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Status: Design 1946. Gross mass: 45,350 kg (99,970 lb). Height: 27.40 m (89.80 ft). Diameter: 4.57 m (14.99 ft). In July 1946, the US Army Air Force had concluded that a single-stage-to-orbit earth satellite was impossible based on a Rand Corporation report. The Office of Naval Research gave Douglas Aircraft manager Ed Heinemann a copy of the report. He in turn handed the report to Douglas scientist Dr. William F Ballhaus. Ballhaus was asked to visit Rand and verify the conclusions of the report. After visiting the Rand people, Ballhaus returned and concluded that the difficulty with the Rand designs were that they were all based upon conventional aircraft and missile structures. Ballhaus knew that a new approach was demanded. He realized that, if all critical structures were subjected only to tensile stresses, there would be no need for stringers, rings, or bulkheads, as in the conventional designs, and a significant amount of structural weight could be saved. He conceived of a steel balloon, pressurized when empty to support the payload, and further pressurized to accept the loads required for fuel and oxidizer during the entire flight to orbit. He designed a vehicle using this approach while assuming the same payload, propulsion, and control systems applied to the Rand designs. Detailed calculations were made regarding load factors, velocities, weight and drag. Ballhaus' conclusions were handed over to Heinemann and published as 'Preliminary Design of a Satellite', Douglas, El Segundo, Report ES 20636, on 7 August 1946. This was the first proof that a single stage earth satellite was indeed possible. However prior to publication Heinemann had the title page re-typed to remove "Prepared By William F Ballhaus" from the report. In his autobiography Heinemann claimed to have conceived the idea and took full credit for the study when introduced to Wernher von Braun in later years. Ballhaus noted that Heinemann always bragged that he had only a high school education and yet he was able to manage a number of highly educated people. Heinemann did not have the mathematical capability to analyze the critical aspects of the first single stage earth satellite, yet he claimed authorship of the design approach. In the post-war military cutbacks there were no funds for development of space launch vehicles. Ballhaus' 'metal balloon' concept would be later 'invented' again by Charles Bossart at Convair and applied to the Atlas rocket; and also by the German team in Russia in one alternative G-4 design. In his memoirs Heinemann takes full credit for the invention and mentions Ballhaus only as 'refining' Heinemann's 'rough calculations':
Shortly after World War II Dr Harvey Hall, a scientist with the Office of Naval Research, contacted me on a matter concerning satellites -- a subject treated with discretion because it dealt with the "unknown".
Family: orbital launch vehicle, Pre-Sputnik Designs. Country: USA. Agency: Douglas. Home - Search - Browse - Alphabetic Index: 0- 1- 2- 3- 4- 5- 6- 7- 8- 9 A- B- C- D- E- F- G- H- I- J- K- L- M- N- O- P- Q- R- S- T- U- V- W- X- Y- Z � 1997-2016 Mark Wade - Contact � / Conditions for Use |