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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1523.PDF
740 FLIGHT Missiles and Spaceflight ... SPACE NEWS AT THE A.R.S. THE third Discoverer satellite due to be launched this month,and the NASA family of booster rockets now beingdeveloped, were among the subjects discussed at two recent meetings of the American Rocket Society. The first was a two-day conference on Controllable Satellites at Massachusetts Institute of Technology on April 30-May 1, and the second was anA.R.S. meeting in New York on May 14. Discoverer 3, which was to be launched from Vandenberg,would contain a capsule carrying four white mice. This was reported at a dinner meeting during the two-day conference byCongressman Overton Brooks, chairman of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics. Intended for polar orbit, thesatellite contained a 35 lb conical capsule 2j-3ft in diameter and 2ft long. After completion of a prescribed number of orbitalcircuits, the capsule was to be ejected from the satellite and recovered in the Hawaiian area. The experiment, if successful,would mark the first time that a living creature had returned alive from orbital flight. Details of the Discoverer 2 satellite, which recently fell to Earthsomewhere over Spitsbergen, were also given by Mr. Brooks. On the satellite's second pass around the Earth a ground transmitterhad commanded it to orbit with a 90.5 min period, but internal timer malfunctions caused it to assume a 95 'min period. Auto-matic ejection of the capsule took place on the 17th circuit of the Earth. Believing the capsule to be still on board, the groundcontrollers had commanded ejection on the 22nd pass. The discussions at the four technical sessions at the meetingincluded the following points: Guidance and Control. The problems involved in attempting arendezvous of two satellites were discussed by Mr. P. G. Feeleman of M.I.T. Assuming that the mission was to bring together twosatellites which were orbiting 20 miles apart at 480 and 500 miles above the Earth, a velocity increment of exactly 28ft/sec must beadded to the lower satellite to effect a perfect Hohmann elliptical transfer orbit. A velocity error of 2ft/sec would mean the satel-lites would miss their rendezvous by a distance of lj miles (measured in a radial direction). Assuming the correct velocityincrement, but with a one-degree error in direction the satellites would miss by a distance of 40 miles, or twice the original distanceapart. External Environment. According to Mr. C. A. Whitney of theSmithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, observations of the orbital decay of satellites "appear to confirm the theoretical resultsbased on purely mechanical interaction between the atmosphere and satellite." As yet there had appeared no need to invokeelectrical and magnetic phenomena to account for decay of a satellite's orbit. An informative paper by S. F. Singer of the University ofMaryland discussed the corpuscular radiation environment of the Earth. The outer (Van Allen) radiation belt had its origin in theSun and was composed of "soft" electrons which produced X-rays. As such it presented no great hazard to the space traveller. Theinner "hard" radiation belt, however, consisted of "very penetrat- ing" protons, and presented a definite impediment to spaceflight. Mr. Singer suggested the possibility of "sweeping out" theinner belt with a 15ft diameter satellite. The intensity of the belt could be halved in this manner. Another method of remov-ing the dangerous particles was to set off a series of carefully controlled atomic explosions in space. By releasing non-penetrat-ing fission particles, Mr. Singer suggested, these explosions would disturb the Earth's magnetic field, release trapped radiation-beltparticles, and dump them into the atmosphere. Solar flares produced extremely dangerous situations for spacetravellers. The most recent "spectacular" solar flare had occurred in February 1956 and had caused a twentyfold increase in cosmicray intensity at sea level. The intensity outside the atmosphere, according to the speaker, may have been 1,000 times greaterthan normal. The significance of these flares was that, in the absence of shielding, the human tolerance level would have beenexceeded by a factor of 100. Vehicle Design and Recovery. Mr. J. K. Waul of Douglas Air- ' craft presented a ' theoretical evaluation of the aerodynamic stabilization of satellites. His paper, in which it was suggested that a 10-30ft diameter balloon (used like a sea anchor) might be capable of providing pitch and yaw stabilization of a small 500 lb satellite, was questioned by several of those present. George Brandt of the Advanced Research Projects Agency presented a paper on the military applications of satellites, in which he listed the maximum useful payloads to be expected of satellite vehicles in the next few years. These ranged from the 1959 values of 4,000 lb at 300 miles and 1.000 lb at 5,000 miles to the 1964-68 figures of 50,000 lb at 300 miles, 20,000 lb at 5,000 miles and 12,000 lb at 22,300 miles (the stationary Earth orbit) Propulsion and Trajectories. A paper delivered by two GeneralElectric representatives indicated that ion propulsion was much closer to reality than was generally believed. They reported thaia small ion engine was currently undergoing laboratory tests, and that a unit could be ready for "space testing" in two to threeyears. Advanced ion engines, capable of altering satellite orbital paths, could be ready by 1964 or 1965. The fact that both the ionengine and plasma engine (discussed in another paper) depended upon state-of-the-art improvements in lightweight electricalpower supplies was mentioned by the session chairman. The various papers impressed upon the audience how manyreally significant unknowns there are in space travel. And it is these unknowns which often cause unpredictable delays andaccount for many mistakes in attempts to advance the science of spaceflight. Congressman Brooks stated that the U.S. should notbe discouraged by mistakes and failures. In emphasizing his point Mr. Brooks remarked, "I would feel better if we weremaking more mistakes (mistakes being synonymous with pro- gress)." Many of the assembled scientists agreed that, with theuncertainties ahead, his chances of feeling better in the future were better than average. The featured speaker at the May 14 gathering in New Yorkwas Abraham Hyatt, assistant director for propulsion, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Mr. Hyatt's openingremarks concerned the various Government agencies interested in space work. In discussing the roles of these groups Mr. Hyatt. paid tribute to Dr. von Braun and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Huntsville. After giving a brief review of existing booster rockets, thespeaker presented details of NASA's forthcoming series of advanced booster vehicles : Scout. This 80ft long vehicle would have four stages. Capable of placing a 150 lb payload in a 300-mile orbit, Scout had a weight breakdown as follows: first stage, 23,200 lb; second stage, 8,500 lb; third stage, 2,200 lb; and fourth stage, 505 lb. Thor-Delta. A three-stage vehicle, Thor-Delta had a take-offweight of 106,400 lb. The first-stage engine was a lox/RP-1 unit with a thrust of 152,000 lb. Burning WFNA and UDMH, theAJ-10-42 second-stage engine had a thrust of 7,700 1b. Weight of the Thor-Delta vehicle at second-stage ignition was given as4,150 lb. An ABL X-248-A3 solid-propellant rocket, with a thrust of 3,150 lb, served as booster for the 510 lb third stage.Able to place 620 lb payloads in a 300-mile Earth orbit (or 270 lb in a 1,000-mile orbit) the Thor-Delta vehicle could propel 40 1binto lunar orbit. Alternatively, 100 lb payloads could be impacted on the Moon. Atlas-Vega. Although no performance figures on this vehicle werepresented by Mr. Hyatt, several points of interest were noted. Both first and second stage engines burned a mixture of lox andRP-1; the second stage had a "re-fire" capability. The Atlas-Vega could put Mercury-type two-man capsules in what was describedas a "two-week" orbit. Centaur. The Centaur, which was to be turned over to NASA on July 1, differed from Atlas-Vega in that its second-stage engine burned lox and liquid hydrogen. The speaker observed at that point that engines utilizing I0X/H2 had not yet been perfected; many development problems were still to be solved. Saturn. Employing a cluster of eight Thor engines as first-stage propulsion, Saturn vehicles could place 10-15 ton payloads in a 300-mile orbit. Nova. Mightiest of NASA's booster arsenal, Nova would have aprojected take-off weight of 4,800,000 lb. Second stage ignition weight was 1,300,000 lb, while the weights of the third and fourthstages were 370,000 and 150,000 1b respectively. Thrust of the four stages (in order) were 6,000,000 1b, 1,700,000 lb, 320,000 lband 80,000 lb. Nova could be used to launch 150,000 lb payloads into 300-mile Earth orbits. Other payload capabilities of Novawere: 43,000 1b in a lunar orbit, 20,000 lb for a soft lunar landing, 2,100 lb for a soft lunar landing and return to Earth, and4,500 lb for a soft landing on Mars. As one might imagine Nova had a tremendous thirst for fuei:a 60,000 h.p. turbine was required to supply fuel at the needed flow rate of three tons per second. Mr. Hyatt advised that NASA's space experiments for th-future involved the use of five engines. These included the lox/ kerosine 1,500,000 lb unit (clustered to give 6 million pounds ofthrust in Nova); an 80,000 lb lox/H 2 engine; a 20,000 lb storagerocket motor; a 15,000 1b I0X/H2 booster (now under development at Pratt & Whitney); and a 6,000 lb storable liquid rocket. DON ADDAMS
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