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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0403.PDF
383 FLIGHT International, 14 March 1963 NASA artist's impression of the rail-mounted crawler which will transport loaded Saturn V launch vehicles between the vertical-assembly building and launch pad at Complex 39 at Cape Canaveral. As reported below, the Space Administration has now selected a manufacturer for this mighty vehicle MARION T,0 BUILD NASA CRAWLER The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration has selected the Marion Power Shovel Co, of Marion, Ohio, to design and build the gigantic Apollo crawler-transport vehicle. It will enter the vertical-assembly building at Complex 39 at Cape Canaveral and pick up a fully assembled Apollo lunar spacecraft mated to a three-stage Saturn V launch vehicle, weighing 500,0001b, plus necessary launch equipment, towering 400ft high and weighing, all told, some 12,000,0001b. It will then haul it over two miles, while keeping the huge load exactly vertical, and deposit it gently on the Merritt Island launch pad. It must perform the feat in winds gusting up to 45kt. Weight of the crawler will be 5,500,0001b, and it will be 20ft high, 130ft long and 115ft wide. Each of its four trucks, measuring about 24ft by 40ft, will run at up to 2 m.p.h. on wheels driven by steel-link belts. There will be a total of 16 electric motors, two driving each belt. The motors in turn will be powered by two 2,800 h.p. diesel generators. The crawler will shoulder its load at each corner on a unique system of four hydraulic cylinders grouped around a rigid 48in diam guide tube. The levelling system is to maintain the chassis within 0.1° of level at all times, even while climbing a five per cent (1 : 20) grade. It will be able to turn at the rate of 10°/min, and be operated from cabs at either end by two men. Marion plan to transport major crawler components by rail to Merritt Island for final assembly. NASA plans to buy two crawlers to serve the three or more pads that will be built at Complex 39. The vehicles will cost between $4m and $5m each, and the first should be undergoing test runs at Merritt Island by late 1964. New French Space Company Compagnie Generate d'Electricite and Rothschild Freres have formed Societe d'Etudes et de Realisa tions par le Genie Spatial (GESPA) "to devise and build space- vehicle launching and observation equipment." Minuteman Wing Complete It was announced by the US Air Force on March 2 that the 10th Strategic Missile Squadron is now fully operational. It comprises five flights each consisting of a launch control centre and ten unmanned Minuteman silos. All 50 silos are now at instant (30sec) readiness. Work on the two other squadrons of the first Wing—at Malmstrom AFB, Great Falls, Montana—is fast approaching completion. USAF Measure Air Density The Cambridge Research Laboratories of the US Air Force recently launched a 9ft Mylar balloon from an Aerobee at 160 miles to obtain data on density of the atmosphere (important for spacecraft re-entry calculations). The inflated sphere supported linear accelerometers coupled to telemetry, while the sphere's fall was measured by ground optical and radar tracking. RAE Hypersonics In the course of the Commons Debate on Defence on March 5 (page 354) the Minister of Aviation, Mr Julian Amery, said "Our fastest firm operational requirement at present calls for speeds of Mach 3. We are at present studying and experimenting at Farnborough a need which we think will arise for sub-orbital manned flight at speeds of Mach 14." It is known that the RAE have long been looking at hypersonic atmospheric vehicles (Flight International, September 13 last), but mention of this Mach number would seem to preclude air-breathing propulsion. Titan 2 Failure First silo launch of the US Air Force Titan 2 1CBM ended in disaster when the missile blew up at about T+20 sec. The shot, from Vandenberg AFB, was also the first of this missile on the Pacific coast. Date was February 16. 1,000-mile Radiation Probe NASA launched an Argo D-8 Journeyman from Point Arguello on February 11 to seek data on upper-atmosphere radiation, especially from last year's nuclear testing. The 1041b payload reached 990 miles and telemetered the results of four experiments. Swedish Falcons Delivery of Falcon air-to-air missiles ordered from Saab for Swedish Air Force J35F Drakens has now started. Saab is prime contractor for the licence manufacture of two members of the American Hughes Falcon family, one carrying the Swedish designation Rb 327 and being fitted with radar homing and the other, Rb 328, having infra-red homing. Chief subcon tractors are L. M. Ericsson, Svenska Radiobolaget and Bofors. Also participating in the programme are Karlskronavarvet AB and the Air Force central works at Vasteras. (Picture, last week.) British Satellites Despite Government (Postmaster-General) statements discouraging "go-it-alone" proposals, the Con servative Space Sub-committee agreed on February 20 to press for a British and Commonwealth comsat system. The Sub-committee further called for a Space Minister, or even a Minister for Satellite Communications. In reply to their honorary secretary, the Post master-General wrote that a "broad policy decision" on comsats would soon be taken, while the A.ir Minister wrote that Britain has no plans to co-operate with the USA in the establishment of a NATO meteorological-satellite system. (On March 6 a further call for a British comsat programme was made by over 70 Conserva tive back-benchers.) Vertistat, by GD/Astronautics, is a space-orientation system using the combined influence of gravity and centrifugal force acting on tubes up to 600ft long formed by self-unwinding spools of beryllium-copper tape. The system tends gradually to align itself with the local vertical
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