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View Full Version : NASA Study Summary: "Apollo Launch Vehicle Design (1962)"


luke strawwalker
04-21-2011, 05:26 PM
Here's a roughly 50 page 'white paper' for presentation at the SAE National Aeronautic Meeting in April of 1962 in New York. It's a short but interesting snapshot of the thinking and designs for Apollo as they stood at that time (when Mercury orbital flights were just starting). The "direct ascent" mode was still 'the only game in town' and the designs reflect that. There are some interesting graphics showing the two EOR modes under consideration, "connective mode" where essentially two earth escape stages would dock together in orbit and perform a 'staged' TLI manuever, and "tanker mode" where one C-5 (this was before the Saturns were named Saturn I and Saturn V) would lift off with the escape stage with an empty LOX tank and the spacecraft, and it would rendezvous and dock with a tanker carrying the LOX launched by a second C-5. Once tanked up with LOX, the stage would perform TLI and send the spacecraft to the moon. There was also a brief discussion and graphic showing a NERVA/RIFT nuclear stage for the Saturn C-5 to perform 'single launch lunar missions' as well as NOVA to perform single launch lunar missions, in addition to providing the vehicle for the 'next program in space exploration'... Oh, the heady days when the sky was the limit, eh!!?!

Enjoy! OL JR

luke strawwalker
04-21-2011, 05:27 PM
The first pic is the C-5 in connecting mode-- where the two escape stages would dock and then perform TLI together; the first stage accelerating the stack to about half the lunar velocity, then being dropped and the second TLI stage igniting to accelerate the stack the rest of the way to Trans-Lunar Injection velocity, along with the Apollo spacecraft...


The second pic is the C-5 in tanker mode-- One C-5 is launched with the Apollo direct landing spacecraft and TLI stage, but with an empty LOX tank on the third stage (since LOX is BY FAR the heaviest propellant-- the liquid hydrogen was only a few tens of thousands of pounds by comparison due to LH2's very low density) The stage would be inserted into orbit by the second stage of the C-5, and would then dock with a tanker vehicle sent up by the second C-5 launch containing the oxygen for the TLI stage. Once docked and the LOX transferred to the TLI stage, the tanker would be jettisoned and the stage ignited for the complete TLI burn to inject the Apollo spacecraft into the lunar trajectory.


The third pic is the C-5/Nuclear option-- A NERVA rocket engine-powered third stage would inject the Apollo stack through TLI much like the S-IVB did in the final design, and then be jettisoned in deep space (presumably for disposal in solar orbit like several S-IVB's did before they started crashing them into the moon). The NERVA engine superheats liquid hydrogen and expels it from the rocket nozzle for thrust, therefore no oxygen is needed on the third stage, making the stage and structures lighter (and the low propellant density actually works in your favor here) as well as accelerating the low molecular weight hydrogen up to much higher velocities than simply chemically burning it with LO2 could produce, creating VERY high ISPs as well. They added a "fourth" chemical stage above the nuclear stage to actually perform the lunar braking manuever and start the powered descent for the Apollo spacecraft (a "crasher" stage).


The last pic is an early rendition of NOVA, quite similar to what was known as "C-8". This was a truly mammoth rocket...


Later! OL JR

luke strawwalker
04-21-2011, 05:28 PM
Here's a few "orphan pics" that are in the folder... they seem to fit with the theme, so I'll post them here...

First pic is more "solid NOVA" vehicle concepts...


Second pic is a comparison of NASA launch vehicles...


Third pic is more modular NOVA concepts, these liquid fuelled by all appearances...


Fourth pic is a compilation of pretty much all the NOVA concepts back in the day...


Fifth pic is the Saturn family as it was proposed in about this same timeframe...


Enjoy! OL JR

blackshire
04-21-2011, 10:14 PM
Had the EOR (Earth Orbit Rendezvous) Apollo mission plan been chosen, I can't help but think that somewhere (perhaps at the lead NASA field center for EOR) there would have been an Apollo program patch whose logo featured a certain melancholy donkey...