Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-04-03
Centour Rocket Will Test
Hydrogen Power Friday
By WILLIAM HINES
Star Science Writer

week to launch a new kind Of
rocket, using a form Of propul-
sion on which the Nations
moon effort will depend.
The rocket is called Cen
taur," and uses a hydrogen
oxygen fuel mixture in its up
per stage. AS far as is known,
no hydrogen-fueled rocket has
ever been flown.
Centaur will be launched
Friday from Cape Canaveral.
Fla, on a brief flight down.
range. No orbiting attempt will
be made. The rockets flight
plan calls for an arching ira
jectory to a peak altitude Of
300 miles and a distance of
1,175 miles. The flight will
take about Is minutes.
No Payload
The first Centaur will carry
no payload, the maiden flight
being intended primarily as a
systems check out. Later
flights envision low and high
orbital missions and lights
into deep space.
Centaur is running about a
year behind schedule and de-
lays that plaques its develop
ment phase already have cost
the Nation precious time in
some phases of the space pro-
gram.
A plan to use Centaur this
year for the first Mariner"
shot at Venus had to be aban-
doned when it was apparent
the rocket would not be ready.
A smaller Atlas Agena-B We
hicle will be substituted and the
payload drastically scaled down.
The Centaur to be launched
this week has a standard Atlas
intercontinental ballistic mis-
sile as its first stage.
Pepper PrOpellant
The Centaur upper stage uses
hydrogen and oxygen, which Is
q much peppier propellant than
the standard kerosene oxygen
mixture. Virtually all space ex-
perts believe hydrogen-oxygen
upper stages will be necessary
on rockets taking men to the
moon, at least until atomic
rockets become a reality. All
current moon plans depend on
hydrogen engines Of various
sizes.
Centaur's second stage has
two engines in tandem, develop
ing a total of 10000 pounds of
thrust. The stage has a start
stop-restart capability which is
needed in the maneuvers for
which it is designed.
1.-THE rocket is considerably
taller and heavier than stand
ard Aliases, These stand about
rs feet tall and weigh roughly
100000 pounds fully loaded.
Centaur is los feet high and
weighs 100000 pounds at lift
off.
One Of the big problems in
developing Centaur was the
handling Of liquid hydrogen. A
whole new technology had to
be developed around this tricky
material which boils away at
423 degrees below zero Fahren-
heit. Even liquid oxygen. at
297 below, is hot compared to
hydrogen.
The new fuel is extremely
light, weighing only about II
ounces to a gallon. The Cen
taur upper stage is AZ feet long
and 10 feet in diameter and
most of this volume is hydro
gen tankage. Yet the stage car
ries only about 1890 pounds
of the fuel.
BoiI-Off Problem
"Boil-off" is a major design
problem. It has been met in
two ways: Cd by insulation to
minimize heating before and
during the launching phase and
co by keeping the stage, in
orbit, always pointed so that
it's engine end faces the sun.
While the insulation will be
tested in this weeks flight, the
other anti-heating technique
will not be.
Centaur is built at San Die
60, Calf, by General Dynam-
les Astronauts. Its hydrogen
engines are a product of the
Pratt & Whitney Division Of
United Aircraft Corp, at West
Palm Beach, while the engines
for the Atlas booster stage are
built by Rocketdyne Division OF
North American Aviation, Ca
noga Park, Calf. The guidance
package comes from Minneapo-
lis-Honeywell Regulator Com
oany's st. Petersburg Fla.)