Vanguard SLV-1, also called Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle-1 was hoped to be the second successful flight of the American
Vanguard
The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force.
History
The vanguard derives fr ...
rocket following the successful launch of the
Vanguard 1
Vanguard 1 (Harvard designation: 1958-Beta 2, COSPAR ID: 1958-005B ) is an American satellite that was the fourth artificial Earth-orbiting satellite to be successfully launched, following Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2, and Explorer 1. It was launched ...
satellite on rocket
Vanguard TV-4 in March 1958.
Background
Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle-1 (SLV-1) was launched on 27 May 1958. Due to a malfunction in the second stage, the vehicle failed to enter Earth orbit as planned and crashed 12,000 km downrange. The planned program objectives of the satellite were to develop the capability to launch satellites into accurate Earth orbits, to confirm the feasibility of the Vanguard concept, and to study solar Lyman-alpha radiation and the
space environment
Space environment is a branch of astronautics, aerospace engineering and space physics that seeks to understand and address conditions existing in space that affect the design and operation of spacecraft. A related subject, space weather, deals ...
. The purpose of the
International Geophysical Year
The International Geophysical Year (IGY; french: Année géophysique internationale) was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific ...
(IGY) Vanguard satellite program, managed by the
U.S. Navy, was to launch one or more satellites into Earth orbit during the International Geophysical Year (IGY).
Launch vehicle
Vanguard was the designation used for both the launch vehicle and the satellite. The first stage of the three-stage Vanguard Test vehicle was powered by a
General Electric X-405 ) thrust liquid rocket engine, propelled by 7200 kg of
kerosene
Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...
(
RP-1) and
liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applica ...
, with
helium
Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...
pressurant. It also held 152 kg of
hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscous than water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usually as a dilute solution (3% ...
. It was finless, 13.4 metres tall, 1.14 metres in diameter, and had a launch mass of approximately 8090 kg.
The second stage was a 5.80 metres high, 0.80 metres diameter
Aerojet General AJ-10 liquid engine burning 1520 kg
Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and
White Inhibited Fuming Nitric Acid (WIFNA) with a
helium
Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...
pressurant tank. It produced a thrust of and had a launch mass of approximately 1990 kg. This stage contained the complete guidance and control system.
A solid-propellant rocket with of thrust (for 30 seconds burn time) was developed by the
Grand Central Rocket Company The Lockheed Propulsion Company was a division of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation located at 1500 Crafton Avenue in the Mentone, California area northeast of Redlands, California, adjacent to the Santa Ana River, from 1961 to 1975. It developed, t ...
to satisfy third-stage requirements. The stage was 1.5 metres high, 0.8 metres in diameter, and had a launch mass of 194 kg. The thin (0.076 cm) steel casing for the third stage had a hemispherical forward dome with a shaft at the center to support the satellite and an aft dome fairing into a steel exit nozzle.
The total height of the vehicle with the satellite fairing was about 21.9 metres. The payload capacity was 11.3 kg to a 555 km Earth orbit. A nominal launch would have the first stage firing for 144 seconds, bringing the rocket to an altitude of 58 km, followed by the second stage burn of 120 seconds to 480 km, whereupon the third stage would bring the satellite to orbit. This was the same launch vehicle configuration, with minor modifications, as used for
Vanguard TV-3
Vanguard TV-3 (also called Vanguard Test Vehicle-Three), was the first attempt of the United States to launch a satellite into orbit around the Earth, after the successful Soviet launches of Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2. Vanguard TV-3 was a small s ...
and all succeeding Vanguard flights up to and including
Vanguard SLV-6.
Spacecraft
Vanguard SLV-1 carried the Vanguard 2B satellite, equipped with Lyman-alpha
ultraviolet
Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nanometer, nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 Hertz, PHz) to 400 nm (750 Hertz, THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than ...
detectors and a
magnetosphere
In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. It is created by a celestial body with an active interior dynam ...
measurement device.
The SLV-1 satellite was a 9.75 kg, 50.8 cm diameter sphere. The spherical shell was
magnesium
Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...
, internally
gold-plated
Gold plating is a method of depositing a thin layer of gold onto the surface of another metal, most often copper or silver (to make silver-gilt), by chemical or electrochemical plating. This article covers plating methods used in the modern ele ...
and externally covered with an
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
deposit coated with highly polished
silicon monoxide of sufficient thickness to provide thermal control for the instrumentation. The interior was pressurized. The payload instrumentation package was mounted in the center of the sphere. The package was arranged in a cylindrical stack with the
mercury batteries
A mercury battery (also called mercuric oxide battery, mercury cell, button cell, or Ruben-Mallory) is a non-rechargeable electrochemical battery, a primary cell. Mercury batteries use a reaction between mercuric oxide and zinc electrodes in an ...
at the bottom, followed by the
Minitrack tracking system electronics, the environment electronics, the telemetering instrumentation, and if necessary, the experiment electronics. Below the package at the bottom of the sphere was the separation device, a spring loaded tube with a timer designed to push the satellite away from the third stage after orbit was reached. At the top of the interior of the sphere was a pressure gauge. Four spring-loaded metal rods were folded along the equator of the sphere and would protrude radially outward when deployed, acting as a turnstile antenna. It used an 80 mW transmitter at a frequency of 108.00
Mhz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
. The Lyman-alpha detector was mounted on the shell and covered the 1100 to 1300
angstrom
The angstromEntry "angstrom" in the Oxford online dictionary. Retrieved on 2019-03-02 from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/angstrom.Entry "angstrom" in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary. Retrieved on 2019-03-02 from https://www.m ...
bands.
Launch
Vanguard SLV-1 launched on 27 May 1958 at 03:46:20
GMT. It was launched from
Launch Complex 18A at the
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. At second stage separation, there was a momentary pitching motion registered by the rate gyros which resulted in an incorrect attitude reference. The second stage placed the third stage on a trajectory approximately 63° up from the intended flight path. It arced upward and reached a peak altitude of 3500 kilometers before reentering and breaking up over
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. The pitching motion was deemed to be a rupture in the second stage engine thrust chamber due to high-frequency combustion instability at engine shutdown. On subsequent flights, the second stage was modified to prevent the possibility of an oxidizer-rich shutdown.
astronautix.com, Vanguard
[ ]
Mission
Launch was normal until 261.5 seconds after launch, when the second stage engine did not cut off properly because of an instability resulting from depletion of the oxidizer. The disturbance caused vehicle rotation in the pitch plane to exceed the 10.5° gyroscope limit, resulting in loss of attitude reference to the pitch gyroscope. The remainder of the flight was controlled to a false reference. This caused the vehicle to fly in a nose-upward attitude (63° to horizontal) rather than parallel to Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
at the time the third stage was deployed. This in turn caused the third stage to fly in a high arc-like trajectory, precluding any possibility of orbit. The third stage reached a peak altitude of 3500 km (2200 miles) and traveled 12,000 km (7500 miles) downrange, landing near the east coast of the Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Trans ...
.
See also
* Vanguard rocket
The Vanguard rocket was intended to be the first launch vehicle the United States would use to place a satellite into orbit. Instead, the Sputnik crisis caused by the surprise launch of Sputnik 1 led the U.S., after the failure of Vanguard TV-3 ...
* Project Vanguard
* Comparison of orbital launch systems
* Comparison of orbital rocket engines
This page is an incomplete list of orbital rocket engine data and specifications.
Current, Upcoming, and In-Development rocket engines
Retired and canceled rocket engines
See also
* Comparison of orbital launch systems
* Comparison of o ...
* Rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
* Spacecraft propulsion
Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. In-space propulsion exclusively deals with propulsion systems used in the vacuum of space and should not be confused with space launch or atmospheric e ...
References
Further reading
* Mallove, Eugene F. and Matloff, Gregory L. ''The Starflight Handbook: A Pioneer's Guide to Interstellar Travel'', Wiley,
{{Orbital launches in 1958
Spacecraft launched in 1958
Project Vanguard
Satellite launch failures
Space accidents and incidents in the United States