The Aerobee rocket was one of the United States' most produced and productive sounding rockets. Developed by the Aerojet Corporation, the Aerobee was designed to combine the altitude and launching capability of the V-2 with the cost effectiveness and mass production of the WAC Corporal. More than 1000 Aerobees were launched between 1947 and 1985, returning vast amounts of astronomical, physical, aeronomical, and biomedical data.
Development
thumb|Launch of Aerobee A-5 on 05.03.1948. The flight would breach the boundary of space (as defined by the [[World Air Sports Federation
The Aerojet designation for the new rocket was "Aerobee", a contraction of Aerojet, manufacturer of the engine, and Bumblebee, a Navy guided missile program. It was a single-stage, liquid-fueled, fin-stabilized rocket, using a solid-propellant rocket motor as a booster. This booster was jettisoned after 2.5 seconds of operation. The nose cone containing the telemetry transmitter and the scientific payload was recoverable and returned to earth on a parachute. As with its progenitor, the WAC Corporal, the Aerobee required a tall launch tower to provide the necessary stability until the relatively slowly accelerating rocket gained enough speed for its fins to be effective in controlling attitude.) by the first complete Aerobee launch on 24 November. The flight was terminated after 35 seconds when the rocket's tail began yawing back and forth.). In 1955, the USAF's RTV-A-1 rockets were redesignated X-8 (X-8a-d corresponding with the old RTV-A-1a-d series). Though they bore the Aerobee appellation, the Aerobee 75 and proposed Aerobee 90 were not actually related to the others in that they were solid propellant rockets with the 75 having a HAWK motor, the 90 was a 75 with a Sparrow second stage.
Over the decades of development Aerobees were flown with many related engines including the XASR-1 (21AL-2600), 45AL-2600, AJ10-24, AJ10-25, AJ10-27, AJ10-34, AJ11-6, and AJ60-92. Later versions of the AJ10 and AJ-11 engines produced of thrust.
Launch towers for Aerobee rockets were built at the White Sands Missile Range and Holloman AFB in New Mexico; Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia; Eglin AFB in Florida; Churchill Rocket Research Range in Manitoba, Canada; and Woomera, South Australia. Aerobees were also launched from Centro de Lancamento da Barreira do Inferno (CLBI), Natal, Rio Grande N, Brazil; Kauai Test Facility, Barking Sands, Kauai; Nouadhibou, Dakhlet Nouadhibou, Mauritania; Vandenberg AFB, California; Walker's Cay, Bahamas; and aboard the research vessel USS Norton Sound. The Aerobees launched from overseas locations such as the Bahamas used a modified launch tower that had originally been used on the USS Norton Sound. NASA further modified that tower into the Mobile Aerobee Launch Facility (MALF) which was first used in 1966 for launches from Natal, Brazil.
Australian launches
The Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the United States of America regarding the Launching of Three Aerobee Rockets was established in Canberra, March 1970. A similar treaty was agreed to in 1973 for seven launches, and in 1977 for six launches for various astronomical and solar experiments conducted by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
In 1974, the US DARPA through Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratory and Australia agreed to launch three rockets under project Hi Star South.
A total of 20 Aerobee launches were made at Woomera Test Range:
- Series 150: 3 launches in May/June 1970
- Series 170: 7 launches in November 1973 and 2 launches February 1977
- Series 200: 3 launches in September 1974
- Series 200A: 5 launches in February 1977
Accomplishments
Science
The scientific research done with the Aerobee family included photography, biomedical research, biology, the study of energetic particles, ionospheric physics, meteorology, radio astronomy, solar physics, aeronomy, spectrometry, signals intelligence research, infrared studies, magnetometry, ultraviolet and X-ray astronomy, as well as many other fields such as aerodynamic research and missile technology development. (Scorpius X-1).
First payload to interplanetary space
On 16 October 1957, Aerobee USAF-88 was launched from Holloman LC-A in New Mexico to hurl the first artificial objects into interplanetary space. Several varieties of aluminum cones packed with explosive charges were mounted in the rocket's nose cone. 91 seconds after liftoff, at an altitude of , the charges were fired. A bright green flash ensued, observable from Palomar Observatory away. Post-launch analysis suggested that at least two fragments from the exploding charges had soared away from the Earth with twice the kinetic energy necessary to reach escape velocity and become the first artificial satellites of the Sun. When the achievement was announced the following month, it was compared favorably in the contemporary press to the Soviet launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, just 12 days before the Aerobee launch. However, subsequent analysis by space historian Jonathan McDowell suggests that none of the payload fragments actually achieved escape velocity.
Technical data
{| class="wikitable sortable" border="1"
|+Aerobee details by version
!Version
!Booster
!Stage 1
!Stage 2
|-
|Aerobee AJ10-25
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee AJ10-25
| -
|-
|Aerobee AJ10-27
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee AJ10-27
| -
|-
|Aerobee AJ10-34
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee AJ10-34
| -
|-
|Aerobee Hi
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee 150
| -
|-
|Aerobee RTV-A-1 (X-8)
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee XASR-1
| -
|-
|Aerobee RTV-A-1a (X-8A)
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee AJ10-25
| -
|-
|Aerobee RTV-A-1b (X-8B)
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee XASR-1
| -
|-
|Aerobee RTV-N-10
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee XASR-1
| -
|-
|Aerobee RTV-N-10a
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee AJ10-25
| -
|-
|Aerobee RTV-N-10b
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee AJ10-24
| -
|-
|Aerobee RTV-N-10c
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee AJ10-34
| -
|-
|Aerobee RTV-N-8
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee XASR-1
| -
|-
|Aerobee XASR-SC-1
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee XASR-1
| -
|-
|Aerobee XASR-SC-2
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee XASR-1
| -
|-
|Aerobee 100 (Aerobee Junior)
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee 100
| -
|-
|Aerobee 150
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee 150
| -
|-
|Aerobee 150A
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee 150A
| -
|-
|Aerobee 170
|Nike / M5-E1
|Aerobee 150
| -
|-
|Aerobee 170A
|Nike / M5-E1
|Aerobee 150A
| -
|-
|Aerobee 170B
|Nike / M5-E1
|Aerobee 150B
| -
|-
|Aerobee 200
|Nike / M5-E1
|Aerobee AJ10-92
| -
|-
|Aerobee 200A
|Nike / M5-E1
|Aerobee AJ10-92
| -
|-
|Aerobee 300
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee 150
|Sparrow
|-
|Aerobee 300A
|Aerojet X103C10
|Aerobee 150A
|Sparrow
|}