eigth scout development flight press kit

8/8/2019 Eigth Scout Development Flight Press Kit

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N E W S R E L E A S ENATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

400 MARYLAND AVENUE, SW, WASHINGTON 25, D.C.

TELEPHONES WORTH 2-4155-WORTH 3-1110

FOR RELEASE: Wednesday PM's

January 2, 1962Release No. 62-15

EIGHTH SCOUT DEVELOPMENT FLIGHT TO STUDYAERODYNAMIC HEATING

The eighth in a series of development flights of theScout launch vehicle is planned in the near future by theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration at the NASA

Wallops Station, Wallops Island, Virginia.Primary purpose of the sub-orbital flight will be to

give NASA scientists another opportunity to study the per-formance of the Scout launch vehicle.

The four-stage Scout, flown on the first in a seriesof development flights on July 1, 1960, has been underdevelopment at the NASA Langley Research Center sincemid-1958 to provide the United States with a small, reliableand flexible research vehicle for a variety of space explo-ration tasks.

In the forthcoming test, the basic four-stage solid-fueled Scout will contain a fifth solid fuel stage--a17-inch-diameter spherical rocket motor.

As a secondary project in connection with the develop-ment flight, Langley scientists will conduct an experimentto measure aerodynamic heating during reentry at speedsapproaching those to be reached by manned spacecraft return-ing from lunar missions,

After launch from Wallops Island, the first two Scoutstages will propel the remaining three stages to an altitude

of about 135 statute miles. As the vehicle reaches thepeak of its trajectory and begins to nose over, the third,fourth and fifth stages fire in rapid succession to drivethe payload into the atmosphere at a speed of aout 19d,000miles an hour.

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This speed is about 3,000 miles an hour faster than thereentry velocities of earth-orbiting vehicles and approximately7,000 miles an hour slower than the speeds to be attained bycapsules reentering the atmosphere en route to earth after atrip to the moon.

LAUNCH VEHICLE

Scout is the first all-solid fueled rocket to place asatellite into orbit. This was Explorer IX, an inflatable15-pound, 12-foot diameter sphere, fabricated of Mylar plasticand aluminum foil. Explorer IX is designed fo r us e in studyingthe characteristics of space--rrimarily to measure ai r dragto determine the density of the earth's thin veil of atmosphereat the edge of space.

The last Scout launch--the seventh--was on October 19,1961, when the vehicle successfully propelled a 94-pound pay-load on a ballistic flight to investigate ionospheric character-

isticsof importance to radio communication, radio tracking

and guidance, and to add to the basic understanding of theearth's ionosphere. All objectives of the flight were achievedand al l launch vehicle systems functioned normally.

All seven of the previous Scout development flights havebeen conducted at Wallops Island and with the basic four stagesof the launch vehicle. Although the primary purpose of eachdevelopment flight is to check out the vehicle, it has beenthe policy of the NASA to conduct useful scientific experi-ments as a secondary part of each flight.

The 72-foot, 36,600-pound Scout is designed to place a150-pound satellite into a 300-mile orbit or to send a 50-pound scientific package nearly 8,500 miles in a probe shot.In reentry tests, the vehicle can subject a payload to con-ditions similar to those encountered by spacecraft returningto the earth's atmosphere. In a ballistic trajectory, itcan provide almost two hours of weightlessness for 100-poundexperiments.

Scout's four rocket motors, plus necessary transitionsections and guidance and control equipment, are assembledintQ a complete vehicle by the Astronautics Division ofChance Vought Corporation, aerospace subsidiary of Ling-Temco-Vought, Incorporated, prime vehicle contractor for AScout.


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Data on Scout's four stages -- Algol, Castor Antares,and Altair (named fo r stars in the constellationsj -- include:

Algol - Thirty feet long, 40 inches in diameter,developing 115,000 pounds of thrust. This motor, the largestsolid rocket flown in the United States, is fi n stabilized

and controlled in flight by jet vanes. Developed byAerojet-General Di-vision of General Tire and Rubber Company.

Castor - Twenty feet long, 30 inches in diameter anddeveloping more than 50,000 pounds of thrust. Stabilizedand controlled by hydrogen peroxide jets. A modificationof the Sergeant motor, it has been used in a cluster inNASA's Little Joe program in support of Project Mercury.Developed by the Redstone Division of Thiokol ChemicalCorporation.

Antares - Ten feet long, 30 inches in diameter and morethan T3760'pounds of thrust. Lightweight plastic construction.Stabilized and controlled by hydrogen peroxide jets. Developedby the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory of Hercules Powder

aCompany.

Altair - Six feet long, 18 inches in diameter and 3 000poundsrof t h rus t . This motor, formerly known as the X-248an d developed for the Vanguard third stage, is spin stabilized.It is the third stage on the Delta launch vehicle and wasthe first fully developed rocket to utilize lightweight plasticconstruction. Alao developed by ABL.

17-Inch Rocket - This spherical rocket (NOTS 1OOB) is nota part of the Scout, bu t is attached to the payload as a partof the reentry package to add approximately 1,300 miles anhour to the reentry speed. The 160-pound rocket providesabout 800 pounds cf thrust. Developed by Naval Ordnance TestStation, China Lake, California.

Guidance and control system for the Scout was developedby the Aeronautical Division of M4inneapolis-HoneywellRegulator Company. (Hydrogen-peroxide controls were sub-contracted to Walter Kidde, Clifton, New Jersey).

REENTRY EXPERIMENT

Friction heating becomes increasingly severe as space-craft reentry speeds are raised. In fact, scientists believethat future space vehicles will attain speeds close to thevelocities of some meteors as they return to the earth'satmosphere.

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The forthcoming Scout test is part of a basic flight pro-gram by which Langley hopes to obtain heat data useful in th[edesign of man-carrying spacecraft of tomorrow.

The Scout experiment will measure the aerodynamic heattransfer to the nose cap of a small blunted-nose reentry pay-load.-mounted to the Scout fourth stage and containing measur-ing devices, a telemetry system, and the spherical rocketmotor which accelerates the payload to its final velocity.The cone is 3 feet long and has a base diameter of 20 inches

and a nose diameter of 12 inches.

The payload experiment will weigh 155.2 pounds, but thebasic four-stage Scout will be boosting a combined weightof about 350 pounds, including the payload experiment andnearly 200 pounds represented by the 17-inch rocket motorand other structural hardware.

Reentry will take place about 800 statute miles downrangefrom Wallops Island. Since the flight will take place atnight, a faint meteor-like trail lasting five to ten secondswill be visible from islands downrange from Cape Canaveral

as the payload reaches peak velocity at an altitude of about50 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.

Heat transfer data will be obtained from temperaturemeasurements made by thermocouples attached to an inconel nosecap mounted on the forward end of the payload. Due to thesevere reentry environment, the nose cap will survive for onlya fe w seconds before it melts. Then the melted cap and afrangible supporting structure will be blown away by theairstream--exposing a teflon nose cap designed zo protect thepayload package b r ablative cooling so it can survive thef ina l phase of reentry. The conical portion of the payload

is also coated with teflonfor thermal protection.

Telemetry data will be obtained during the final desqentof the reentry payload. Prior to that time, the high reentryspeed will result in a so-called ion sheath being formed aboutthe vehicle--causing a radio blackout and preventing telemetrytransmission. To avoid loss of valuable data because of thetemporarily disruptive influence of the Ion sheath, Langleyscientists have installed a tape recorder in the payload torecord reentry infocmation. This will be stored for trans-mission during the final descent after the vehicle has slowedsufficiently in its reentry so that the ion sheath is no

longer present.No attempt will be made to recover the pay-

load.

As a secondary experiment during the launch, a camera willbe housed within a pod attached to the Scout second stage tophotograph the Jet exhaust pattern of the second stage rocketmotor for future study by Langley scientists.

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At second-stage burnout, the pod will be jettisoned andparachuted into the Atlantic some 600 statute miles from thelaunch site. An attempt will be made by a sea and air unitof the U. S. Navy to recover the pod, which contains recoverydevices such as radar chaff, radio beacon, flashing light,and dye marker.

In addition to telemetry signals which will be relayed toground receiving stations from the payload, scientific infor-

mation wil l be obtained through use of ground radar andball is t ic tracking cameras. Supplementing land-based trackingstations wil l be two ships of the U. S. Navy equipped withWallops Island telemeter vans and antennas which wil l be de-ployed in the Atlantic.

Special tracking cameras will be used to obtain reentryphotographs from downrange islands. The flight is being con-ducted on a dark night to eliminate background light and thusincrease tthe quality of the photographs of the faint metcor-likce streak across the sky.

In an effort to obtain a precise trajectory, ground basedradar installations plus the two telemetry ships and othertelemetry installations will track the vehicle.

SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

Scout is lifted off the Wallops Island launch pad by theAlgol booster, which burns out in 41.30 seconds at an altltudtoF 50,000 feet. All stages coast to 125,000 feet as thesecond-stage Castor ignites at 63.53 seconds and the firststage separates and drops into the Atlantic Ocean. rpj( 'einai ndeI 'of the vehicle climbs to 265,000 feet before the second stage

burns out at 11.89 seconds.

Coasting to about 705,000 feet, apogee of the ballistictrajectory, the vehicle loses the payload heat shield at291.75 seconds and about 300 statute miles from Wallops.About a second later the third stage Antares is ignited tobegin the downward leg of the trajectory and the second-stageCastor is separated. Antares burns out at 332.80 seconds at675,000 feet and separates at 348.30 seconds at 650,000 feet,less than two seconds after the spin motor is ignited.

Continuing it s high-velocity reentry, Scout's fourth-utageAltair ignites at 352.80 seconds at 640,000 feet and burnsout at 393.83 seconds at an altitude of 490,000 feet. Immediate-ly upon fourth-stage burnout, about 560 statute miles front

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Wallops, the 17-inch rocket igni tes and the Altair is sepa-rated. The spherical rocket burns out at 416.84 seconds a t anal t i tude of about 255,000 feet.

Climax of the seven minute-plus f l igh t is reached whenthe payload streaks like a meteor into the atmosphere at avelocity of 19,000 miles an hour, about 800 statute mllc.z fromWallops. The prime data portion of the flight is betwoecn255,000 to about 150,000

feet altitude during reentry. As thepayload package reenterso the atmosphere, it is prograwmmed tobe on a slanting downward course aimed at a general area inthe Atlantic some 925 statute miles downrange from Wallops.

PIZOJf.CT PARTICIPANTS

NASA Headquarters Program Manager fo r the Scout aevuiop-ment program is R.D. Ginter.

ijangley Research Center. has sole responsibil i ty for thetechnical direction of the Scout launch vehicle system. TLt.Col. George R. Rupp is the Scout Program'Director for Lan-leyResearch Center. James R. Hall is NASA project engineer fo rthe Scout development test. A team of about 75 Langley staffmembers are concerned with the reentry payload. Andrew G.Swanson is the project engineer fo r the reentry experiment.Bernard Rashis is payload project engineer. Charles S. Lairdis payload instrument engineer.

Robert Duffy is representing the Wallops Station as Test;Directbr.

Chance Vought Corporation is the prime contractor forthe Scout launch vehicle.

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eigth scout development flight press kit

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