The space goose.

[carmelo]

What if Howard Hughes,by 1945,had dedicated every effort to put in orbit the first artificial satellite within (or before) 1955?

 

[Michel Van]

the biggest problem for Howard Hughes is to get Rocket Hardware in hands
let assume that Hughes company some how made assessment on german Rocket technology
or get order to build Military missile. like MRBM or ICBM like Martin or General Dynamics

by the way
there same discussion "the space goose" in Alternate History Forum by lounge60
by any chance is that you carmelo ?

 

[Dynoman]

Hughes certainly had an interest in space during this time frame, beginning with the Hughes Aerospace Group in 1948 to address state-of-the-art electronics and radar technologies with applications towards defense. Rockets, to some degree, were also of interest as his company developed the MA-1/Falcon AAM airborne radar system and missile. Unfortunately, Hughes was not popular with the federal government with early claims of misappropriation of contractual monies (Spruce Goose) and tax evasion (Hughes Medical Institute (tried to position Hughes Aircraft Co. under Medical Institute and declare it tax-exempt)).

If Hughes had a personal interest in orbital spaceflight (seeing such promise that he would have invested a great deal of his companies funds, i.e. TWA, Hughes Aircraft, and RKO pictures) he could have developed a Juno C type rocket for around 100 million or so (leveraging the work that had already been done on Redstone) and when through the consternation's of today's Elon Musk .

Results A: Large expenditures of Hughes' corporate and personal funds with no immediate RoI. Hughes can not compete with federal funds to develop national space program and becomes an interesting side note of history for having launched the first orbital satellite.

Result B: Possible early contracts with US government for launch vehicle development as Hughes becomes a prime launch vehicle and satellite manufacturer. Reaps the benefits of early technology capitalization and has a long history of providing rockets and spacecraft to the government.

Result C: None of the above.

 

[Dynoman]

To get his early questions in rocket development answered he and his Burbank, California based Hughes Aircraft Co. engineers could have gone to the Pasadena Jet Propulsion Lab to address rocketry, hardware design, and laboratory testing. From there Hughes could have funded Caltech university's research and explored some of the propellants and systems that needed to be developed. Conducting suborbital launches in Southern California.

With the early success of JPL's JATO (Jet-Assisted Take-Off) technology, Hughes could have applied the JATO systems to some early aircraft projects, pioneering rocket aircraft designs, and winning research projects away from Bell (e.g. the Hughes X-1 ). Opening up another area for Hughes to develop spaceflight technologies.

Acting as the prime contractor, Hughes could have subcontracted much of the work out on the orbital launch vehicle. Forming a consortium between universities and industry, to offset the costs and utilize their brain trusts, Hughes could have evolved a group to launch an orbital vehicle.

As Michel said, his ability to access hardware is critical. If his funds or access were limited, his technology development timing off, his personal bout with schizophrenia disruptive, or a host of other factors, the US government and the Russians would beat him to orbit. Stealing his fire and leading to the already known course of history.

 

[Orionblamblam]

Hughes getting shut out of German rocketry goodies would perhaps aid him. He'd then be forced to look to domestic experts... of which there were many. Hiring out from North amer5ican (HATV) and Douglas (WCSS) woudl perhaps put him ahead of the US Army/German effort.

 

[Dynoman]

1955 TWA Moonliner Rocket at Disneyland, early ambitions? :