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Aviation History
1970
1970 - 0048.PDF
life 10 Already preparation for next year's Apollo flights are well under way. The Apollo 13 vehicle and spacecraft were moved from the vertical assembly building to the launch-pad on December 15. In the picture above, the command and service modules for Apollo 14 (scheduled for launch in July) undergo preliminary inspection at Cape Kennedy shortly after delivery from their manufacturer—North American Rockwell APOLLO 12 FINDS LUNAR MAGNETIC FIELD The Moon does have a magnetic field, of very small intensity compared with that of the Earth, but stronger than expected. This is the second major discovery made by the Apollo 12 automatic observatory which was left on the surface last November, the first being the discovery of the curious internal structure of the Moon revealed by the impacting of the ascent stage on the surface. According to the magnetometer,, the Moon's field has an intensity of between 30 and 40 gamma, compared with the 35,000 gamma of the Earth. The inter planetary field from the Sun is between 5 and 10 gamma, and it had been expected that the Moon's field would be between 2 and 8 gamma. The source of this field must be very large, but it will not be possible to identify it until a network of four instru ments have been set up at different points on the surface, and this will be done by the Apollo flights 13. 14 and 15 scheduled for next March. July and November. To reproduce the eddy- current effect by which the field was discovered, a considerable metal content is necessary (the Earth's magnetic field is caused by the presence of a large core of molten rock and metal). SATURN V PERFORMANCE According to a report of the evaluation of the Saturn V vehicle in the Apollo 12 flight, the rocket accomplished its tasks generally very well. The first stage cut-off was exactly on time, 32 FLIGHT International. I January 1970 with an altitude error of —0.1 n.m., —185m, a range error of —0.2 n.m., —370m, and a velocity error of — 30.2ft/sec (—9.34m/sec). The second-stage cut-off error was -Hlsec, with height and range errors of —0.1 n.m., —185m, and —0.2 n.m., — 370m, respectively. The velocity error was — 71.2ft/sec, — 22m/sec. The third-stage cut-off was 4sec late, and had apogee and perigee errors of +1.7 n.m., +3,120m. and -1.2 n.m., -2,220m. Owing to guidance errors (which were, however, within tolerance) the spent S-IVB stage was directed too far behind the Moon to enable it to enter an orbit around the Sun as planned, and it is now in a large elliptical orbit of the Earth. The priorities of guiding the spacecraft did not allow sufficient effort to be devoted to keeping a closer watch on the rocket All a.c. power from both main busbars and the fuel cells was lost 36.5sec after lift-off due to an electrical discharge, but was restored by the resetting of circuit-breakers prior to Earth-orbit injection. Low-frequency vibration of 3.6g maxi mum amplitude were experienced by the astronauts 340sec after lift-off, during the second-stage burn. This was more than had been measured on some flights, but less than the llg experienced during the Apollo 9 flight. NEW CENTAUR STAGE NASA has awarded a $25,581 million contract to General Dynamics Convair Division to design and build an improved version of its Centaur rocket. Centaur was the first liquid- hydrogen liquid-oxygen rocket developed by America, and it pioneered the high-energy stages which are currently in use (for example, the S-IVB stage of the Saturn V vehicle). The improved Centaur involves mainly taking advantage of development in solid-state electronics which have been made since Centaur first flew. It will also be compatible with the Titan 3 rocket. A Titan-3D Centaur combination has been specified to launch the two Viking spacecraft to Mars in 1973 for the first American unmanned soft landings on the planet. The first improved Centaur will be flight tested on a Titan 3 in late 1972. MCDONNELL DOUGLAS WORKSHOP CONTRACT Two major NASA contracts (totalling $184,790,000) in respect of the Apollo Workshop have been awarded to McDonnell Douglas. The first is for $97,340,000 and will cover the work neecssary to convert the S-IVB stage into an orbiting laboratory; the second, for $87,450,000. is for continuation of work on two airlock modules. The Workshop (to be launched by Saturn V. not Saturn IB as originally planned) will be built at Huntingdon Beach, while airlock work will be centred on St Louis. The S-IVB will be flown into orbit already fitted out, hence the necessity to employ the larger launch vehicle. The cylindrical S-IVB will provide some 10.000 cu ft of space, many times larger than that of any spacecraft flown to date. The first Workshop is scheduled for launch into a low Earth orbit in 1972: the second will initially serve as a back-up. DELTAS OK AGAIN Recently the Delta launch vehicle was withdrawn from service following failures which resulted in the loss of two satellites. Following the submission of an interim report by a NASA launch-vehicle review board, the vehicle has now been released for operations again. The two failures concerned were Delta No 71 on July 26 and Delta No 73 on August 27 (carrying Intelsat 3-F5 and Pioneer E respectively). Failure of vehicle No 71 is attributed to rupture of the third- stage TE364 motor case or nozzle, which is assumed to be related only to that vehicle, while the loss of the second rocket was caused by a chattering relief valve, resulting in a hydraulic- fluid leak. Resumption of Delta operations took place with the launch of Britain's first military-communications satellite Skynet. As part of the precautionary procedures adopted to ensure the success of the launch, additional insulation, x-ray testing and pressure testing of the TE364 motor was included, and specially tested valves for the hydraulic system were selected. Skynet was launched by the 74th Delta vehicle, and flights using this rocket and scheduled soon were the Intelsat 3F-6 (December 19) and Tiros M (January 1970).
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