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Altair (rocket Stage)
The Altair was a solid-fuel rocket with a fiberglass casing, initially developed for use as the third stage of Vanguard rockets in 1959. It was manufactured by Allegany Ballistics Laboratory (ABL) as the X-248. It was also sometimes called the Burner 1. Altair The X-248 was one of two third-stage designs used during Project Vanguard. Early launches used a stage developed by the Grand Central Rocket Company, but later launches used the X-248 which enabled the Vanguard to launch more massive payloads. The X-248 was used as the second stage of some early Thor flights. These vehicles were designated "Thor-Burner". Altairs were used as the third stage of early Delta rockets. The fourth stage of the Scout rocket also used the "Altair" stage. Altair 2 The Altair 2 (X-258) Thiokol solid rocket engine first flew in 1963 and was the kick stage motor for Delta D, Scout A, Scout X-4, and Orbiting Vehicle satellites. It was retired in 1973. See also * Algol (rocket stage) * Castor ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thor-Burner
The Thor-Burner was an American expendable launch system An expendable launch system (or expendable launch vehicle/ELV) is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are either destroyed during reentry or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of several rocket sta ..., a member of the Thor rocket family. It consisted of a PGM-17 Thor, Thor missile, with one or two Burner (rocket stage), Burner upper stages. It was used between 1965 and 1976 to orbit a number of satellites, most commonly Defense Meteorological Satellite Program weather satellites. Twenty-four were launched, of which two failed. It weighed 51,810 kg and was 24 metres tall. Burner 1 and Altair The Burner 1 stage was an Altair (rocket stage), Altair rocket stage as used for the third stage of some Vanguard (rocket), Vanguard launch vehicles, but equipped by Boeing with 3-axis control. This combination was used for six vehicles. The first was launched 1965-01-18 and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castor (rocket Stage)
The Castor family of solid-fuel rocket stages and boosters built by Thiokol (now Northrop Grumman) and used on a variety of launch vehicles. They were initially developed as the second-stage motor of the Scout rocket. The design was based on the MGM-29 Sergeant, a surface-to-surface missile developed for the United States Army at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Versions Flown versions Castor 1 :The Castor 1 was first used for a successful suborbital launch of a Scout X-1 rocket on September 2, 1960. :It was long, in diameter, and had a burn time of 27 seconds. Castor 1 stages were also used as strap-on boosters for launch vehicles using Thor first stages, including the Delta-D. (A Delta-D was used in 1964 to launch Syncom-3, the first satellite placed in a geostationary orbit.) Castor 1 stages were used in 141 launch attempts of Scout and Delta rockets, only 2 of which were failures. They were also used on some thrust-assisted Thor-Agena launchers. The last launch usin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Algol (rocket Stage)
The Algol family of solid-fuel rocket stages and boosters is built by Aerojet (now Aerojet Rocketdyne) and used on a variety of launch vehicles. It was developed by Aerojet from the earlier Jupiter Senior and the Navy Polaris programs. Upgrades to the Algol motor occurred from 1960 until the retirement of the Scout launch vehicle in 1994. The Algol family use solid propellant fuel with a loaded mass of 10,705kg, and produces 470.93 kN of thrust. The vehicle also has a Specific Impulse of 236 seconds in a vacuum environment. Variations Algol I, I-D, II, II-A, II-BA popular rating was 40KS-115,000 (52,000 kgf for 40 seconds), also known as Senior. They were initially developed as the first-stage of propulsion for the Scout rocket, with the design being based on the UGM-27 Polaris, a submarine-launched ballistic missile developed for the United States Navy at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Algol 1 (XM-68) ; Algol 1 (XM-68) This rocket design started as the Polaris test motor, 31 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orbiting Vehicle
Orbiting Vehicle or OV, originally designated SATAR (SATellite - Atmospheric Research), comprised five disparate series of standardized American satellites operated by the US Air Force, launched between 1965 and 1971. Forty seven satellites were built, of which forty three were launched and thirty seven reached orbit. With the exception of the OV3 series and OV4-3, they were launched as secondary payloads, using excess space on other missions. This resulted in extremely low launch costs and short proposal-to-orbit times. Typically, OV satellites carried scientific and/or technological experiments, 184 being successfully orbited through the lifespan of the program. The first OV series, designated OV1, was built by General Dynamics and carried on suborbital Atlas missile tests; the satellites subsequently placed themselves into orbit by means of an Altair-2 kick motor. The Northrop-built OV2 satellites were built using parts left over following the cancellation of the Ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scout (rocket Family)
The Scout family of rockets were American launch vehicles designed to place small satellites into orbit around the Earth. The Scout multistage rocket was the first orbital launch vehicle to be entirely composed of solid fuel stages. It was also the only vehicle of that type until the successful launch of the Japanese Lambda 4S in 1970. The original Scout (an acronym for Solid Controlled Orbital Utility Test system) was designed in 1957 at the NACA, at Langley center. Scout launch vehicles were used from 1961 until 1994. To enhance reliability the development team opted to use "off the shelf" hardware, originally produced for military programs. According to the NASA fact sheet: "... the first stage motor was a combination of the Jupiter Senior and the Navy Polaris; the second stage came from the Army MGM-29 Sergeant; and the third and fourth stage motors were designed by Langley engineers who adapted a version of the Navy Vanguard." The first successful orbital launch of a Sco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delta D
The Delta D, Thrust Augmented Delta or Thor-Delta D was an American expendable launch system used to launch two communications satellites in 1964 and 1965. It was derived from the Delta C, and was a member of the Delta family of rockets. The three-stage core vehicle was essentially the same as the Delta C. The first stage was a Thor missile in the DSV-2A configuration, and the second stage was thDelta-D which was derived from the earlie An Altair-2 SRM was used as a third stage. The main difference between the Delta C and Delta D was the presence of three Castor-1 solid rocket boosters, clustered around the first stage. Both Delta D launches were conducted from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 17A. The first, on 19 August 1964, carried Syncom 3, the first satellite in a geostationary orbit. The last, on 6 April 1965, carried the first commercial communications satellite, Intelsat I Intelsat I (nicknamed Early Bird for the proverb "The early bird catches the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thiokol
Thiokol (variously Thiokol Chemical Corporation(/Company), Morton Thiokol Inc., Cordant Technologies Inc., Thiokol Propulsion, AIC Group, ATK Thiokol, ATK Launch Systems Group; finally Orbital ATK before becoming part of Northrop Grumman) was an American corporation concerned initially with rubber and related chemicals, and later with rocket and missile propulsion systems. Its name is a portmanteau of the Greek words for sulfur (θεῖον ''"theion"'') and glue (κόλλα ''"kolla"''), an allusion to the company's initial product, Thiokol polymer. The Thiokol Chemical Company was founded in 1929. Its initial business was a range of synthetic rubber and polymer sealants. Thiokol was a major supplier of liquid polymer sealants during World War II. When scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory discovered that Thiokol's polymers made ideal binders for solid rocket fuels, Thiokol moved into the new field, opening laboratories at Elkton, Maryland, and later production facilitie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scout (rocket)
The Scout family of rockets were American launch vehicles designed to place small satellites into orbit around the Earth. The Scout multistage rocket was the first orbital launch vehicle to be entirely composed of solid fuel stages. It was also the only vehicle of that type until the successful launch of the Japanese Lambda 4S in 1970. The original Scout (an acronym for Solid Controlled Orbital Utility Test system) was designed in 1957 at the NACA, at Langley center. Scout launch vehicles were used from 1961 until 1994. To enhance reliability the development team opted to use "off the shelf" hardware, originally produced for military programs. According to the NASA fact sheet: "... the first stage motor was a combination of the Jupiter Senior and the Navy Polaris; the second stage came from the Army MGM-29 Sergeant; and the third and fourth stage motors were designed by Langley engineers who adapted a version of the Navy Vanguard." The first successful orbital launch of a Scou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delta Rocket
Delta is an American versatile family of expendable launch systems that has provided space launch capability in the United States since 1960. Japan also launched license-built derivatives (N-I, N-II, and H-I) from 1975 to 1992. More than 300 Delta rockets have been launched with a 95% success rate. Only the Delta IV Heavy rocket remains in use as of November 2020. Delta rockets have stopped being manufactured in favor of Vulcan. Origins The original Delta rockets used a modified version of the PGM-17 Thor, the first ballistic missile deployed by the United States Air Force (USAF), as their first stage. The Thor had been designed in the mid-1950s to reach Moscow from bases in Britain or similar allied nations, and the first wholly successful Thor launch had occurred in September 1957. Subsequent satellite and space probe flights soon followed, using a Thor first stage with several different upper stages. The fourth upper stage used on the Thor was the Thor "Delta", delt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thor (rocket Family)
Thor was a US space launch vehicle derived from the PGM-17 Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile. The Thor rocket was the first member of the Delta rocket family of space launch vehicles. The last launch of a direct derivative of the Thor missile occurred in 2018 as the first stage of the final Delta II. Thor-Able Thor was first used as a launch vehicle during the testing program of the warhead reentry vehicle for the Atlas missile. For these three tests a Thor core stage was topped by the Able second stage. Able used the Aerojet AJ-10-40 engine from the Vanguard second stage. The first such launch, 116, was lost on 23 April 1958 due to a turbopump failure in the main engine. The recovery of the reentry vehicles on the succeeding two attempts were not successful. Three mice, one on each vehicle, died in these tests. The Able stage from the Atlas reentry vehicle tests was upgraded to become the Able I with a third stage consisting of an unguided Altair X-248 solid-fuel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solid-fuel Rocket
A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants ( fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were used in warfare by the Arabs, Chinese, Persians, Mongols, and Indians as early as the 13th century. All rockets used some form of solid or powdered propellant up until the 20th century, when liquid-propellant rockets offered more efficient and controllable alternatives. Solid rockets are still used today in military armaments worldwide, model rockets, solid rocket boosters and on larger applications for their simplicity and reliability. Since solid-fuel rockets can remain in storage for an extended period without much propellant degradation and because they almost always launch reliably, they have been frequently used in military applications such as missiles. The lower performance of solid propellants (as compared to liquids) does not favor their use as primary propulsion in mode ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
