rockoon

A rockoon (a portmanteau of rocket and balloon) was an extension to the rocket, which allowed the rocket to achieve further distance. The rockoon was a solid fuel rocket that, rather than being immediately lit while on the ground, was first carried into the upper atmosphere by a gas-filled balloon, and then separated from the balloon when it had reached its maximum height and automatically ignited. This would allow the rocket to achieve a higher altitude, since the rocket did not have to move through the lower thicker air layers.

The original concept of "Rockoons" was developed by Cmdr. Lee Lewis, Cmdr. G. Halvorson, S. F. Singer, and James A. Van Allen during the Aerobee rocket firing cruise of the U.S.S. Norton Sound on March 1, 1949.

A disadvantage of a rockoon is that balloons cannot be steered and consequently neither the direction the rocket moves in nor the region where it will fall is easily adjustable. Therefore, a large area for the fall of the rocket is required for safety reasons.

As TIME reported in 1959, "Van Allen's 'Rockoons' could not be fired in Iowa for fear that the spent rockets would strike an Iowan or his house." So Van Allen convinced the U.S. Coast Guard to let him fire his rockoons from the icebreaker Eastwind that was bound for Greenland. "The first balloon rose properly to 70,000 ft., but the rocket hanging under it did not fire. The second Rockoon behaved in the same maddening way. On the theory that extreme cold at high altitude might have stopped the clockwork supposed to ignite the rockets, Van Allen heated cans of orange juice, snuggled them into the third Rockoon's gondola, and wrapped the whole business in insulation. The rocket fired."

Loki rocket

The Office of Naval Research (USA ONR) used the Loki in some of its Rockoon launches, lofting the Loki to high altitudes on a helium balloon before firing, for upper atmosphere research.^[1] The first Rockoon launch of the Loki I occurred on Jul 1 1955 from shipboard off the coast of Greenland.^[2]

Deacon rocket

During Jul-Oct 1955 instrumented Loki I and Deacon rockets were successfully balloon launched (Rockoons) from shipboard off the coast of Greenland in cosmic-ray studies by the State University of Iowa research group. Army Ordnance supplied JPL-developed Loki rockets and ONR sponsored the project.^[3]

The first attempt of the Deacon Rockoon on Aug 21 1952 06:25 GMT from the Arctic Ocean 80.1 N x 68.5 W was a failure.^[4] However, success came on Aug 9 1953 in the Atlantic Ocean, Launch Site 11 Launch Point 10 74.38 N x 71.93 W, at 05:54 GMT.^[5] Quickly followed by another success on Aug 30 1953 20:46 GMT at Atlantic Ocean Launch Site 11 Launch Point 13 53.13 N, 54.75 W.^[5]

See also

• Loki (rocket), last flight in 1957
• JP Aerospace
• Team Prometheus
• CU Spaceflight
• Da Vinci Project
• Air launch to orbit

External links

• Details of Rockoon launches made in 1956 from the USS COLONIAL in the Pacific Ocean Stratocat website
• Details of Rockoon launches made between 1952 and 1954 in the Arctic by the USCGC EASTWIND Stratocat website
• High Altitude Research Corporation

References

• Astronautix

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