Appendix - Part A

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Appendix

    The general description of the spacecraft in Section 4 of this book will be supplemented here by some strictly technical information. It may he appropriate to preface it with a brief explanation.  [p.148]

    Objectives and characteristics of the work performed here are about equivalent to a thorough preliminary design investigation conducted by a practicing engineer. The nature of such work requires the clarification of basic relationships, but not the solution of details. It is sufficient to pursue every uncertainty only up to the point at which we have full assurance that a satisfactory solution is possible. The details of the actual solution are of no significance to the overall concept. The degree of penetration of a particular case is therefore dependent on its difficulty; it may vary from a brief statement to a more elaborate secondary investigation. Naturally, the temptation is frequently strong—and was so particularly during the investigation discussed here—to go deeper into details. In this regard, however, there is an excellent saying which is attributed to the great mathematician K. F. Gauss. I remember it was printed on the first page of the logarithm tables I used in high school it says: "Nothing shows the lack of mathematical education more clearly than excessive accuracy in calculating," and it has always reminded me, throughout the many years that have since gone by, that there are meaningful limits to accuracy and development of detail. Such limits vary certainly from task to task—yet overstepping them is always fruitless.

1. The main body

    As already mentioned, the shape of the lower part of the main body was first published and discussed in Reference 8. Wind tunnel tests were conducted at the Langley Research Center of NASA in the years following that publication. Some of the reports are listed in References 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14. Fig. 15 shows a Schlieren photograph taken from Reference 11.

    An important parameter for the definition of the lower part is the ratio of its length to its base radius. The length, in this case, is the distance from the tip to the base (station of maximum diameter). The tests conducted at Langley covered a wide range of that ratio; the value 1.0 was selected for the configuration shown in Figs. 1 and 4. The conditions for the overall layout of the spacecraft resulting from that selection were sufficient for the present purpose.

    The profile of the lower part was taken directly from Reference 11, page 17. It should be possible to change this profile if desirable for the helicopter rotors.

    From a structural point of view the main body is a relatively straightforward structure. It consists of stiffened shells like those used today in aircraft and rockets. Even the heat shield on the surface of the lower part is not basically new, since such structures are now being developed for NASA's Shuttle.

    An exception from these aircraft-type parts of the structure is a massive ring in the area of the maximum diameter. It carries the tensile loads of the outer skin of the lower body and is therefore loaded in compression. In addition, the ring is an essential element for the introduction and distribution of the loads occurring at the attachment points of the helicopters. And finally, it is undoubtedly included also in the system of the internal structure of the main body. That combination of several purposes in one structural element results in lower structural weights and emphasizes the advantage offered by the shape of the lower body.  [p.150]

Figure 15 Lower part of main body in the wind tunnel.
Schlieren photograph. Langley Research Center, NASA

2. The propellant tank