Annual Progress Report, 1 July 1960 – 30 June 1961, Aerospace Corporation

John Greenewald — Fri, 12 May 2017 17:43:55 +0000

Background

This is the first annual report of Aerospace Corporation covering its technical programs performed under contract AF 04(647)-594 for the period July 1, 1960 through June 30, 1961. Before discussing in detail these technical activities, it appears appropriate, by way of an introduction, to summarize the creation, build-up and background of Aerospace Corporation during its first operating year.

The mission of The Aerospace Corporation is to aid the United States Air Force in applying the full resources of modern science and technology to the problem of achieving those continuing advances, ballistic missiles and military space systems which are basic to national security. The Aerospace Corporation is responsible for providing the Air Force missile and space efforts with an organization which is objective, possessing high technical competence and is characterized by permanence and stability. The Aerospace Corporation will provide a vital link between the Air Force and the scientific and industrial organizations in the country with a capability and an interest in the ballistic missile and space field. The Corporation, through its unique role, will help to insure that the full technical resources of the nation are properly applied and that the potential advances in the missile and space field are realized in the shortest possible time.

The Aerospace Corporation is responsible under over -all Air Force program management for advanced systems analysis and planning, research, experimentation, initial systems engineering, initial technical direction and general technical supervision in the complete field of Air Force ballistic missile and space systems. The Aerospace Corporation will work closely with the Air Force in long range planning, systems analyses and systems comparisons studies. It is intended that it will review ideas and concepts generated throughout industry and Government and help insure the proper interaction between military requirements and technical capability. This detailed analysis, together with appropriate supporting experimentation, will provide the soundest possible basis for the initial engineering specifications of a system, including the subsystem requirements, specifications, interactions and interfaces. This initial systems engineering work will provide the basis for Requests for Proposals to the industry.

After a development program has been initiated, the Corporation by virtue of its relationship with the Air Force and its technical capabilities, will have the responsibility, through technical review, monitoring and steering, to insure that technical deficiencies and weaknesses are isolated, that the impact of new data, new developments and modified requirements on total system concepts is properly assessed, and that accordingly appropriate changes are introduced promptly.
Accordingly, although it is intended that the detailed development systems engineering and detailed technical direction will be the responsibility of normal private industry, special cases may, of course, arise where assumption of detailed systems engineering and detailed technical direction functions by the new corporation may be required by the Air Force. This, however, would be an exception to the normal responsibilities which the Corporation would have in the Air Force missile and space programs. Decisions relative to such exceptions would be made on an individual basis by the Secretary of the Air Force.

In order to properly execute its responsibilities, the Aerospace Corporation must attract and retain personnel of high technical capability.

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Annual Progress Report, 1 July 1960 – 30 June 1961, Aerospace Corporation [165 Pages, 30.2MB]

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Project Orion – Nuclear Propulsion Concept

John Greenewald — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 10:00:08 +0000

Background

Project Orion was a study of a spacecraft intended to be directly propelled by a series of explosions of atomic bombs behind the craft (nuclear pulse propulsion). Early versions of this vehicle were proposed to take off from the ground with significant associated nuclear fallout; later versions were presented for use only in space.

The Orion concept offered high thrust and high specific impulse, or propellant efficiency, at the same time. The unprecedented extreme power requirements for doing so would be met by nuclear explosions, of such power relative to the vehicle’s mass as to be survived only by using external detonations without attempting to contain them in internal structures. As a qualitative comparison, traditional chemical rockets—such as the Saturn V that took the Apollo program to the Moon—produce high thrust with low specific impulse, whereas electric ion engines produce a small amount of thrust very efficiently. Orion would have offered performance greater than the most advanced conventional or nuclear rocket engines then under consideration. Supporters of Project Orion felt that it had potential for cheap interplanetary travel, but it lost political approval over concerns with fallout from its propulsion.

The Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963 is generally acknowledged to have ended the project. However, from Project Longshot to Project Daedalus, Mini-Mag Orion, and other proposals which reach engineering analysis at the level of considering thermal power dissipation, the principle of external nuclear pulse propulsion to maximize survivable power has remained common among serious concepts for interstellar flight without external power beaming and for very high-performance interplanetary flight. Such later proposals have tended to modify the basic principle by envisioning equipment driving detonation of much smaller fission or fusion pellets, although in contrast Project Orion’s larger nuclear pulse units (nuclear bombs) were based on less speculative technology.

Currently, I have multiple requests for documents relating to Project Orion. They will be added when they become available.