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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 2349.PDF
Soviet Aviation Day in Moscow on August 17 was chariy a decorations-to- be-worn occasion. Chief Marshal of Soviet Aviation K. A. Vershinin (left) talks with cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin, Mrs Valentino Tereshkova-Niko- layeva and her husband Andrian Nikoiayev Spaceflight and missiles THREE MORE COSMOS CRAFT The launch of three Soviet satellites was announced by Tass on August 22 in the following official communique: "Three artificial Earth satellites, Cosmos 41, 42 and 43, were launched in the Soviet Union today. Cosmos 42 and 43 were launched by one carrier rocket. The satellites carry scientific apparatus for continuing the space exploration programme announced by Tass on March 16, 1962. "Cosmos 41 has been placed in an orbit with the following ele- ments: initial period of revolution, llhr 55min; apogee, 38,855km; perigee, 232km; inclination, 49°. "Cosmos 42 and 43 have been placed in an orbit with the follow- ing elements: period of rotation, 97.8min; apogee, 1,099km; peri- gee, 232km; inclination, 49°. "Analysis of measurements received shows that the apparatus installed in the satellites is functioning according to plan. The co- ordinating and computer centre is processing the information which is coming in." 356 FLIGHT International, 3 September (944 sea. Launches of the two-stage vehicle—called Hydra-Iris—will be held in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans this summer and autumn. The US Naval Missile Center, Point Mugu, Calif, will conduct the two series of launches under the sponsorship of Lawrence Radiation Laboratory. The first series will begin during September with the launch of a Hydra-Iris probe from a water site about 400 miles west of Point Mugu. A second probe will be launched at the geomagnetic equator in October, and the third launch is scheduled for the Gulf of Alaska next spring. Goal of the Pacific series is to measure the rate of change of neutron density in relation to altitude at the three latitudes of the shots. Support is to be provided by the; Pacific Missile Range, with the PMR range ship Richfield to j provide tracking and telemetry services. | The second series, to be conducted in the Atlantic some 2,000 miles east of Montevideo, Uruguay, will have the support of the Atlantic Missile Range. Although in other areas the Van i Allen radiation belt is 300-400 miles above the Earth's surface, an j anomaly of the belt lowers it to an altitude of 185-200 miles above \ the Atlantic in the area of the planned launches. Instruments j aboard the probes will measure variation in the radiation density j through a vertical cross-secticn of the belt. In both series of launches, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory I instrumentation in 951b payloads will be carried to altitudes ofj about 195 miles to obtain the desired data. In an earlier series of! launches, conducted in May 1963, 800-1,200 miles south of Point Mugu in the Pacific Missile Range, Hydra-Iris vehicles carried | payloads of 1211b to altitudes of 162 n.m. These payloads constit- uted an added dividend, as the prime mission was to obtain sea- launch data and test the Hydra launch concept. Goal of the 1963 payload experiments was measurement of the transparency of the atmosphere in the infra-red region of the spectrum at various altitudes, by means of IR background sensors and telemetering equipment. The Hydra concept involves launch of semi-submerged vehicles from a vertically floating launcher. Final assembly, checkout and launcher loading are carried out on the deck of a ship. The launcher is lowered by crane into the water and towed clear of the ship by 120in SOLID FIRING The US Air Force has reported that all test objectives were met in the static firing on August 7 of United Technology Center's 120in diameter solid-propellant rocket, despite the loss of the nozzle exhaust cone 2sec before the end of the 107sec test firing. The five- segment, 250-ton motor produced a peak thrust of more than 1,100,0001b and full burning time was achieved. Officials said that the firing proceeded as scheduled until the 95sec mark when a malfunction in the nozzle was observed. This malfunction, still under investigation, caused the nozzle to separate just aft of the nozzle throat some lOsec later. The five centre seg- ment cases and two end closure cases were not damaged and are to be used again. Damage to the test bay itself was negligible and is expected to cause no delay in the test schedule. The only loss of data was of nozzle performance in the final tail-off period of the firing. The August 7 test was the fifth in the development programme for the Titan IIIC solid motor, and differed from earlier tests prin- cipally in the high flow rate scheduled for the secondary liquid injection thrust-vector-control (TVC) system. Almost 30,0001b of nitrogen tetroxide was used to generate more than 100,0001b of side steering force. This represented a force three times that which would normally be experienced in flight. In the Titan IIIC, two of the 120in motors will provide a lift-off thrust of more than 2,000,0001b. HYDRA-IRIS A seagoing version of Atlantic Research Corporation's Iris sounding rocket has been selected as the top stage of an unusual research vehicle capable of taking off directly from a launcher floating in the Boosted by a Naval Missile Center MR-I tri-motor Hydra rocket, an Iris sounding rocket takes to the air from a semi- submerged launch in the Pacific Missile Range (see "Hydra- Iris")
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