Conference 7.286::space

516.0. "Rockoons - Balloon Rockets" by MTWAIN::KLAES (N = R*fgfpneflfifaL) Mon Mar 20 1989 11:27

Date: 17 Mar 89 07:32:36 GMT
From: [email protected]  
Subject: Rockoons (was Sanger)
 
    The idea of a "rockoon" has been around for quite a while.  It was
pioneered by Dr. James Van Allen in 1952 for cosmic ray research. 
 
    In 1957, the Air Force fired a series of balloon-suspended rockets
into space.  Known as Project Farside, the experiments were a
pioneering achievement and succeeded in setting an altitude record
which remained unbroken even after Sputnik 1.
 
    The Farside vehicle was lifted to an altitude of 100,000 ft by a
large helium-filled polyethylene balloon.  The rocket itself consisted
of four solid fueled stages (Thiokol Recruits and Arrow II's) with a
small (4 X 6 inches) payload package. 
 
    The six Farside tests were conducted from the remote Eniwetok
Atoll (yes, the same as the first megaton H-bomb test) at the Marshall
Islands in the Fall of 1957.  The balloon-rocket assembly took two
hours to rise to the designated altitude.  The rockets were
spectacularly launched *through* the balloon (the Air Force captured
some impressive ground based pictures). Because the rocket was already
above 90% of Earth's atmosphere, the vehicle was allowed to
accelerate at a rate which would burn up a similar ground launched
vehicle.  The total duration of powered flight was around 30 seconds. 
 
    Unfortunately, the rocket traveled too fast for radar tracking, so
altitude was judged by crude optical and radio means.  The highest
officially recorded altitude was 3,100 miles, although the vehicle
could have easily reached 4,000 miles. 
 
    The payloads on the Farside rockets were alternated between
magnetometers and Geiger counters.  Had the most successful Farside
launch carried a Geiger counter rather than a magnetometer, it very
likely would have discovered the Van Allen radiation belts. 
 
    More elaborate plans were drawn up for Farside II, which would
have been able to deliver a payload to the Moon, thus living true to
its name. Farside II, however, was not able to compete with the Thor
Able Moon rocket, which was chosen for the job in January 1958. 
Farside II never got farther than the design stage. 
 
    After the IGY, larger rockets became more accessible, and the
ideal of balloon launched rockets slipped out of vogue, with the
exception of a single Japanese firing in 1961.  The Japanese continue
to use balloons to test launch scaled models of the H-II. 

Andrew J. Higgins	             | Illini Space Development Society
404 1/2 E. White St apt 3            | a chapter of the National Space Society
Champaign IL  61820                  | at the University of Illinois
phone:  (217) 359-0056               | P.O. Box 2255 Station A
e-mail: [email protected] | Champaign IL  61825
                 ^^^^^^
 "When the Waters were dried an' the earth did appear,...The Lord He created
 the Engineer." - Rudyard Kipling