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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1428.PDF
246 FLIGHT International, 15 August 1963 PIERRES PRECIEUSE8 halves of the payload fairing jettisoned; gaseous nitrogen jets are activated at second-stage burnout to tilt the second and third stages to the local horizontal at the apogee of the subsequent ballistic trajectory; the second stage and equipment bay are pulled away by retrorockets while the third stage and its payload move ahead on articulated arms; third-stage ignition is timed so that trajectory will be parallel to the ground at burnout, but with greater than circular-orbit speed; and small tangential motors spin the stage and payload at 300 r.p.m. to confer stability, as noted in the description of Rubis. Availability of Diamant is described as "1966 for an order placed two years earlier." The first firing of a complete Diamant is scheduled for the first quarter of 1965. It will take place at Colomb- Bechar, and the payload will be a technological R&D package by Matra—possibly with a magnetometer added, for there are ample power supplies, but with no real scientific experiment. All other Diamant payloads will be scientific or commercial. Diamant is a good, sound undertaking well within French capabilities, but SEREB are already looking ahead to later versions. Each of its three stages has been replaced on the drawing board by a completely new one of higher performance. It is curious that the present liquid first stage should be due for replacement by a solid stage, while the solid second and third stages are to give way to high-energy liquid stages. Data for all three new stages are fisted. The new first stage would probably be a joint Nord-Aviation/SNECMA responsibility, with SEPR nozzles. SDP have already cast a block of propellant (probably Isolane) of ten tonnes weight matched to this motor, and have exhibited a grain 12ft 6in long and 79in diameter, burning for 80sec. SEPR have exhibited a prototype of the four nozzles. The latter will have a tungsten throat and resin/graphite bell with exit diameter of some 20in, the whole assembly having thrust vectoring by rotation about a ball-bearing base skewed to the slope of the aft-closure dome. Peak chamber pressure is to be 1,016 lb/sq in. This motor would enable the existing two upper stages to orbit 110kg instead of 80. In combination with improved solid propellant in the existing upper stages a satellite of 130kg could be placed in the same orbit. Contractors for the new upper stages have yet to be decided, but SEPR have lately shown development mock-ups of both. The chosen propellants for both stages are liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. No rocket engine is known to have been run anywhere in Europe on this combination, but SEPR have been engaged in component and rig testing on oxygen/hydrogen and oxygen/fluorine for two years. Development of the proposed new second stage is still at the paper level. A point worth noting is that SEREB specify turbo- pump feed. Design combustion pressure in the four vectorable chambers is 4981b/sq in, and the expansion ratio no less than 45:1, a far higher figure than in previous French rockets. Specific impulse in vacuum conditions, allowing for turbopump consump tion, is 405sec. French Space Vehicle Organization* Air-Equipement Division of DBA. Asniires (Seine), accessory manufacturer specializing in instrumentation, hydraulics,"servocontrols and radio. Bronzavia SA Bronzavia, Courbevoie (Seine), accessory firm specializing in electrics and electronics, thermal and air-conditioning problems, fuel systems and precision mechanisms. DDP Direction des Poudres, Paris 4e, agency of the Ministire des Armees charged with providing all Explosives and solid rocket propellants required by the Services and Government departments. DEFA Direction des Etudes at Fabrications d'Armement, Saint Cloud", department of DMA responsible for armament studies, design and hardware manufacture. DMA Direction Ministerielle pour I'Armement, Paris 7e, the French Government authority responsible for all armaments (and now, as a sideline, space vehicles). ELDO European Launcher Development Organization (in French, CECLES, Conseil Europeen pour la Construction de Lanceurs d'Engins Spatiaux). ESRO European Space Research Organization (in French, CERS, Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Spatiale), Jaeger Levatlois-Perret (Seine), company specializing in all kinds of instrumen tation and control equipment. LRBA Laboratoire de Recherches Balistiques et Aerodynamiques, Vernon (Eure), Government test establishment administered by Ministers des Armees, DEFA and DMA, equipped with supersonic tunnels and rocket test beds. Matra Engins Matra, Paris 8e, company specializing in rocket launchers, rockets and guided weapons. Nord Nord-Aviation, Societe Nationale de Constructions Aironautiques, Paris 7e, second largest French nationalized aircraft construction firm. ON ERA Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aeronautiques, Chatillon- sous-Bagneux (Seine), fundamental and applied research into all aspects of aviation and spaceflight. SAGEM Societe d'Applications Generates d'Electricite et de Mecanique, Paris I6e, company experienced in all forms of navigation systems (including Doppler, astro and inertiai), gyros and servomechanisms. SDP Service des Poudres, see DDP. SEPR Societe d'Etude de la Propulsion par Reaction, Villejuif (Seine), company specializing in all forms of rocket propulsion for aircraft, missiles and space vehicles. SEREB Societe pour I'Etude et la Realisation d'Engins Balistiques SA, Courbevoie (Seine), national council for co-ordinating aM studies and programmes for ballistic rocket vehicles, the members being Nord-Aviation, Sud-Aviation, GAM Dassault, Matra, SEPR, SNECMA, ONERA, SDP (Service des Poudres, of DDP) and the Com missariat a ''Energie Atomique. SNECMA Societe Nationale d'Etude et de Construction de Moteurs d'Aviation, Paris 8e, the French national company for aircraft engines, now branching out into the propulsion of missiles, space vehicles and non-aeronautical activities. Sud Sud-Aviation, Societe Nationale de Constructions Aeronautiques, Paris I6e, the largest of all French aircraft companies, space vehicles accounting for roughly nine per cent of present turnover. If this stage is a move away from start/stop "impulse" propul- ion, the SEREB specification for the proposed high-energy third stage is even more so, for it calls for a continuous burn of well over nine minutes (see data). Clearly the French are anticipating either some very precise orbits or very delicate payloads, or both. An accompanying picture shows the four gimballed chambers, each of 37:1 expansion ratio, of the SEPR proposal. Liquid- oxygen feed is by helium bottle, while the fuel is fed by pressurizing the tank with hydrogen gas bled from the chamber cooling jackets, supplemented by an electrically driven centrifugal pump on the axis of symmetry. SEREB suggest a chamber pressure of only 711b/sq in, giving a vacuum Isp of 400. With all three new stages Diamant could orbit a 385kg (8471b) payload easterly from Colomb-Bechar into 300km-perigee orbit, and 275kg (6051b) into an 800km-perigee orbit. Before the defini tive vehicle becomes available, in 1968, SEREB expect to have an intermediate Diamant with the existing Topaze second stage but the new first and third stages, in 1967. Mock-ups of proposals for the second-generation Diamant: left, SEPR preliminary model of high- energy second stage; centre, SEPR engineering mock-up of high-energy third stage, with four electrically actuated 209lb-thrust chambers; right, aft closure and nozzles of proposed solid first stage. Performance of future Diamants was summarized on page 584 of our April 18 issue "Flight International" photographs
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