Evening star., 1961-09-16

Using the C-3 we could put
400 pounds of uSable equip
ment on the moon with each
shot. Ten shots over a three
month period would do it.
Some of the equipment could
even be sent up during the
test phase of the rocket de-
velopment program"
Concepts such as this IL
lustrate the value of a step
by-step space program such as
NASA has developed. By the
time such a series of landings
as DR.. Spaulding's can be at
tempted, program of un-
manned landings in NASA'S
Projects Ranger and Surveyor
will have been carried out)
Mr.. Dempsey's CA and DR..
Spaulding's C-3 are not the
only theoretical methods of
rendezvous for getting around
building a Nova. Even the
relatively low-powered Atlas
Centaurs, due to start flying
shortly, could do the trick
if enough of them were used,
says Frank j. Dore, advanced
engineering director at Mr..
Dempsey'S plant in California.
1t would take about 80
Centaurs and the payloads
would be boosted only to a
low earth orbit, where difficult
assembly would be required.
Use of 10 Saturn C-3s would
also involve complicated oper-
ations in an unfamiliar en-
vironment-the moons surface.
Mr.. Dore points out. Two Gas
locking their payloads together
in orbit to form one moon
worthy spaceship makes more
sense. he contends.
Not all experts agree that
assembly of a great many small
payloadS is too much trouble.
One of the most eminent space
scientists, Arthur Kantrowitz of
Avco Corp. suggests using 1862
model hardware in building
large space stations. By such
means, DR.. Kantrowitz con-
tends, this country can in two
or three years completely over
come the Russian advantage in
booster thrust"
Space Administrator James
E. Webb continues to look
with favor on the huge Nova.
Even at his own NASA head
quarters, however, there are
voices in open dissent.
Would Cost Less
Kurt Stehling, propulsion
expert in NASA's program
planning office, has published
technical papers showing that
Saturn type rockets can do the
Nova job for less money via
the orbital rendezvous route. +;
And as Harry Ruppe of the (
Won Braun team says: (
with orbital rendezvous
techniques we could do the
moon mission with a smaller
vehicle, and historically you
have small vehicle before you
have big one"
The theory of orbital rem
devious is simple enough,
based on certain facts of
celestial mechanics. 1t is
known that for every altitude
there is a certain character
istic orbital speed; any object
injected into orbit at that alti-
tude will travel at that velocity.
If two objects are fired into
identical orbits, they will circle
the earth in exactly the same
period. If their orbits are made
to coincide in space and time
if each has an orbit with
the same apogee. pefigee andi
inclination to the equator
their speed relative to each
other will be zero. They will
be like two wooden horses on
a merry-go-round. travelling at
a great clip but not moving
with respect to each other.
Now, if in addition to being
in identical orbits, the twoI
satellites can be made to oc-
cupy neighboring positions, a
few closing maneuvers will
suffice to bring them together
and effect rendezvous.
Simple But Formidable
Simple in theory, it is a
formidable job by today's
standards. But even so, it
would seem to be easier to
develop a rendezvous technique
than to build a flying sky
scraper like the Nova.
Not all the disSenters think
Nova is too big. Capt. Robert
C. Truax, USN, (retired), is of
just the opposite mind. He
says space travel in vehicles
like Nova will be prohibitively
expenSive-$100 million a shot
or more-simply because Nova
is too small to be economical. |
Capt. TruaX is a man to
reckon with in the rocket
business. Now the advanced
I