Author Topic: The different variants of Atlas boosters  (Read 215576 times)

Offline RedTail48

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #220 on: 08/18/2017 08:57 am »
See in the Topic "Original Peter Hunter Photo Collections." Follow the Dropbox link to Atlas. Follow that down to the Folder "02 Flight Database." Within that download the "02_4_by_lveh.pdf" file. As a header to each variant you will see specs for each variant including solid upper stage details...

Offline Michel Van

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #221 on: 09/29/2017 04:06 pm »
There is little know story of Atlas rocket:

Booster for Dyna Soar

Boeing wanted to use Atlas-Centaur to launch X-20 into Space
under consideration was modified Atlas E ICBM with Centaur stage and a Atlas Super E - Centaur B

Atlas E Model 850-1001 booster (for Suborbital test flight of X-20 )
modified the conical forward tank head 10 ft. diameter
also Tank stiffness, skin thickness and Tank pressures and it pressurization system change to take increase loads.
the Booster section get four fins for aerodynamic stabilization during launch

Atlas E - Centaur Model 850-2001 booster (payload 6000 to 12000 lbs)
same modification except here double amount Helium in Atlas E tanks
Booster engine upgraded of 16500 lbs to 172000 lbs thrust

Modifikation on Centaur B
Tank longer to increase propellants to 40000 lbs.
Modified tank structure and it pressurization system change to take increase loads.
RL10 engines upgraded of 15000 lbs to 2000 lbs. thrust.

Atlas Super E - Centaur B Model 850-3001 Booster
same modification like Model 850-2001 booster, but stretch tanks and more reenforced structure.
336700 lbs kerolox and 40000 lbs hydrolox
the two booster engines upgraded to (total) 500000 lbs thrust and sustainer to 57000 lbs thrust.


Source
Boeing
D2-5691 Atlas Booster Trade Studies
Dyna-Soar step-1 Phase Alpha
Contract No. AF33(500)-39831
Mach 23, 1960

Offline RIB

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #222 on: 10/07/2017 10:39 am »
Is the Atlas-Dynasoar report available downline?

Offline Michel Van

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #223 on: 10/09/2017 10:56 am »
The D2-5691 Atlas Booster Trade Studies
Are online at Scott Lowther Patreon site https://www.patreon.com/user?u=197906
He offer Backkatalog sales and they are a bargain !

Offline Fequalsma

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #224 on: 02/19/2018 08:54 pm »
Try this - https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/pdf/10.2514/6.1991-842

found on NTRS somethings

AIAA PAPER 91-0842
Conference Paper Liquid booster engine reuse - A recovery system
Accession Number: 91A32162
Document ID: 19910047539
Jan 01, 1991 by Von Eckroth, Wulf and Rohrkaste, Gary R. and Delurgio, Phillip R.

Sadly no PDF at NTRS.

Summary:
Quote
The paper presents the design of a recovery system for a suborbital payload of an Atlas E rocket. This program utilizes off-the-shelf and previously qualified avionics, flotation, and decelerator systems. A brief history of liquid-engine recoveries is presented first, then the system design utilizing two self-contained structurally-identical pods diametrically mounted to the thrust section is outlined. A mortar-deployed drogue and the main parachute are described, and experimental procedures are considered. Data obtained from one tricluster drop employing a cylindrical test vehicle and helicopter is analyzed, and a satisfactory load balance between the parachutes is observed.

Offline WallE

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #225 on: 05/18/2018 06:04 pm »
Gambit-1 accounted for 28 launches including 2 failures.  GATV flew 6 times, with two frustrating launch failures but also scored the first orbital docking missions with Gemini.  Five highly successful Lunar Orbiters were launched for NASA without a hitch.  Midas/RTS-1 flew three times, advancing missile detection technology despite one ending up in an unplanned elliptical orbit.  Three ATS launches were performed for NASA, with one falling short of a full GTO due to an Agena failure.  Mariner 5 was successfully launched toward Venus on the final Mariner/Agena flight.

The two failed GAMBITs were 4012 and 4020. It has been often reported that 4012 suffered an Agena engine explosion, but in fact there was an electrical short that resulted in engine cutoff after only 1.5 seconds of operation. Investigation into the failure found that two screws on a terminal connector had broken off at the factory and were never found. The investigative team concluded that the screws lodged in some area where they produced a short.

As for 4020, that was an Atlas failure--the programmer issued inadvertent cutoff commands to both the boosters and sustainer engine at staging. It is not clear if the booster was destructed by Range Safety action. A newspaper account from 1965 has an Air Force spokesman saying it was intentionally destroyed, but GD/A docs do not mention any deliberate destruct of the vehicle, nor do released histories of the GAMBIT program (the Perry history merely describes a "680 mile ballistic arc into the ocean"). I'm inclined to say no RSO action occurred and it simply pinwheeled its way down into the ocean just like numerous other Atlas flights with a premature sustainer cutoff. As a result of the failure, modifications were made to the programmer to reduce the risk of malfunctions caused by vibration during booster jettison.

The first GATV Agena suffered an engine explosion at ignition; this was found to be the result of using a fuel-first engine start to prevent loss of oxidizer during the several week-long operating life of the stage and inadequate ground testing by Lockheed. As a result, GATV vehicles switched to using the oxidizer-first start sequence used on standard Agena Ds, also experience with hypergol engines in the Titan and Agena programs showed that an oxidizer-first start resulted in smoother combustion and fewer problems with start transients.

GATV #3 of course had the Atlas pinwheel around from a flight control failure caused by apparent cryo leakage shorting wiring and end up in the Atlantic.

ATS-2 was left in an improper orbit when the Agena oxidizer isolation valve failed to close following orbital injection and the stage could not be restarted as the open valve left the turbopump flooded with propellant. The satellite still managed to complete some of its experiments and remained in orbit for two years.
« Last Edit: 05/18/2018 07:38 pm by WallE »

Offline Proponent

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #226 on: 01/16/2020 01:39 pm »
In 1960, Convair studied an upgraded Atlas "F" ICBM that would have used two Rocketdyne "H-2" booster engines, each producing 250 Klbf thrust, together providing a good 200 Klbf more liftoff thrust than then-existing Atlas ICBMs.

Could I ask what the source is for this?  Is it available?  I'm interested principally because of the mention of the H-2, which has been discussed in other threads.

Offline edkyle99

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #227 on: 01/17/2020 03:01 am »
In 1960, Convair studied an upgraded Atlas "F" ICBM that would have used two Rocketdyne "H-2" booster engines, each producing 250 Klbf thrust, together providing a good 200 Klbf more liftoff thrust than then-existing Atlas ICBMs.

Could I ask what the source is for this?  Is it available?  I'm interested principally because of the mention of the H-2, which has been discussed in other threads.
It shows up in this DTIC document.  The tricky thing when searching for this is that this studied "Atlas F" was not the ultimate "Atlas F" that was developed! 
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/842594.pdf

 - Ed Kyle
« Last Edit: 01/17/2020 03:06 am by edkyle99 »

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #228 on: 02/04/2020 01:34 pm »
As this predates ULA and couldn’t find an Atlas 3 thread, thought I’d post here:

https://twitter.com/launchphoto/status/1224354270033694720

Quote
OTD 15 yrs ago, Feb. 3, 2005, a corkscrew streak: The 6th & last Atlas 3 + last Atlas from Pad 36, it rose out of dense fog and took an unusual path to a 63-deg incl. to deliver a classified NRO payload! The AF wx forecast was 95% no go that eve. More: launchphotography.com

Offline TCizadlo

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #229 on: 01/03/2021 10:35 pm »
Ed, I was looking for something else recently, and I came across an image on the SDASM flickr account that does a couple of things. It names the version of Atlas put forward as a part of the CELV as "Atlas L" (as in LIMA), and it shows two growth options - one using shuttle solids as boosters, and the other that takes this boosted version, and converts it to a hydrolox core with J-2s.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/47516490311/


Offline edkyle99

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #230 on: 01/03/2021 11:55 pm »
Ed, I was looking for something else recently, and I came across an image on the SDASM flickr account that does a couple of things. It names the version of Atlas put forward as a part of the CELV as "Atlas L" (as in LIMA), and it shows two growth options - one using shuttle solids as boosters, and the other that takes this boosted version, and converts it to a hydrolox core with J-2s.
Wow.  Some things there I've never seen before.  The "Atlas L" with the Centaur G-prime does look like General Dynamics 1984 CELV proposal, which I have seen tagged as "Atlas II" elsewhere.  (I wrote about that one here:  http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/atlas-celv.jpg  and here:  Item 11 at http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/atlasnot.html)  I've never seen the Shuttle SRB-boosted variants.  I wonder if they were also proposed for CELV.

I am attaching another page from that presentation that's also at SDASM.  The five-engine Atlas would have been fun!

 - Ed Kyle
« Last Edit: 01/04/2021 12:04 am by edkyle99 »

Offline WallE

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #231 on: 12/18/2022 02:51 pm »
Sixty years ago today VAFB was treated to an Atlas fail double-header. The sixth MIDAS satellite lifted from PALC 1-2 on the afternoon of December 17, 1962 in a launch that was apparently normal until 1:17 into the flight when the Atlas began tumbling in all three axes, resulting in structural breakup a few seconds later. The Agena and MIDAS continued transmitting signals until impact in the Pacific Ocean about three minutes later. Investigating the failure was difficult as the Atlas telemetry transmitter had quit working during the prelaunch countdown and consequently there was only visual data to work with. Study of launch film showed a smoke puff coming from the tail section of Atlas 131D at T+64 seconds. Agena telemetry registered the loss of vehicle stability thirteen seconds later.

The cause of the failure was finally determined when cameras mounted around the pad revealed that the booster hydraulic rise-off disconnect heat shield fell off at launch. Without the shield, the heat from the engine exhaust caused the disconnect valve to fail. The hydraulic fluid escaped, resulting in loss of booster engine gimbal control. However, the Air Force, eager to keep launch schedules on time, did not bother implementing a fix. An operational Atlas D missile test failed four months later due to another recurrence of this failure mode, and on June 12, 1963, MIDAS 8 repeated MIDAS 6's erroneous flight. Once again the rise-off disconnect failed, the booster hydraulic fluid escaped, the Atlas tumbled, and broke up. The Air Force finally gave in and agreed to implement a redesigned rise off heat shield for Atlas SLVs (though not missiles).

On the morning of December 18, Atlas 64E, a Nike-Zeus target missile test, lifted from OSTF-1. The flight appeared normal until T+38 seconds when the B-2 engine shut down, causing the Atlas to yaw to the right and break up from structural loads. This failure was traced to a most strange sequence of events. At liftoff, a pressure pulse caused the insulation boot on the B-2 engine to be shoved upward. It snagged the fill and drain valve for the turbopump lubricant oil tank, causing the oil to escape as the launch progressed. Eventually, the B-2 pump ran out of lubricant and seized up causing engine shutdown and loss of vehicle control. The insulation boots and prelaunch procedures were redesigned to prevent this failure mode from happening again.

Offline Michel Van

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #232 on: 08/29/2023 05:29 pm »
I found this on X (Twitter)
Atlas with liquid boosters
sadly no source info



Offline Vahe231991

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #233 on: 08/29/2023 07:53 pm »
I found this on X (Twitter)
Atlas with liquid boosters
sadly no source info


Since the rocket engines for the rocket in this drawing are labeled as RS-27s, and the RS-27 engine was developed in the 1970s, so the Atlas shown in the drawing could be an 1980s precursor design for the Atlas II.

Offline Jim

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #234 on: 08/29/2023 08:48 pm »
I found this on X (Twitter)
Atlas with liquid boosters
sadly no source info


Since the rocket engines for the rocket in this drawing are labeled as RS-27s, and the RS-27 engine was developed in the 1970s, so the Atlas shown in the drawing could be an 1980s precursor design for the Atlas II.

this isn't an Atlas II (either version 3m or 5m).

Offline Vahe231991

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #235 on: 08/30/2023 02:50 am »
I found this on X (Twitter)
Atlas with liquid boosters
sadly no source info


Since the rocket engines for the rocket in this drawing are labeled as RS-27s, and the RS-27 engine was developed in the 1970s, so the Atlas shown in the drawing could be an 1980s precursor design for the Atlas II.

this isn't an Atlas II (either version 3m or 5m).
Hi Jim,

I just noticed that the image in reply #232 is from the 1994 book The Future of U.S. Rocketry by Edward Hujsak. Given that this book was published two years after the first launch of the Atlas II, I can only speculate that the rocket in this drawing could be a 1990s design study for a proposed heavy-lift Atlas design.

Offline Jim

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Re: The different variants of Atlas boosters
« Reply #236 on: 09/14/2023 02:22 pm »

Hi Jim,

I just noticed that the image in reply #232 is from the 1994 book The Future of U.S. Rocketry by Edward Hujsak. Given that this book was published two years after the first launch of the Atlas II, I can only speculate that the rocket in this drawing could be a 1990s design study for a proposed heavy-lift Atlas design.

No, there was a different Atlas II in the 80's

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Tags: RS-27 Atlas 
 

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