Conference 7.286::space

419.0. "The LITTLE JOE Rocket Series" by DICKNS::KLAES (Kind of a Zen thing, huh?) Thu Mar 31 1988 12:12

From: [email protected] (Eric Cotton)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Date: 30 Mar 88 16:51:23 GMT
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
 
    In article <[email protected]>
[email protected] (Joe Walker) writes: 

>     When visiting Johnson space center I saw a test vehicle for the APOLLO
>Command and Service Modules called LITTLE JOE.  Does anyone have any data
>on the LITTLE JOEs and how they were used.  What kind of engine did it have?
>How many test flights were there?
 
    While I cannot tell you much about the early LITTLE JOE I, I can
provide some information about the LITTLE JOE II series.  For some
reason, I find this rocket very interesting.  Perhaps it is the way it
looks like a cross between old and new. 
 
    Excerpted from APOLLO LITTLE JOE II by Centuri Engineering
Company, Inc., copyright 1968: 
 
	The LITTLE JOE II is a solid rocket booster designed and produced
	by the Convair Division of General Dynamics for the NASA APOLLO
	Program.  Its specific purpose was the man-rating of the APOLLO
	Launch Escape System which pulls the three Moon-bound astronauts
	to safety in the event of a catastrophic SATURN V booster failure.
 
	LITTLE JOE II uses a cluster of up to seven ALGOL 1D solid propellant
	motors, which produce a combined total thrust of 860,000 pounds.
	It is the most powerful all [sic] solid propellant rocket ever
	flown in the United States [This was written before the advent of
	the Space Shuttle].  All of the unmanned Launch Escape qualification
	flight tests, using the LITTLE JOE II booster, were conducted at
	the White Sands Missle Range in New Mexico between August 28, 1963
	and January 20, 1966.
 
    Following is a summary of the LITTLE JOE II flights:

    [A boilerplate is an R&D vehicle that simulates a production
craft, whereas a spacecraft refers to an actual production model.] 
 
	QTV - Test Vehicle	August 28, 1963
	o  dummy Launch Escape System (LES)
	o  dummy Command & Service Modules
	o  Booster: Cluster of seven motors: A center ALGOL
	   surrounded by six Recruits
	o  Liftoff Weight: 57,165 lbs.
	o  Abort Altitude: No abort capability
	o  Test Objective: Check out the LITTLE JOE II booster, not the LES
 
	Boilerplate - 12	May 13, 1964
	o  live LES
	o  boilerplate Command Module (CM)
	o  Booster: One ALGOL motor, six Recruits
	o  Liftoff Weight: 57,930 lbs.
	o  Abort Altitude: 19,400 ft.
	o  Test Objective: Transonic buffeting abort
 
	Boilerplate - 23	December 8, 1964
	o  live LES
	o  boilerplate Command Module (CM)
	o  Booster: Two ALGOL motors, four Recruit motors
	o  Liftoff Weight: 94,331 lbs.
	o  Abort Altitude: 32,000 ft.
	o  Test Objective: Maximum aerodynamic pressure abort
 
	Boilerplate - 22	May 19, 1965
	o  live LES
	o  boilerplate Command Module (CM)
	o  Booster: Six ALGOL motors
	o  Liftoff Weight: 177,189 lbs.
	o  Abort Altitude: 12,400 ft.  (111,200 intended)
	o  Test Objective: High altitude abort
 
	Spacecraft - 002	January 20, 1966
	o  live LES
	o  actual production CM and SM
	o  Booster: Four ALGOL motors, five Recruit motors
	o  Liftoff Weight: 139,731 lbs.
	o  Abort Altitude: 61,000 ft.
	o  Test Objective: Power-on tumbling abort
 
    For further information, drop me some e-mail.
 
	Eric Cotton
	Commodore-Amiga
 
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  Excerpt from "The History Of Manned Space Flight"

  "Four boosters would be employed for the Mercury program: Little Joe,
Redstone, Jupiter and Atlas.  Little Joe was the name given by Faget to his
proposed ballistic launcher for sending dummy capsules on test flights to high
altitude.  Originally called High Ride, the idea evolved to acquire the name
Little Joe from engineering drawings that showed four hole locations for the
modified Sergeant solid propellant rockets like 'the crap game throw of a double
deuce on the dice.'  These rockets were called Castor or Pollux according to the
specific modifications incorporated and the quartet later acquired four
supplemental solids in the form of Recruit rockets.

  "Little Joe was highly adaptable, its eight possible solids could be arranged
in any firing order desirable, and some rockets could even be removed for
specific test requirements.  At maximum, Little Joe could propel Mercury skyward
on a thrust of 104 tonnes, enough to accelerate the capsule to a speed of 6,600
km/h and a height in excess of 160 km.  But if capable of reaching orbital
height, Little Joe was far below the required performance level for taking a
capsule to the 28,000 km/h of orbital speed.  Nevertheless, it could provide
valuable opportunity for qualifying systems critical to the safety of the pilot. 
North American Aviation's Missile Division got the contract on 29 December
[1958?] to build seven Little Joe boosters for the Mercury Program."

John

    Some other minor bits of trivia...
    
    The first Atlas to carry a boilerplate Mercury capsule (an Atlas-B)
    was name 'Big Joe'
    
    Somewhere, there is a NASA documentary showing some of the LJII
    flights, including the unplanned low altitude abort mentioned in
    .0. One of the control surfaces locked into its maximum deflection
    position causing the vehicle to roll. The launch escape system was
    triggered as the vehicle broke up (the film shows one of the Algol
    engines coming loose and breaking through body of the LJII). Although
    not the planned trajectory, analysis of telemetry showed that the
    Apollo capsule and LES were subjected to much higher stress than
    intended and, since the LES worked, the flight was deemed successful.
    
    It is a very popular vehicle with model rocketeers for scale purposes,
    so their is a lot of data available about the LJII. There is not
    much on the LJi unfortunately. All of the Little Joes (both models)
    were essenitally hand built for specific flights, so each one tends
    to be different.
    
    gary