FIRST STEPS TOWARD SPACE - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

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Academy in Moscow was reorganized into the
Society for the Study of Interplanetary Communication,
with G.M. Kramorov acting as chairman.
Participating in the work of the newly organized
society were K.E. Tsiolkovskiy, F.A. Tsander, V.P.
Vetchinkin, and others.
Among the personnel of the Department II of
GDL who took part in development of electrical
and liquid-propellant rocket engines were such
talented engineers and technicians as A.L. Malyy,
V.I. Serov, Ye.N. Kuz'min, Ye.S. Petrov, N.G.
Chernyshev, P.I. Minayev, B.A. Kutkin, V.P. Yukov,
V.A. Timofeyev, N.M. Mukhin, I.M. Pankin, and
others.
The work of Department II was put on a scientific
basis from the very beginning: first, a theoretical
study was made of the problem, and then the
theoretical principles were checked by experiment.
To accomplish the principal task of developing
electrical and liquid-propellant rocket engines, a
number of engineering problems had to be solved
in Department II of the GDL, among which were
the following:
1. Working out a functional diagram of the electrical
rocket engine;
2. selection of the working fluid (from among
solid and liquid conductors) for the electrical
rocket engine;
3. development of feeding devices to supply the
working fluid to the thrust chamber of the electrical
rocket engine;
4. selection of the method for feeding propellant
into the thrust chamber of the liquid-propellant
engine;
5. development of the most expedient forms for
mixing chambers and for injectors;
6. solution of the problem of pump-feeding propellant
components;
7. investigation of the behavior of prepared propellant
mixtures during combustion in an
open vessel and in a semienclosed volume
(detonation in rocket engine);
8. development of methods for igniting propellant
mixtures (pyrotechnical, electrical, and
chemical ignition);
9. development of methods for cooling the thrust
chamber and selection of heat-insulating material
for the chamber;
10. selection and investigation of various types of
liquid propellants and special additives, with
SMITHSONIAN ANNALS OF FLIGHT
the aim of increasing the specific weight of fuel
and enhancing its calorific value, including
(a) use of colloidal propellant for rocket
engines and (b) production of nitrogen tetroxide;
11. investigation of the influence that the design
elements of the engine nozzle and combustion
chamber exert upon the value of the reaction
force, and development of the exponentialcontour
nozzle;
12. design of vehicles powered by liquid-propellant
motors with nominal ceiling of up to 100 km
(RLA-1, RLA-2, RLA-3, and RLA-100); x
13. development of means for measuring pressure
in the combustion chamber, the thrust of the
rocket engine, propellant consumption, and
other parameters.
In 1929 and 1930, Department II first proved
theoretically and experimentally the general ability
of an electrical rocket engine to function, using as
a working fluid liquid or solid conductors (continuously
fed metal wires or liquid jets), exploded at a
predetermined frequency by high-power electric
sparks in a thrust chamber. The injector and the
chamber body, separated by an insulator, were connected
to wires running from an electric pulse
generator facility of high power, whose principal
elements were a high-voltage transformer, four rectifiers,
and 4-mfd oil-filled capacitors charged to 40
kv. Subjected to firing were carbon filaments, wires
of aluminium, nickel, tungsten, lead and other
metals, as well as such liquids as mercury and electrolytes.
The working fluid was fed into the engine's com-
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