Earth's cloud cover. For the former, the temperature of small spheres mounted at the tips of the radio antennae will be monitoredto deduce changes in radiant energy; and the cloud cover will be recorded by scanning the landscape below the satellite with infra-red photocells. (Here again storage of information is involved.) The British Skylark. Britain's contribution to I.G.Y. high-altitude research by sounding rockets is centred on the Skylark rocket, designed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment and poweredby a Raven solid-propellant motor giving a nominal thrust of 11,500 lb for about 30 seconds. It is designed to carry a payloadof 100-150 lb to a height of 95 miles, and has a take-off weight of approximately 2,500 lb. Skylark is 25ft in length, its conical nose and a cylindricalparallel section giving some 5 cu ft of useful payload space. The nose cone is made of stainless steel, and in some experiments apart of it will be jettisoned at high altitude by a spring mechanism. The nose cone and the parallel bay can be pressurized independ-ently. In addition to equipment for specific tests, standard instru- mentation includes a 465 Mc/s telemetry sender, Doppler trans-ponder (104-208 Mc/s) and a 6 cm microwave beacon. Six preliminary Skylark firings are being made at Woomeraprior to the I.G.Y. experiments planned by the Gassiot Com- mittee of the Royal Society, and a report of the fourth of thesewhich, on November 13, attained a height of 83 miles, gives some interesting detail on the type of measurements being made by theUniversities and the R.A.E. in this joint programme. Four special installations were carried on the flight: (1) To measure atmospheric temperatures and high-altitude windvelocities: a series of 18 explosive grenades, ejected from the rocket at intervals above 100,000ft. Ground equipment included microphones torecord the arrival of the sound-waves, ballistic cameras to record the position of the explosive flashes, and a detector to record the instantof each flash. This experiment was by University College, London. (2) To measure winds at altitudes up to 50 miles: fourteen cartridgesof "window" foil, released explosively in two clouds at heights above 100,000ft. These clouds were tracked by ground radar, and the experi-ment was devised by Imperial College, London. (3) To measure ionospheric electron densities: a selection of t>ierocket nose, insulated to form a fixed-capacity condenser and indud'.d in a 5 Mc/s oscillatory circuit able to detect the presence of electronsin the ionosphere. The results in this experiment, which was devised i»y the University of Birmingham, were telemetered to the ground.(concluded on page 892) Typical vehicles tor upper-air research. Altitudes shown are approximate only; satellite orbits vary from over 1,000 to less than 200 miles. No'ih American X-75 is designed for manned flight to 100 miles.
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