08-03-2020, 02:40 AM
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Master Modeler
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ez2cDave
As a "side note", the BLACK BRANT 5C / BLACK BRANT VC is also a 4-finned version.
Dave F.
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Yes--adding the fourth fin to the 3-finned Black Brant VB mightily pleased NASA and other Black Brant users, as it enabled longer payloads to be flown without troublesome "coning" motion as the vehicle spun. Three-finned Black Brant VBs are still flown occasionally (with shorter payloads, or even with long payloads where some "coning" either doesn't matter, or is even useful for sensor scanning, the absence of the fourth fin cuts drag and provides a bit more payload mass to a given altitude). In 1999, I watched a single-stage, three-finned Black Brant VB launched at the Poker Flat Research Range (a Black Brant 12 and three Taurus-Orions also flew that night); the BBVB's payload had flown many times before, and was recovered to fly again, AND:
There was even at least one Black Brant VD--this rocket was launched from the 3-rail Aerobee tower launcher at Fort Churchill in the late 1990s or early 2000s, so it had three fins (if memory serves, it also had a Terrier first stage, also fitted with three fins). It was flown primarily to test an improved Black Brant solid propellant formulation. I don't know if any other Black Brant VD vehicles were flown, or if they simply became "new and improved propellant" Black Brant VB and VC rockets.
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