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Facing the Heat Barrier: A History of Hypersonics Each re-entry vehicle was extensively instrumented, mounting nearly two dozen breakwire ablation sensors along with pressure and temperature sensors. The latter were resistance thermometers employing 0.0003-inch tungsten wire, reporting temperatures to 2000ºF with an accuracy of 25 to 50°F. The phenolic nylon showed anew that it had the right stuff, for it absorbed heat at the rate of 3,000 BTU per pound, making it three times as effective as boiling water. A report from GE noted, “all temperature sensors located on the cylindrical section were at locations too far below the initial surface to register a temperature rise.” 82 With this, the main effort in re-entry reached completion, and its solution— ablation—had proved to be relatively simple. The process resembled the charring of wood. Indeed, Kantrowitz recalls Von Braun suggesting that it was possible to build a nose cone of lightweight balsa soaked in water and frozen. In Kantrowitz’s words, “That might be a very reasonable ablator.” 83 Experience with ablation also contrasted in welcome fashion with a strong tendency of advanced technologies to rely on highly specialized materials. Nuclear energy used uranium-235, which called for the enormous difficulty of isotope separation, along with plutonium, which had to be produced in a nuclear reactor and then be extracted from highly radioactive spent fuel. Solid-state electronics depended on silicon or germanium, but while silicon was common, either element demanded refinement to exquisite levels of purity. Ablation was different. Although wood proved inappropriate, once the basic concept was in hand the problem became one of choosing the best candidate from a surprisingly wide variety of possibilities. These generally were commercial plastics that served as binders, with the main heat resistance being provided by glass or silica. Quartz also worked well, particularly after being rendered opaque, while pyrolytic graphite exemplified a new material with novel properties. The physicist Steven Weinberg, winner of a Nobel Prize, stated that a researcher never knows how difficult a problem is until the solution is in hand. In 1956 Theodore von Karman had described re-entry as “perhaps one of the most difficult problems one can imagine. It is certainly a problem that constitutes a challenge to the best brains working in these domains of modern aerophysics.” 84 Yet in the end, amid all the ingenuity of shock tubes and arc tunnels, the fundamental insights derived from nothing deeper than testing an assortment of candidate materials in the blast of rocket engines. 50 Nose Cones and Re-entry 1 Vannevar Bush, testimony before the Senate Special Committee on Atomic Energy, December 1945, quoted in Clarke, Profiles, p. 9 and Time, 22 May 1964, p. 25. 2 MacKenzie, Inventing, pp. 113-14. 1,500 feet: Neufeld, Ballistic, pp. 69-102 passim. 3 North American Aviation Report AL-1347, pp. 1-6 (quote, p. 4); Fahrney, History, p. 1291, footnote 3. 4 North American Aviation Report AL-1347, pp. 38-39; Colonel Roth: Letter, Colonel M. S. Roth to Power Plant Lab, Air Materiel Command, USAF, 11 February 1948. 5 Author interview, Colonel Edward Hall 29 August 1996, Folder 18649, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Division, Washington, D.C. 20546. 6 North American Aviation Report AL-1347, p. 39. 7 Other North American Aviation names of that era included the NAKA, NALAR, and NASTY battlefield missiles, the Navion private plane, and the NATIV research rocket; see “Thirty Years of Rocketdyne,” photo, “Armament Rockets,” 1962; Murray, Atwood, pp. 32, 44. 8 Rhodes, Dark Sun, p. 407 (includes quote); Manchester, Caesar, p. 642. 9 “Standard Missile Characteristics: XSM-64 Navaho”; Report AL-1347, op. cit., p. 88; Development of the Navaho, pp. 30-31; Augenstein, “Rand”; Fahrney, History, pp. 1296-98. General Putt: Letter, Major General Donald Putt to Commanding General, Air Materiel Command, USAF, 21 August 1950. 10 Neufeld, Ballistic, pp. 44-50, 68-70. 11 Ibid., pp. 70-79. 12 Development of the Navaho, pp. 40-46; Journal of Guidance and Control, September-October 1981, pp. 455-57. 13 Neufeld, Ballistic, pp. 73, 77-78 (quote, p. 78). 14 Rhodes, Dark Sun, pp. 495, 499, 505 (quotes, p. 509). Taylor quote: McPhee, Curve, p. 77. Hiroshima: Rhodes, Atomic, p. 711. 15 Von Karman and Edson, Wind, pp. 300-01; Neufeld, Ballistic, p. 98. 16 Neufeld, Ballistic, pp. 95, 98-99, 102; quote: Chapman, Atlas, p. 73. 17 AIAA Paper 67-838, pp. 12-13; Neufeld, Ballistic, p. 102 (quotes, p. 259). 18 Rhodes, Dark Sun, pp. 482-84, 541-42 (quote, p. 541). 19 Neufeld, Ballistic, pp. 104-06, 117 (quotes, pp. 105, 106); Rhodes, Dark Sun, p. 542. 20 Neufeld, Ballistic, p. 117; Emme, History, p. 151. Dimensions: Ley, Rockets, p. 400. 21 Miller, X-Planes, ch. 7; letter, Smith DeFrance to NACA Headquarters, 26 November 1952. 22 NACA Report 1381 (quotes, pp. 11, 13). 23 Anderson, History, pp. 440-41. 24 Neufeld, Ballistic, p. 79. 25 Time, 13 June 1960, p. 70. 9,000 K: Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, February 1958, p. 88. Quote: Rose, “Physical,” p. 1. 26 Rose, “Physical,” p. 1. 27 Hallion, Hypersonic, pp. xxiii, xxvi. 28 Time, 13 June 1960 (includes quote). Arthur Kantrowitz: Author interview, 22 June 2001. 51
Facing the Heat Barrier: A History of Hypersonics 52 Folder 18649, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Division, Washington, D.C. 20546. 29 Heppenheimer, Man-Made, pp. 286-91. Quote: Author interview, Arthur Kantrowitz, 22 June 2001. Folder 18649, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Division, Washington, D.C. 20546. 30 Shapiro, Compressible, pp. 1007-11, 1027; Lukasiewicz, Experimental, ch. 13. 31 Comptes Rendus, Vol. 129 (1899), pp. 1128-30. 32 Proceedings of the Royal Society, Vol. A186 (1946), pp. 293-21. 33 Review of Scientific Instruments, November 1949, pp. 807-815 (quotes, pp. 813, 814). 34 Journal of Applied Physics, December 1952, pp. 1390-99 (quote, p. 1397). 35 Wegener, Peenemunde, p. 131; Nature, Vol. 171 (1953), pp. 395-96; NASA SP-4308, p. 134; quote: Hallion, Hypersonic, pp. xxvi-xxvii. 36 Rose, “Physical”; Kantrowitz, “Shock Tubes.” 37 Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, February 1958, pp. 86-97. 38 Rose, “Physical,” pp. 11-12. 39 Jet Propulsion, April 1956, pp. 259-269. 40 Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, February 1958: pp. 73-85, 86-97. 41 Brown et al., “Study,” pp. 13-17. 42 Neufeld, Ballistic, pp. 78-79, 117. 43 Emme, History, pp. 7-110; Ordway and Sharpe, Rocket Team, pp. 366-73. 44 Ley, Rockets, pp. 237, 245. 45 “Re-Entry Studies,” Vol. 1, pp. 21, 27, 29. 46 Grimwood and Strowd, History, pp. 10-13. 47 “Re-Entry Studies,” Vol. 1, pp. 2, 24-25, 31, 37-45, 61. 48 Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, January-February 1982, pp. 3-11. 49 Ibid. Extended quote, p. 5. 50 Journal of the Aero/Space Sciences, May 1960, pp. 377-85. 51 Kreith, Heat Transfer, pp. 538-45. 52 Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, January-February 1982, p. 6. Quote: Author interview, Arthur Kantrowitz, 22 June 2001. Folder 18649, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Division, Washington, D.C. 20546. 53 NASA SP-440, p. 85; ARS Paper 724-58 (quote, p. 4). 54 ARS Paper 724-58. 55 NASA SP-4308, p. 133. 56 ARS Paper 724-58; Journal of the Aero/Space Sciences, July 1960, pp. 535-43 (quote, p. 535). 57 Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, January-February 1982, pp. 8-9. 58 ARS Paper 838-59. 59 “Re-Entry Test Vehicle X-17.” Over-the-top: NASA RP-1028, p. 443. 60 This flight is further discussed in ch. 6. Nose Cones and Re-entry 61 NASA RP-1028, p. 488. 62 Miller, X-Planes, pp. 215, 217. 63 Ibid., p. 213; Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, January-February 1982, p. 6. 64 “Re-Entry Studies,” Vol. 1, pp. 69-71; Grimwood and Strowd, History, p. 156. 65 “Re-Entry Studies,” Vol. 1, pp. 61, 64, 71, 73, 98. 66 Grimwood and Strowd, History, p. 156. 67 Time, 18 November 1957, pp. 19-20 (includes quote). 68 “Re-Entry Studies,” Vol. 1, pp. 3, 5. 69 Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, May 1984, pp. 219-25; Hallion, Hypersonic, p. lxxii. 70 Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, May 1984, p. 219. 71 DTIC AD-320753, pp. 11-12. 72 DTIC AD-342828, pp. 16-19; AD-362539, pp. 11, 83. 73 Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, May 1984, p. 220. Trajectory data: DTIC AD- 320753, Appendix A. 74 AIAA Journal, January 1963, pp. 41-45 (quote, p. 41). 75 Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, May 1984, p. 220. 76 Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, May 1984, p. 220; Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, January-February 1982, p. 8. 77 Time, December 8, 1958, p. 15 (includes quote). 78 Hallion, Hypersonic, p. lxxii. Dimensions: DTIC AD-362539, p. 73. Weight: AD-832686, p. 20-23. 79 DTIC AD-362539, pp. 11, 39. 80 Hallion, Hypersonic, p. lxxii. 81 DTIC AD-362539, pp. 11-12. Peak heating occurred approximately at maximum dynamic pressure, at Mach 14 (see p. 12). Altitude, 40,000 feet, is from Figs. 2.6. 82 DTIC AD-362539, pp. 9, 12-13 (quote, p. 9). 83 Author interview, Arthur Kantrowitz, 22 June 2001. Folder 18649, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Division, Washington, D.C. 20546 84 Author interview, Steven Weinberg, 3 January 1990. Folder 18649, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Division, Washington, D.C. 20546. Quote: Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, January-February 1982, p. 3. 53
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