Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncr-mpd!Mike.McManus From: Mike.McManus@FtCollins.NCR.com (Mike McManus) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Atlas (was Re: For All Mankind) Message-ID: Date: 8 Oct 90 07:04:36 GMT References: <15953@wpi.WPI.EDU> <1096@tsdiag.ccur.com> <5633@mace.cc.purdue.edu> <1990Sep28.151756.3973@infonode.ingr.com> <1990Sep29.233359.6067@zoo.toronto.edu> Sender: uucp@ncr-mpd.FtCollins Organization: NCR Microelectronic Products, Ft. Collins, CO Lines: 30 In-reply-to: henry@zoo.toronto.edu's message of 29 Sep 90 23:33:59 GMT In article <1990Sep29.233359.6067@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: > In article <1990Sep28.151756.3973@infonode.ingr.com> drudetb@infonode.UUCP (Ted B. Drude) writes: > >In fact, it was the use of hydrogen fuel that made it possible for the > >Atlas to have such high payload weights for its day (late 50's-early 60's). > > Sorry again. Hydrogen had nothing to do with it. Hydrogen engines were not > sufficiently well developed to be used for Atlas; NASA had considerable > trouble getting them ready in time for Centaur and Saturn. Atlas's high > payload mass with a 1.5-stage launcher was due mostly to the use of > "balloon tanks", relying on tank pressurization for most of the structural > strength of the rocket. Exploiting the extra strength of pressurized > tanks was not novel, but relying on it to the extent that the rocket > would collapse unless pressurized was. If I recall correctly, several years ago (8-10?), there was an Atlas on display at the USAF Museum in Dayton that had a pressurization system that was used to maintain it's "posture". At some point, the system failed, and the whole thing collapsed like a paper cup. I can remember seeing the picture on the front page of the Dayton Daily News, and having seen the rocket at the museum before the mishap. -- Disclaimer: All spelling and/or grammar in this document are guaranteed to be correct; any exseptions is the is wurk uv intter-net deemuns,. Mike McManus Mike.McManus@FtCollins.NCR.COM, or NCR Microelectronics ncr-mpd!mikemc@ncr-sd.sandiego.ncr.com, or 2001 Danfield Ct. uunet!ncrlnk!ncr-mpd!garage!mikemc Ft. Collins, Colorado (303) 223-5100 Ext. 378