XLR50

XLR50
	Vanguard rocket engines: rear, GE's first-stage engine; foreground, Aerojet General's second-stage engine.
Country of origin	United States
Date	1957
Manufacturer	General Electric
Application	First stage
Associated LV	Vanguard
Predecessor	General Electric Hermes A-3B
Status	Retired
Liquid-fuel engine
Propellant	LOX / RP-1
Cycle	Gas-generator
Configuration
Chamber	1
Nozzle ratio	5.5
Performance
Thrust, vacuum	134.8 kN (30,300 lbf)
Thrust, sea-level	123.8 kN (27,800 lbf)
Chamber pressure	4.2 MPa (610 psi)
Specific impulse, vacuum	270 s (2.6 km/s)
Specific impulse, sea-level	248 s (2.43 km/s)
Burn time	145 seconds
Dimensions
Diameter	1.14 m (3 ft 9 in)
Dry mass	191 kg (421 lb)
Used in
	Vanguard first stage
References
References

Last updated July 15, 2024

The XLR50 was a pump-fed liquid-propellant rocket engine burning RP-1 and LOX in a gas generator cycle developed by General Electric.^[3] It was used to power the first stage of the Vanguard rockets on the Vanguard project. As was common to engines based on the V-2 experience, the turbine was driven by steam generated by catalytic decomposition of H₂O₂ and the combustion chamber was regeneratively cooled.^[3]^[4] The engine was gimbaled to supply thrust vectoring. Also, the exhaust gases of the turbine were ducted to dual auxiliary nozzles that acted as verniers to enable roll control of the rocket.^[3]

When the Vanguard rocket was selected as the first orbital launch vehicle for the US, Martin Company got the contract as prime contractor. Given the required thrust levels, the Viking propulsion (the Reaction Motors XLR10) was deemed insufficient, and instead, the General Electric proposal, based on the experience gained in the Hermes program, was considered more fitting and a less risky choice than Reaction Motors next project.^[5]^[6] Thus, on October 1, 1955 Martin purchase order 55-3516-CP was signed with General Electric for the X-405 engine for furnishing a self-contained unit which was to include the thrust structure, gimbal ring, engine components, and engine starting equipment.^[5]

While the first two Vanguard flight, (TV-0 and TV-1), used Viking first stages, twelve X-405 were built and eleven flew on Vanguard rockets.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanguard TV-3</span> U.S. satellite in 1957

Vanguard TV-3, was the first attempt of the United States to launch a satellite into orbit around the Earth, after the successful Soviet launches of Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2. Vanguard TV-3 was a small satellite designed to test the launch capabilities of the three-stage Vanguard and study the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit. It was also to be used to obtain geodetic measurements through orbit analysis. Solar cells on Vanguard TV-3 were manufactured by Bell Laboratories.

Project Vanguard was a program managed by the United States Navy Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), which intended to launch the first artificial satellite into low Earth orbit using a Vanguard rocket. as the launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanguard 2</span> US Navy satellite launched in 1959

Vanguard 2 is an Earth-orbiting satellite launched 17 February 1959 at 15:55:02 GMT, aboard a Vanguard SLV-4 rocket as part of the United States Navy's Project Vanguard. The satellite was designed to measure cloud cover distribution over the daylight portion of its orbit, for a period of 19 days, and to provide information on the density of the atmosphere for the lifetime of its orbit. As the first weather satellite and one of the first orbital space missions, the launch of Vanguard 2 was an important milestone in the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Vanguard 2 remains in orbit.

Vanguard 3 is a scientific satellite that was launched into Earth orbit by the Vanguard SLV-7 on 18 September 1959, the third successful Vanguard launch out of eleven attempts. Vanguard rocket: Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle-7 (SLV-7) was an unused Vanguard TV-4BU rocket, updated to the final production Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV).

The Vanguard rocket was intended to be the first launch vehicle the United States would use to place a satellite into orbit. Instead, the Sputnik crisis caused by the surprise launch of Sputnik 1 led the U.S., after the failure of Vanguard TV-3, to quickly orbit the Explorer 1 satellite using a Juno I rocket, making Vanguard 1 the second successful U.S. orbital launch.

Viking was a series of twelve sounding rockets designed and built by the Glenn L. Martin Company under the direction of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Designed to supersede the German V-2, the Viking was the most advanced large, liquid-fueled rocket developed in the United States in the late 1940s, returning valuable scientific data from the edge of space between 1949 and 1955. Viking 4, launched in 1950, was the first sounding rocket to be launched from the deck of a ship.

The WAC Corporal was the first sounding rocket developed in the United States and the first vehicle to achieve hypersonic speeds. It was an offshoot of the Corporal program, that was started by a partnership between the United States Army Ordnance Corps and the California Institute of Technology in June 1944 with the ultimate goal of developing a military ballistic missile.

In 1955, both the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) announced plans for launching the world's first satellites during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957–58. Project Vanguard, proposed by the US Navy, won out over the US Army's Project Orbiter as the satellite and rocket design to be flown in the IGY. Development of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, the Atlas by the US and the R-7 by the USSR, accelerated, entering the design and construction phase.

In 1952, several branches of the United States' military, often in partnership with civilian organizations, continued their programs of sounding rocket research beyond the 100 kilometres (62 mi) boundary of space using the Aerobee rocket. The University of Iowa launched its first series of rockoon flights, demonstrating the validity of the balloon-launched rocket, a comparatively inexpensive way to explore the upper atmosphere. The launch of Viking 9 at the end of the year to an altitude of 135 mi (217 km), by the Naval Research Laboratory team under the management of Milton Rosen, represented the pinnacle of contemporary operational rocket design.

Milton William Rosen was a United States Navy engineer and project manager in the US space program between the end of World War II and the early days of the Apollo Program. He led development of the Viking and Vanguard rockets, and was influential in the critical decisions early in NASA's history that led to the definition of the Saturn rockets, which were central to the eventual success of the American Moon landing program. He died of prostate cancer in 2014.

Vanguard TV-0, also called Vanguard Test Vehicle-Zero, was the first sub-orbital test flight of a Viking rocket as part of the Project Vanguard.

Vanguard TV-1, also called Vanguard Test Vehicle-One, was the second sub-orbital test flight of a Vanguard rocket as part of the Project Vanguard. Vanguard TV-1 followed the successful launch of Vanguard TV-0 a one-stage rocket launched in December 1956.

Vanguard TV-2, also called Vanguard Test Vehicle-Two, was the third suborbital test flight of a Vanguard rocket as part of Project Vanguard. Successful TV-2 followed the successful launch of Vanguard TV-0 a one-stage rocket launched in December 1956 and Vanguard TV-1 a two-stage rocket launched in May 1957.

Vanguard TV-5, also called Vanguard Test Vehicle-Five, was a failed flight of the American Vanguard rocket following the successful launch of Vanguard 1 on Vanguard TV-4. Vanguard TV-5 launched on 29 April 1958 at 02:53:00 GMT, from Launch Complex 18A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rocket was unsuccessful in its attempt to place an unnamed satellite into orbit.

Vanguard SLV-1, also called Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle-1 was hoped to be the second successful flight of the American Vanguard rocket following the successful launch of the Vanguard 1 satellite on rocket Vanguard TV-4 in March 1958.

Vanguard SLV-2, also called Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle-2 hoped to be the second successful flight of the American Vanguard rocket following successful Vanguard 1 satellite on rocket Vanguard TV-4.

Vanguard SLV-3, also called Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 hoped to be the second successful flight of the American Vanguard rocket following successful Vanguard 1 satellite on rocket Vanguard TV-4.

Vanguard SLV-5, also called Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle-Five hoped to be the third successful flight of the American Vanguard rocket following the successful Vanguard 2 satellite on rocket Vanguard SLV-4.

Vanguard SLV-6, also called Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle-Six, hoped to be the third successful flight of the American Vanguard rocket following the successful Vanguard 2 satellite on rocket Vanguard SLV-4. Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle-6 (SLV-6) was designed to carry a small spherical satellite into Earth orbit to study solar heating of Earth and the heat balance. A faulty second stage pressure valve caused a mission failure.

References

↑ "X-405". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-06-24.
↑ Bille, Matt; Lishock, Erika (2004). "5 — The Trials of Project Vanguard". The First Space Race: Launching the World's First Satellites. Texas A&M University Press. p. 94. ISBN 9781585443741 . Retrieved 2015-06-24.
1 2 3 McLaughlin Green, Constance; Lomask, Milton (1970). "Chapter 5 — Battle Over Vehicle Specifications". Vanguard: A History (NASA SP-4202). NASA . Retrieved 2015-06-24.
↑ Winter, Frank H. (1990). "3 — Rockets Enter the Space Age". Rockets Into Space . Harvard University Press. p. 71 . Retrieved 2015-06-24.
1 2 McLaughlin Green, Constance; Lomask, Milton (1970). "Chapter 4 — Getting the Launch Program Started". Vanguard: A History (NASA SP-4202). NASA . Retrieved 2015-06-24.
↑ "Hydrogen Peroxide - Propulsion & Power History: US - General Electric (1944 - 1966)". Whiskey Yankee LLC. Retrieved 2015-06-24.

v t e Project Vanguard
Launches	TV-0 TV-1 TV-2 TV-3 TV-3BU TV-4 TV-5 SLV-1 SLV-2 SLV-3 SLV-4 SLV-5 SLV-6 SLV-7/TV4-BU
Satellites	Vanguard 1 Vanguard 2 Vanguard 3

XLR50

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References

Further reading