Location
Cocoa Beach, FL
Start Date
7-3-1966 8:00 AM
Description
Project Centaur began as a low-priority, financially austere feasibility study, and ended up as the nation's first liquid hydrogen-fueled space booster under the direction of the National Aeronautical Space Administration. This was successfully demonstrated when AC -2 was launched from the Cape on November 27, 1963 and met all primary and secondary mission objectives. The present objective of the Centaur Project is to inject a Surveyor into a trajectory suitable for a "soft" lunar landing.
The structural system was designed to provide a lightweight structural arrangement with an aerodynamic shape consistent with the overall design of the vehicle^ and to contain propellant (liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen) in sufficient quantities to meet the mission objective. In addition, the structural arrangement had to support and protect the payload, as well as the vehicle systems and components from the extreme environments of both launch and outer space.
The tank structure is a thin-walled 301 stainless steel vessel of monocoque cylindrical section, pressurized to provide structural stability. Since propellant boiloff would provide a substantial loss , the tank had to be insulated. It was decided by the design groups to use jettisonable insulation for the tanks and for the payload. Since the jettisonable structures would be jettisoned during the booster phase of flight, additional performance would be available to the Centaur vehicle during the lunar injection phase of the flight.
Project Centaur (Three Methods to Estimate Reliability of Explosives)
Cocoa Beach, FL
Project Centaur began as a low-priority, financially austere feasibility study, and ended up as the nation's first liquid hydrogen-fueled space booster under the direction of the National Aeronautical Space Administration. This was successfully demonstrated when AC -2 was launched from the Cape on November 27, 1963 and met all primary and secondary mission objectives. The present objective of the Centaur Project is to inject a Surveyor into a trajectory suitable for a "soft" lunar landing.
The structural system was designed to provide a lightweight structural arrangement with an aerodynamic shape consistent with the overall design of the vehicle^ and to contain propellant (liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen) in sufficient quantities to meet the mission objective. In addition, the structural arrangement had to support and protect the payload, as well as the vehicle systems and components from the extreme environments of both launch and outer space.
The tank structure is a thin-walled 301 stainless steel vessel of monocoque cylindrical section, pressurized to provide structural stability. Since propellant boiloff would provide a substantial loss , the tank had to be insulated. It was decided by the design groups to use jettisonable insulation for the tanks and for the payload. Since the jettisonable structures would be jettisoned during the booster phase of flight, additional performance would be available to the Centaur vehicle during the lunar injection phase of the flight.
