Project Farside
 

PROJECT FARSIDE . . .

This one is "unique" !

Dave F.

MORE . . .

Dave F.

Last Batch . . .

Dave F.

Interesting... looks like something from Gary Larsen's "Farside" cartoons LOL:) OL J R :)

This is an entirely practical vehicle, and even more so today (because its small payload volume & mass allotments could, today, include complete instrument suites, radio gear, imagers, etc.). In fact, several private space launch firms, in multiple countries, are developing Project Farside-like, stratospheric balloon-launched rockets (some are partly or wholly reusable, too, such as SpaceRyde's: https://www.spaceryde.com/ ), for launching spacecraft into Earth orbit and beyond; I included links to their websites in *this* (see: https://www.pioneerair.museum/blog/...loons-in-alaska ) article, which I wrote for the Pioneer Air Museum here in Fairbanks, Alaska. Also:

Adding a fifth stage to the Project Farside vehicle, to reach the Moon (or solar orbit), was proposed. It was never tried, however, because back then (circa 1957) the state of the art of even solid-state electronics--this was before the IC (Integrated Circuit) chip came along--made the use of discrete components (separate transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, etc., all on a PC--Printed Circuit--board) necessary. The poor overall results of the Project Farside flights (it, like some projects [the Skybolt air-launched ballistic missile was another], were/are simply plagued by bad luck, despite the concepts and hardware being fundamentally sound) probably also discouraged the five-stage, Moon-capable vehicle from being tried, and:

This greater (back then) "payload volume-consuming situation," combined with the very small allowable payload mass of a five-stage lunar Farside vehicle (only 1 or 2 pounds at most--even the "standard" four-stage geospace probe Project Farside vehicle [called a space probe because it reached orbital velocity while climbing vertically, causing it to rise to a distance of 1 Earth radius, approximately 4,000 miles, into space]--could carry only a 3 - 5 pound payload out to one Earth radius), made such a mission virtually pointless, using the electronics of that period. As well:

In a ham radio satellites book, I have a schematic (see: http://spaceacademy.net.au/spacelin...cns/satbcns.htm , and: https://www.google.com/search?q=Van...sclient=gws-wiz ) for the very low-powered (just 5 milliwatts or so of RF, modulated by a thermistor in/on the satellite's outer skin, to transmit its temperature; the electrical power came from its solar cells [often called "solar batteries," back then]), approximately 108 MHz FM transmitter used by Vanguard 1, the tiny "Grapefruit satellite." The transmitter has few parts, because--as with the Project Farside rockets--of Vanguard 1's tiny size (just 6.4" in diameter) and payload mass allotment. At most, a five-stage lunar Farside rocket -might- have been able to carry a radio beacon so that it could have been tracked along its trajectory. Today, several instruments, a camera, a transmitter, and solar cells could be accommodated within those volume and mass limits, as CubeSats--and even picosats--demonstrate every day.

Some Aviation Week articles

Thank you for posting those! They include information (such as the project's cost versus that of the Project Vanguard satellite effort [$750,000, about 1/30 that of Vanguard]), and photographs of sections of the vehicles--as well as pictures of the entire rockets--taken from angles I hadn't seen before. The modern-day BALS (Balloon-Assisted Launch System [as Winzen Research, a plastic Skyhook-type balloon manufacturer, generically designated them]) rockoons involve recovering and recycling the polyethylene plastic film balloons, removing and reusing their crown-mounted helium/hydrogen valve "caps" (this is already done--and has been for decades--with "regular" scientific stratospheric plastic film Skyhook-type balloons, especially the zero-pressure ones). Also:

With BALS rockoons that could be "held" aloft in a launch-ready state for long periods (we now know of atmospheric vortices where such balloons can remain for days or longer without drifting far; the Spanish firm Zero 2 Infinity [see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_2_Infinity ] uses one near the Azores), short-lived and/or unpredictably-appearing phenomena, such as solar flares, could be examined. The new pumpkin-shaped super-pressure stratospheric balloons (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superpressure_balloon ) could do this, but the French space agency (CNES)-developed MIR--Mongolfiere Infrarouge--long-duration stratospheric balloons (see: http://stratocat.com.ar/fichas-e/1977/ASL-19771014.htm ) could probably do this more cheaply (and their visual brilliance at altitude, due to their substantial aluminum coating, would make visual as well as radar tracking of the MIRs very easy).