A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder. The inception of gunpowder rockets in warfare can be credited to the ancient Chinese,and in the 13th century,the Mongols played a pivotal role in facilitating their westward adoption.
The Juno I was a four-stage American space launch vehicle,used to launch lightweight payloads into low Earth orbit. The launch vehicle was used between January 1958 to December 1959. The launch vehicle is a member of the Redstone launch vehicle family,and was derived from the Jupiter-C sounding rocket. It is commonly confused with the Juno II launch vehicle,which was derived from the PGM-19 Jupiter medium-range ballistic missile. In 1958,a Juno I launch vehicle was used to launch America's first satellite,Explorer 1.
Titan was a family of United States expendable rockets used between 1959 and 2005. The Titan I and Titan II were part of the US Air Force's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fleet until 1987. The space launch vehicle versions contributed the majority of the 368 Titan launches,including all the Project Gemini crewed flights of the mid-1960s. Titan vehicles were also used to lift US military payloads as well as civilian agency reconnaissance satellites and to send interplanetary scientific probes throughout the Solar System.
Project HARP,for high altitude research project,was a joint venture of the United States Department of Defense and Canada's Department of National Defence created with the goal of studying ballistics of re-entry vehicles and collecting upper atmospheric data for research. Unlike conventional space launching methods that rely on rockets,HARP instead used very large guns to fire projectiles into the atmosphere at extremely high speeds.
The Saturn family of American rockets was developed by a team of former German rocket engineers and scientists led by Wernher von Braun to launch heavy payloads to Earth orbit and beyond. The Saturn family used liquid hydrogen as fuel in the upper stages. Originally proposed as a military satellite launcher,they were adopted as the launch vehicles for the Apollo Moon program. Three versions were built and flown:the medium-lift Saturn I,the heavy-lift Saturn IB,and the super heavy-lift Saturn V.
Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American aerospace and arms manufacturer headquartered in Arlington County,Virginia. The company operated across 22 states,Puerto Rico,and internationally. ATK revenue in fiscal year 2014 was about US$4.8 billion.
The Black Brant is a family of Canadian-designed sounding rockets originally built by Bristol Aerospace,since absorbed by Magellan Aerospace in Winnipeg,Manitoba. Over 800 Black Brants of various versions have been launched since they were first produced in 1961,and the type remains one of the most popular sounding rockets. They have been repeatedly used by the Canadian Space Agency and NASA.
The Saturn I was a rocket designed as the United States' first medium lift launch vehicle for up to 20,000-pound (9,100 kg) low Earth orbit payloads. Its development was taken over from the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in 1958 by the newly formed civilian NASA. Its design proved sound and flexible. It was successful in initiating the development of liquid hydrogen-fueled rocket propulsion,launching the Pegasus satellites,and flight verification of the Apollo command and service module launch phase aerodynamics. Ten Saturn I rockets were flown before it was replaced by the heavy lift derivative Saturn IB,which used a larger,higher total impulse second stage and an improved guidance and control system. It also led the way to development of the super-heavy lift Saturn V which carried the first men to landings on the Moon in the Apollo program.
Orbital Sciences Corporation was an American company specializing in the design,manufacture,and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial,military and other government customers. In 2014,Orbital merged with Alliant Techsystems (ATK) to create a new company called Orbital ATK,which in turn was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018.
Lockheed Martin Space is one of the four major business divisions of Lockheed Martin. It has its headquarters in Littleton,Colorado,with additional sites in Valley Forge,Pennsylvania;Sunnyvale,California;Santa Cruz,California;Huntsville,Alabama;and elsewhere in the United States and United Kingdom. The division currently employs about 20,000 people,and its most notable products are commercial and military satellites,space probes,missile defense systems,NASA's Orion spacecraft,and the Space Shuttle external tank.
The Scout family of rockets were American launch vehicles designed to place small satellites into orbit around the Earth. The Scout multistage rocket was the first orbital launch vehicle to be entirely composed of solid fuel stages. It was also the only vehicle of that type until the successful launch of the Japanese Lambda 4S in 1970.
Loki,officially designated 76mm HEAA Rocket T220,was an American unguided anti-aircraft rocket based on the German Taifun. Like the Taifun,Loki never saw service in its original role,but later found widespread use as a sounding rocket. It was so successful in this role that several advanced versions were developed on the basic Loki layout,including the final Super Loki.
The Minotaur is a family of United States solid-fuel launch vehicles repurposed from retired Minuteman and Peacekeeper model intercontinental ballistic missiles. Built by Northrop Grumman under the Space Force's Rocket Systems Launch Program,these vehicles are used for various space and test launch missions.
The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS),originally designated the Interim Upper Stage,was a two-stage,solid-fueled space launch system developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force beginning in 1976 for raising payloads from low Earth orbit to higher orbits or interplanetary trajectories following launch aboard a Titan 34D or Titan IV rocket as its upper stage,or from the payload bay of the Space Shuttle as a space tug.
The Conestoga was a launch vehicle design funded by Space Services Inc. of America (SSIA) of Houston,Texas. Conestoga originally consisted of surplus LGM-30 Minuteman stages with additional strap-on boosters,as required for larger payloads. It was the world's first privately funded commercial rocket,but was launched only three times between 1981 and 1995,before the program was shut down.
Thor was a US space launch vehicle derived from the PGM-17 Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile. The Thor rocket was the first member of the Delta rocket family of space launch vehicles. The last launch of a direct derivative of the Thor missile occurred in 2018 as the first stage of the final Delta II.
The Terrier Orion sounding rocket is a combination of the Terrier booster rocket with the Orion rocket used as a second stage. This spin stabilized configuration is most often used by the Goddard Space Flight Center,who operate out of the Wallops Flight Facility for sounding rocket operations. The system supports payloads ranging from 200 to 800 pounds,and is capable of achieving altitudes as high as 120 miles (200 km),but at least 50 miles (80 km),depending on payload size.
The Terrier Malemute is a two-stage American sounding rocket typically used for smaller payloads. Both the Terrier first stage and the Malemute second stage use solid propellant. The Terrier burns for approximately 5.2 seconds,and the Malemute burns for approximately 21.5 seconds. The first stage booster consists of a surplus Navy Terrier MK 12 Mod 1 rocket motor with four 0.22 m2 (340 sq in) fin panels arranged in a cruciform configuration. The Terrier rocket booster has a diameter of 460 mm (18 in). The second stage solid rocket is a Thiokol Malemute TU-758 rocket motor,specially designed for high altitude research rocket applications. Apogee is approximately 400 km (220 nmi) for a 230 kg (510 lb) payload or 700 km (380 nmi) for a 41 kg (90 lb) payload. For a payload weight of 200 lb (91 kg),the acceleration during the boost phase is 26 g. Its first flight was on November 11,1974,from Barking Sands. Other launch sites have included Poker Flat,Wallops Island and Fort Yukon,Alaska.
Space Vector Corporation (SVC) is a United States-based company that provides aerospace products and services to government and commercial customers. Space Vector is headquartered in Chatsworth,California and is a privately held small business. Its primary products are flight safety and system batteries,GPS tracking systems,custom avionics and structures,attitude control systems,pneumatic components,and separation systems. Space Vector also provides launch services as a prime contractor under the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) Sounding Rocket Program (SRP-3) which includes performing vehicle integration activities,end-to-end system testing,payload integration,launch operations,and mission analysis and design.
The Naval Research Laboratory Flyrt,or Flying Radar Target,was a small electric-powered unmanned aerial vehicle developed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory to serve as an expendable radar decoy for the defense of United States Navy ships. Tested in the fall of 1993,it was considered successful but was not ordered into production.
