mercury-scout i press kit

8/9/2019 Mercury-Scout I Press Kit

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NEWS R E L E A S ENATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

1520 H S T R E E T . N O R T H W E S T . W A S H I N G T O N 2 5 . D. C .

T E L E P H O N E S : D U D L E Y 2 - 6 3 2 5 . E X E C U T I V E 3-3260

FOR RELEASE: IMIVEDIATESUNDAY Octobe-r 29 , 1961

-23gnELEASE NO.

Approximatel-; i;OCO miles downrange from t h e launchs i t e , a t an a1t;fi;ucie of about 240 s t a t u t e m il es ( p e r i g e e ) ,'che payload will L z 2 i ? . s L z ~ < ; dnto a n o r b i t c a r r y i n gi t a s Car as &OO r n l i e s i"rm e w t h arid about 3 2 degreesnorth and south ci' t h e equa to r .

&.ping the Tlirs-s -t';l.ilee o r b i t s , th e s a t e l l i t e ' s

equipment will broaucas t s i gn al s which are to be pickedup by the network s t a t i . ~ i ~ s . herea f te r , for a periodoi' 18-1/2 hours9 nost of t h e equipment i t r i l l be shutdown by ground command ta coizserve power, a ss es s i n i t i a lmias ion data , and make a yr ad justm ents neces sary i nt h e tr ac ki ng and da'ca a c qz is it io n equipment.



Projec t engineers f o r Mercury-Scout I are LewisR. Fisher and James T . Rose, Space Task Group andW. J . Boyer i s t e s t program Coordinator f r om LangleyResearch Center.

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THE MERCURY RANGE

The orbi t se l e c t e d fo r P ro je c t Mercury pa sse s ju s tsou th of Bermuda, south of the Canary I s l a n d s , a c ross Af r ic a ,t h e In d i an Ocean and the Australian Range a t Woomera. Thet r a c k then c on t inue s a c ross the Solomon and Phoenix Is lands,

and t o w i t h i n c lose proximi ty of H a w a i i . The o r b i t thenin te r sec ts the Nor th Amer ican coas t and passes over theSouthern United St at es . U.S. tr ac ki ng s i t e s i n c l u d e P t .Arguello, C a l i f . , White Sands, N. Mex., Corpus C h r i s t i , Tex.,and E g l i n , F l a . , a s w e l l as the Cape Canaveral Mercury complex.

I n making the choice of t h e number and l o c a t i o n o ft h e v a r i o u s ground s t a t i o n s ( r e q u i r i n g i n some cases com-p l e t e l y new complexes and i n o t h e r c a s e s a d d i t i o ns t o e x i s t i n gequipment,) a number of ground ru l e s were es ta bl is he d, i n -c lud ing :

1.

2.

3 .

4.

5.

A l l

A r eq ui re me nt f o r e s s e n t i a l l y c o n ti n uo u s radar,te le me tr y, and voi ce communications coveragefrom H a w a i i through Bermuda.

T h e a b i l i t y t o r e s e t th e Mercury spacecraf tr e t r o r o c k e t t i m e r convenien t ly on each orb i tas w e l l as have d i r e c t ground command of t h er e t r o f i r i n g d u r i n g e a c h o r b i t .

The need for continuous c o n t a c t w i t h t h espa c e c ra f t du r ing l a unc h and a reasonablel e n g t h of t i m e f o l l o w i n g o r b i t a l i n s e r t i o n .

A d e s i r e t o m a i n t a i n f r e q u e n t v o i ce andt e l e m e tr y c o n t a c t w i t h t h e s p a c e c r a f t .

The need f o r cont inuous l an d in g po in t p r e -d i c t i o n i n c as e of a n e a r l y a b o r t r e q u i r i n gla nd ing i n t he Atlant ic Ocean o r dur ingr e e n t r y a t t h e end of any one of t h e th reeo r b i t s , s h o u l d an emergency require.

s t a t i o n s are equipped f o r vo ice an d t e l e m e t rycommunication w i t h Mercury spacecraf t , with the except ionof White Sands and Eg l i n . Cape Canaveral, Bermuda, Muchea,A u s t r a l i a , H a w a i i , Guayamas, Mexico, and P t . Arguello,

Ca l if or n ia have command c a p a b i l i t y as well as a c c u r a t e r a d a requipment which t r a n s m i t s t r a c k i n g data t o the centra l com-pu t ing f a c i l i t y (Godda rd S pa c e F l igh t Center, Greenbelt ,Maryland. )

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The o p e r a t i o n c o n t r o l c e n t e r f o r Mercury f l i g h t si s loc a te d a t Cape Canavera l w i t h a backup con t ro l cen te r( f o r i n s e r t i o n v e r i f i c a t i o n ) l o c a t e d a t Bermuda,Bermuda s t a t i o n fu nct io ns p r i m a r i l y as an extension o f

t h e Cape ce n t e r , A l l o f t h e data from Mercury f l i g h t s - -computed t ra j ec t or y da ta , te lemetry da ta , and ot he r forms

of communications, xhe the r t hey b e real-time from Hawaiit o Canavera l s t a t ions o r t e le t y p e swnmary da ta f rom t h eo t h e r r em ot e s t a t i o n s - - w i l l be funneled through GoddardSpace Fl ight Center t o t h e Mercury Cont rol Center a t t h eCape. The d a t a w i l l be p r e sen t e d a t t h e Control Centeri n a number o f ways t o al low immediate de ci si on s reg ard in gt h e s t a t u s o f t h e f l i g h t .

The

The r an ge s t a t i o n s have d i s p l a y s s i m i l a r t o t h eMercury Control Center ( w i t h r e g a r d t o s p a c e c r a f t te lemeteredqu an t i t i e s ) and a r e grouped i n abou t t h e same way.d i r e c t o r i s on s t a t i o n a t eac h s i t e and w i l l se r v e a s c a p su l ecommunicator.b e ab le t o i n i t i a t e the command which w i l l b r i n g t h esp a c e c r a f t o u t o f o r b i t a t a p re de te rm in ed t im e.

A f l i g h t

Should the s i t e be a command s t a t i o n , he w i l l

Each of t h e s t a t i o n s w i l l prepare a summary contain-ing informat ion on t h e s t a t u s o f t h e m is si on t o be t r a n s -m i t t ed back to t h e Mercury Co ntrol Center and to ot he r ranges t a t i o n s .

A l l o f t h e s t a t i o n s l o ca te d i n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s ,Hawaii, Mexico, Bermudag and Au st ra li a have d i r e c t voi cecommunications w i t h t h e Mercury Control Center.s t a t i o n s w i l l have t h e c a p a b i l i t y o f t r a n s m i t t i n g r a d a rd a t a t o t h e Goddard f a c i l i t y fo r de te rmin ing spa cec r a f to r b i t .

q u i s i t i o n d at a t o t h e se s t a t i o n s and co nt in uo us o r b i t a ld a t a t o t h e Canaveral Control Center and Bermuda.dur in g Mercum f l i g h t s , continuous computations on t h etime o f r e t r o f i r i n g w i l l be performed by Goddard and trans-m it t e d to t h e a p pr o pr i at e s t a t i o n s f o r r e s e t t i n g of t h esp a c e c r a f t ' s o n b o a r d r e t r o t i m e r ,

These

I n t u r n , t h e Goddard Center w i l l prov ide rada r ac -

Also,

A hi gh -r e l ia bi l i ty rad io communicat ion systembetween Ca na ve ra l, Goddard, and Bermuda has been provided'bo t r a n s m i t r e a l- t i me t r a j e c t o r y d a t a .of t h e e x t r e m e l y c r i t i c a l n a t u r e o f t h i s d a t a l i n k a nd t h ea b s o l u t e n e c e s s i t y o f t h e c a p a b i l i t y t o make importantcommand de ci si on s a t Bermudas redundant o r backup f a c i l i t i e s

have been provided a t t h i s s i t e .

Howeverg because

During t h e Mercury-Scout mis sion , on ly a smal lcomplement of Mercury f l i g h t c o n t r o l l e r s w i l l deploy t o

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the sites and will serve only as observers, Operationof the stations will be handled by the permanentlyassigned personnel a t the sites, under the direction ofa Maintenance and Operations supervisor.

An estimated 400 engineers and technicians willman the range stations during the Mercury-Scout Iexercise.

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THE LAUNCH VEHICLE

The four Scou t rocke t s t age s and t h e v e h i c l e ' s a u x i l i a r y

F i r s t S ta ge : Algol , 30 f ee t l o n g , 40 inches i n diameter ,

p a r t s a r e :

and developing lO3,OOO pounds of thrust,i's)fin+stabilized andc o n t ro l l e d i n f l i g h t by j e t v an es ,

Second Stage : Castor i s 20 f e e t l o n g , 30 i n ch e s i nOn t h eiameter and has a t h r u s t of over 62,000 pounds.

Scout, th e Castor i s s t a b i l i z e d and co nt ro ll ed by hydrogen-p e r o x i d e j e t s ,

T h i r d Stage: Antares i s 10 fee t long and 30 i n ch e s i ndiameter w i t h a t h r u s t i n ex ce ss o f 13,600 pounds. Stabi-l i z e d and con tr ol le d by hydrogen-peroxide j e t s a n d u t i l i z i n gl i g h twe ig h t p l a s t i c co n s t ru c t i o n t h ro ug ho ut i t s design ,Antares i s a scaled-up vers ion of t h e f o u r t h s tage and i s

t h e only motor developed sp ec if ic al ly f o r Scout.

Fourth S ta ge : Al ta i r , s i x f e e t long, 18 i n ch es i ndiamete r, and having 2,800 pounds of th r u s t , i s t h e smallestof t h e fo u r Sco ut s t ag es . The s p in - s t a b i l i z e d A l t a i rformerly was known as X-248.Delta launch vehicle and was t h e f i r s t fully developedm c k e t t o u t i l i z e l i g h t we i g h t p l a s t i c c o n s tr u c t io n thr ou gh-o u t .

I t i s t h e t h i r d s t a g e on t h e

Auxi l i a ry Parts : The added Scout airframe p a r t s c o n s i s tof con t ro l su r faces su r round ing the nozz le o f t h e f i r s t

stage, t r a n s i t i o n s e c t i o n s c o n n e c t i n g t h e f o u r r o c k et s t a g e s ,

a Fibreg las -pheno l ic p r o t ec t i ve hea t sh ie l d which coverst h e t h i r d and fo u r t h s t ag es p l u s payload, t h e f o u r t h s t agespin-up t ab le , and the pay load a t t achment s t r uc tu r e .

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SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

TIME (Seconds)

o *o

41

7 4

115

116

155

470

471

EVENTS

F i r s t s t a ge i g ni t e s .

F i r s t stage burns out

Second stage i g n i t e s ;t h i r d stage heat s h i e l dreleased; f i r s t stagese pa ra te d

Second stage burns out .

Third s t a g e i g n i t e s ;second stage separa ted .Fourth s tage heat s h i e l dre leased; payload an ten-

na s e r e c te d .

T h i r d stage burns out .

Spin motors i g n i t e

Four th stage i g n i t e s ;t h i r d s t a g e separated.

Fourth stage burns out ;s a t e l l i t e i n j ec te d i n t oo r b i t . A tt ac he d t oburned out four th stagecas ing

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