UA120 was a family of American solid rocket boosters, manufactured by the Chemical Systems Division of

United Aircraft The United Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer formed by the break-up of United Aircraft and Transport Corporation in 1934. In 1975, the company became United Technologies. History Pre-1930s 1930s The Air Mail scandal ...

(later

United Technologies Corporation United Technologies Corporation (UTC) was an American multinational conglomerate headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut. It researched, developed, and manufactured products in numerous areas, including aircraft engines, aerospace systems ...

). Several variants existed, with a varying number of segments.

Design

All versions of UA120 shared a common design, with the only significant differentiating factor being the length of the motor. It was a segmented design, with between five and seven motor segments possible. A solid propellant,

polybutadiene acrylonitrile Polybutadiene acrylonitrile (PBAN) copolymer, also noted as polybutadiene— acrylic acid—acrylonitrile terpolymer is a copolymer compound used most frequently as a rocket propellant fuel mixed with ammonium perchlorate oxidizer. It ...

(PBAN), was used as fuel. The stage had an external diameter of 120 inches. Attitude control in flight was provided by means of a liquid injection

thrust vector control Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket, or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to control the attitude or angular velocity of the ve ...

(LITVC) system, with an external nacelle containing nitrogen tetroxide attached to the side of each booster. Solid fueled separation rockets, used to jettison the spent boosters, were affixed at the top and bottom of the stage. Thrust-termination capability, necessary for manned rockets such as the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

Manned Orbiting Laboratory The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was part of the United States Air Force (USAF) human spaceflight program in the 1960s. The project was developed from early USAF concepts of crewed space stations as reconnaissance satellites, and was a s ...

, was to be provided by two pyrotechnically triggered ports on the forward closure, which when opened would allow for the non-propulsive venting of exhaust gasses. The forward end of the stage contained an aerodynamic

nose cone A nose cone is the conically shaped forwardmost section of a rocket, guided missile or aircraft, designed to modulate oncoming airflow behaviors and minimize aerodynamic drag. Nose cones are also designed for submerged watercraft such as ...

, an ignitor, separation rockets, and the forward attachment ring. The aft end contained additional separation rockets, the nozzle, and a heat shield.

Variants

The overall design of each variant was very similar, the main difference being the number of segments used. This is indicated by the number at the end of each designation.

UA1205

UA1205 was used as a strap-on booster on the Titan IIIC, Titan IIID, and

Titan IIIE The Titan IIIE or Titan 3E, also known as the Titan III-Centaur, was an American expendable launch system. Launched seven times between 1974 and 1977, it enabled several high-profile NASA missions, including the Voyager and Viking planetary prob ...

rockets, and was proposed for use on several derivatives of the Saturn rocket family.

UA1206

The UA1206 was used as a strap-on booster on

Titan 34D The Titan 34D was a United States expendable launch vehicle used to launch a number of satellites for military applications. Service history Derived from the Titan III, the Titan 34D featured Stage 1 and Stage 2 stretched with more powerful U ...

and

Commercial Titan III The Commercial Titan III, also known as CT-3 or CT-III, was an American expendable launch system, developed by Martin Marietta during the late 1980s and flown four times during the early 1990s. It was derived from the Titan 34D, and was origina ...

UA1207

UA1207 was used on Titan IV-A. It was proposed for several other variants of Titan III and IV, as well as derivatives of the Saturn rocket family and the

References

{{Titan rockets Solid-fuel rockets