"Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer)" wrote in
message ...
On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 20:46:23 -0600, kT wrote:


Has anyone ever put anything into orbit with a single stage? I know
we've managed SSTS, Single Stage To Space, but I don't think we've
managed SSTO.

Mary "Haven't thought about this for years"
--

Does Project Score count? That was a specially-prepared Atlas B launched in
December of 1958 which put the booster (less the so-called stage zero
booster engines, of course) in orbit, with a radio transmitter/tape player
package that broadcast a recorded "message of peace" from President
Eisenhower. "Atlas - the ultimate weapon" has a chapter on it, with excerpts
from a BIPS article ("the talking satellite") about the mission.

A special team was assigned, who chose "hotrod" engines and went to great
lengths to reduce the missle's weight - lighter-weight nose cone, adapter,
pod covers, antennas and other components then being prepared for the
C-model missles. They assembled 4 "hotrod B" missles, swapping engines and
parts around to get one tuned for maximum performance and minimum weight. A
new trajectory was designed and changes were made to the guidance system
(apparently that involved physical changes to cams and other mechanical
parts). Range safety and telemetry systems were deleted. If the article is
to be believed, the thing actually was launched from the Cape without the
range safety package, a grave risk even then. Shows what a state folks were
in, post-Sputnik.

The Army Signal Corps prepared the transmitter and tape playback package.
Per the reference, its chassis was made of "...aluminum foil to save the
weight of a conventional stiff metal chassis." They'd estimated the payload
at a mere 150 lbs. IIRC, Atlas Bs weighed about a quarter-million pounds at
launch.

The book says the missle weighed 8,660 pounds after burnout, LOX residuals
having been underestimated - they'd calculated for a burnout weight of 8,050
lbs. The orbited vehicle was little more than a stripped tank, sustainer
engine, adapter and the tiny payload. It stayed up over a month.

J