during the period march through june 1959, fourteen thrust … · 2007. 8. 10. · during the...
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Table 3.9
Number of Engine Tests For the Thor and RS-27 Progranss1955 Through 198 3
Test Stand Use
XLR79-NA-S
(MB-1 and 2)
XLR79•NA-7
(MB-3)
LR79-NA-9
(MB•3-L)
LR79-NA- 1 1(MB-3 .2)
YLR-NA-1 3(MB-13) RS-27 Tulds
Tes t
Stands From To R&D Prod. R&D Prod. R&D Prod. R & D Prod. R&D Prod R&D Prod. R&D Prod.
Gran dTotal
Alfa 2 Sept . 6. 1957 Aug. 29,1958 54 0 98 0 83 0 34 0 0 0 0 0 269 0 269
Alfa 3a Nov. 18, 1955Feb. 19,1969
July 16.195 7
Sept . 16,198394 87 0 0 0 20 0 0 81 126 30 282 205 515 720
TRE 1 Nov. 29,1955 March 2,1957 275 90 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 275 90 365
THE 3A Feb. 5 . 19,17 Aug . 7,1959 50 86 0 89 4 7 0 9 0 0 0 0 54 191 245
THE 3B May 4 . 1957 Nov. 18,1958 9 12 10 26 0 8 64 0 0 0 0 0 83 46 129
Delta IA Feb . 27,1957 April 2,1963 80 0 12 3 105 100 35 28 0 0 0 0 232 131 363
Delta 13 May 23. 1957 April 6,1963 16 0 0 0 62 138 199 46 0 0 0 0 277 184 46 1
Delta 2A July 30 . 1957 1959 90 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 90 0 90
Delta 3B Oct . 23, 1957 Oct. 16,1958 19 0 166 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 185 0 185
Bravo 3A Jan. 26,1959 Feb. 5, 1959 0 0 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 1 2
Subtotals SSFL 687 275 298 118 254 273 332 83 81 126 30 282 1,682 1,157 2,839
ERB 1-38 March 16. 1956 Dec. 31,1959 417 85 115 7 181 0 268 0 0 0 0 0 981 92 1,07 3
Neosh olA
Dec. 12.1957 Oct. 24,1959 10 9 2 46 0 321 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 376 388
Neosho2A
March 20, 1959 May 19,1960 0 0 0 62 0 335 0 232 0 0 0 0 0 629 629
Neosh o1B
June 6,1958 July 17,1962 6 0 0 26 0 246 0 34 0 0 0 0 6 306 31 2
Neosh o2B
Aug. 16, 1962 May 10 . 1968 0 0 0 0 12 144 62 96 14 476 0 0 88 716 804
Subtotals Other 433 94 117 141 .193 1 .046 330 362 14 476 0 0 1,087 2.119 3,20 6
Totals 1,120 369 415 25 91
447 1-119 662 445 95 602 30 282 2,769 3,276 6,04 5
Rererence: Wilson (1984) . p . 25 . for all but the Delta 2A data. The Delta 2A references were Reed (1958) for 1957 data on the S3X engine, and R1C ono date (b)) for 1958-1959 data on the S3X engine.
aThe Affa 3 data is presented up through September 1983. However. the Alfa 3 test stand has continued to be used as a Thor/RS-27 test stand to the present day .
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During the period March through June 1959, fourteen thrust chamber tests
(Nos . 39036-39052) were conducted "under the sponsorship of NASA to provide
combustion stability data for the F-1 thrust chamber program . Consent to use E-1 thrust
chamber hardware for this effort was obtained from the E-1 sponsor, WADC . All
operating and damage replacement costs in support of this effort were funded by the E-1
sponsor, NASA" (NAA, 1960a, p . 128) . In addition, the 10 mainstage tests
(Nos . 39043-39093) occurring from April through December 1959, "were NASA
sponsored " (NAA, 1960a, p. 137) .
3 .6 H-1 Program
The H-1 rocket engine was developed and produced by Rocketdyne, primarily under the
technical direction of NASA/MSFC, to be used both in clusters on large launch vehicles
and as a single unit . -It is a LOX/RP-1 single=start engine (see Figure 3-8) that in its last
stage of development produced 205,000 lb thrust at sea level (lacobellis, 1966) . The
propellants are pumped to the thrust chamber by a turbopump driven by a gas generator
utilizing a fuel-rich mixture of the same propellants .
A cluster of eight H-1 engines powered the first stages of the Saturn 1 and Saturn lB
launch vehicles. Study of this concept of using engine clusters to launch large payloads
into space first began in April 1957 with the U .S . Army Ballistic Missile Agency
(ABMA) . The concept was judged to have merit by DoD's Advanced Research Projects
Agency (ARPA), and on August 15, 1958, ARPA authorized the Army team to build a
full-size vehicle. Less than a month later, on September 11, 1958 [RIC, no date (d)], the
Rocketdyne Division of NAA signed a contract with ABMA to develop the propulsion
system for the large launch vehicle . The propulsion system and the launch vehicle came
to be known as "H-1" and "Saturn", respectively .
When the ABMA Development Operations Division was transferred to the newly created
NASA to form the George C . Marshall Space Flight Center, responsibility for the Satur n
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went with it . The Saturn program transfer occurred on July 1, 1960 (Isakowitz, 1991,
pg . 289) .
The first engine test occurred in December 1958. R&D and production continued for
10 years, with the last engine delivered in the third quarter 1968 . The production engine
models, serialization, and number of engines built are shown in Table 3-11 .
Production of the early H-1 engines (e .g., the 1000 series) occurred at Canoga. In early
1961, however, much of the H-1 program shifted to the production facilities at Neosho,
Missouri [RIC, no date (g)] and thereafter, Canoga was used only for producing the
initial set of engines in a particular series . For example, engines H2001-H2015 and
H5001-H5016 were produced at Canoga, while H2016-H2043 and H5017-H5045 were
produced at Neosho [RIC, no date (e)] . Since engines were tested near their own
production facilities, the H-1 engine testing at SSFL dropped significantly in the early
1960s, as the program shifted to Neosho . Table 3-12 summarizes the total number of
tests at Neosho and SSFL for the H-1 engine, as well as estimates the number of tests
that occurred just at SSFL .
SSFL testing of the H-i engines occurred only in the Canyon area [RIC, no date (g) ;
Appendix A)], but at all three of Canyon' s test stands: THE 1, THE 2, and THE 3B .6
It is estimated that 4,047 tests, or 56 percent of the 7,257 total tests, occurred in the
Canyon area during the period 1958 through 1968 . No mention of H-1 thrust chamber
component testing was found during the SSFL records search . Bob Biggs (Appendix B)
suggests that this type of testing may not have been performed because the H-1 thrust
chamber was substantially similar to that already used in the Jupiter, Thor, and Atlas
booster programs .
'1TRE 3A is assumed to have been inactive during this time period because no reference toTHE 3A was noted in the documents researched .
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Table 3-11H-1 Production Engine Recapitulatio n
Thrust Number ofModel (lb) Engines Built Serialization
H1 165,000 59 H1001-H1059188,000 1 H1060
H1A 188,000 43 H2001-H2043
HIB 188,000 45 H5001-H5045
H1C 200,000 24 H4044-H4067205,000 47 H4068-H4115
N/A! NIAa H4116-H4129
HID 200,000 25 H7046-H7070205,000 48 H7071-H711 9NIAa NIAa H7120-H7133
Sum = 292
Reference : RIC, no date (d) .'Series terminated May 9, 1968 ; engine buildup did not occur .
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Table 3-12H-1 Engines -Testing Summary
Subtotal ofAcceptance , Estimated
Subtotal of Launch, and Total SSFL TestsYear R&D Tests Other Tests Tests' at Canyon'
1958 13 0 13 13
1959 430 76 506 506
1960 515 334 849 849
1961 574 283 857 4291
1962 404 352 756 3781
1963 630 286 916 45 8
1964 832 494 1,326 589
1965 429 328 757 44 1
1966 441 308 749 322
1967 147 192 339 0
1968 83 106 189 62
Sum 4498 2,759 7,257 1 4,0471
'This data was extracted from an exhibit within the reference : RIC [no date (d)] . Aseparate exhibit within the same reference gave test numbers that summed to 5,838, avalue lower by a factor of 1 .24 than the sum of 7,257 shown above. In addition, nodistinction was made in the exhibits as to whether the test numbers referred strictly toengine tests or whether they also included some component tests . For the purposes ofthis report, the test numbers are assumed to refer only to engine tests .bFor the years 1958 through 1960, the number of SSFL tests at Canyon are assumedto be equal to the total number of tests . For the years 1964 through 1968, thenumber of tests are extracted from LOX propellant curve worksheets (McGrath ,1968b) . For the years 1961 through 1963, as the H-1 program transitioned fro mCanoga to Neosha, it is assumed that the number of SSFL tests are approximately hal fthe total number of tests .`It was reported in RIC [no date (e)] that 71 production engine tests occurred in 196 1for the 1000-series engines (165,000-lb thrust), and that 79 similar tests occurred i n1962.
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