This "bedspring" antenna, long
since replaced by more modern equipment, proved space communications possible
when, in January of 1946, it bounced a pulse off the moon and received
a return signal. Signal Corps scientists at Fort Monmouth were entirely
responsible for Project Diana and the first moon radar contact.
R&D Laboratory
(SRDL) at the time they proudly produced the world's first communications
satellite. "SCORE," and to appreciate the successes as well as the frustrations,
it will be useful to review the major historical events which preceded
the memorable Signal Corps milestone achievements.
To start at the very beginning, it was Sir Isaac '.Newton who originated
in 1686 the principle of what it would take to place an object such as
a satellite into orbit around the earth. Not only did he give birth to
the basic idea, but through his discovery of the fundamental physical laws
of motion. specifically his third law on action and reaction, which represents
the theoretical base for rocket propulsion. he even laid the groundwork
for later practical solutions. But it took mankind some 270 years, to approach
the required magnitude of mechanical thrusts.
The use of primitive rockets for warfare or simply for fireworks has been
known at least as far back as the 1 3th century, with indications that
the Chinese may have been the first to develop them. In America, our "Star
Spangled Banner" reminds us of the "rockets' red glare" during the British
attack on Fort McHenry near Baltimore in 1814.
More sophisticated developments of rockets did not begin until 70 years
ago. It was the American physicist Robert H. Goddard who, from 1912
to 1941, conducted with almost heroic patience a program of experimentation
to
|
produce prototypes
for "reaching extreme altitudes." Also, significant efforts were under
way in other countries. Foremost were those of the German Hermann Oberth
and the Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovskv. Their work concentrated, however,
on theoretical aspects and serious experimental work did not start in Europe
until the thirties.
THE
V-2 THREAT
At the dawn of W WII, our country and parts of Europe possessed considerable
theoretical and experimental knowhow in rocket propulsion concepts. But
no one used and advanced it more effectively during the war than the Germans.
Their effort started in deep secrecy in 1930 and culminated under the stewardship
of Dr. Werner yon Braun and his team in 1944 with the production and tactical
employment of the notorious V-2 weapon.
The progress achieved with the V-2 development was swiftly utilized and
expanded by the US when in Dec. 1945 the entire yon Braun team together
with a substantial arsenal of captured V-2 hardware was transplanted to
the Army Ordnance Corps' facilities, first to Fort Bliss, Texas and its
closeby White Sands Proving Ground, and later (1949) to the Redstone Arsenal
in Huntsville, Alabama.
At the end of WWII, the interest in rocket and missile development headed
in two directions. Although it was recognized that long term future defense
needs would call for their use as global weapons delivery vehicles, a more
immediate requirement seemed to exist for their use as high altitude sounding
rockets -the purpose for which Goddard had actually started his efforts.
They were to obtain badly lacking information and data on the physical
characteristics and the geophysical interrelations of the upper atmosphere
above balloon. altitudes. Both the military and the civilian scientific
community were keenly interested: the former to explore the future missile
operational environment and the latter to advance the understanding of
the geophysical processes of our earth.
The US Nary, which entertained at that time a major upper atmosphere research
activity, had particularly strong desires and was on the verge of initiating
appropriate developments when in 1946 the re-activated V-2 rockets became
available and offered a more than adequate initial research tool. Over
the next five years, a total of 66 of these rockets, most of them successful,
were fired from White Sands and other test sites. They served a wide range
of military and civilian interests which were coordinated by an "Upper
Atmosphere Research Panel" composed of representatives from both sides.
These V-2 sounding rockets carried advanced sensors and associated telemetry
and included biological experiments with live animals, high altitude photography,
the concept of parachute recovery and electronic aspects of control. The
Signal Corps through a newly established Missile Support Agency at White
Sands and SRDL at Fort Monmouth played from the beginning a significant
role in rocket and missile electronics and instrumentation.
Within this program, the concept of staging two rockets - a smaller WAC-CORPORAL
on top of a big V-2 - was tested for the first time. In project Bumper,
an unprecedented altitude of 250 miles was reached in February 1949.
When stability requirements for sensing instrumentation exceeded the intrinsic
abilities of V-2s, the |
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