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In the early 1960's NASA looked at reducing costs by using solid rocket boosters (SRB) to replace the first stages of Saturn class launch vehicles.
The contracted firm was the Grand Central Rocket Cº. They came up with two designs.
Rocket Nº. 1 comprised a first stage made up of 3 three segment SRBs topped with a 2 J-2 S-II stage and an S-IV stage. (Payload to 307 nautical mile orbit, 60,000 pounds, payload to escape velocity 18,500 pounds.)
Rocket No. 2 comprised a 16 five segment SRB stage topped with a 4 five segment SRB stage, then a 'cluster' of six J-2s (Which may be identical to the second stage of the Saturn C-8) and a two J-2 stage that also appears to be the same as the equivalent stage in the Saturn C-8. (Payload to 307 nautical mile orbit, 130,000 pounds).
The attached pictures show both designs, the proposed launch pad for the number 2 rocket design and the transporter used to bring the SRB segments to Cape Kennedy.
I have the report "Summary of Final Report On Design Studies of Very Large Solid Fuel Rockets" on my computer, but it is too large (5mb) to upload as an attachment, so I'll see about finding a suitable hosting location for it.
The contracted firm was the Grand Central Rocket Cº. They came up with two designs.
Rocket Nº. 1 comprised a first stage made up of 3 three segment SRBs topped with a 2 J-2 S-II stage and an S-IV stage. (Payload to 307 nautical mile orbit, 60,000 pounds, payload to escape velocity 18,500 pounds.)
Rocket No. 2 comprised a 16 five segment SRB stage topped with a 4 five segment SRB stage, then a 'cluster' of six J-2s (Which may be identical to the second stage of the Saturn C-8) and a two J-2 stage that also appears to be the same as the equivalent stage in the Saturn C-8. (Payload to 307 nautical mile orbit, 130,000 pounds).
The attached pictures show both designs, the proposed launch pad for the number 2 rocket design and the transporter used to bring the SRB segments to Cape Kennedy.
I have the report "Summary of Final Report On Design Studies of Very Large Solid Fuel Rockets" on my computer, but it is too large (5mb) to upload as an attachment, so I'll see about finding a suitable hosting location for it.
