Viking rocket

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A Viking rocket, ca. 1949.

Based on its experiments with captured German V-2 rockets after World War II, the United states decided to develop its own liquid fueled rocket. In 1946, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) directed the development of the new sounding rocket, to be called Viking. It was designed and built by the Glenn L. Martin Company (now Lockheed-Martin). Viking pioneered important innovations, including a gimbaled motor for steering and intermittent gas jets for stabilizing the vehicle after the main power cutoff. These devices are now extensively used in large, steerable rockets and in space vehicles. The engine was one of the first three large, liquid-propelled, rocket-powered engines produced in the United States. A total of twelve Viking rockets were launched from 1949 to 1954. The first attained a 50 mile (80 km) altitude and Viking II rose to 254 km (158 miles) on May 24, 1954, an all-time altitude record for a single-stage rocket. Through these Viking firings, NRL was first to measure temperature, pressure, and winds in the upper atmosphere and electron density in the ionosphere, and to record the ultraviolet spectra of the sun. NRL also took the first high-altitude pictures of the Earth, showing its curvature.

On October 5, 1954, during a launching from White Sands, New Mexico, a camera mounted in an NRL Viking rocket took the first picture of a hurricane and a tropical storm, from altitudes as high as 160 km (100 miles). The picture embraced an area more than 1600 km (1000 miles) in diameter, including Mexico and the area from Texas to Iowa. This was also the first natural-color picture of Earth from rocket altitudes. The success NRL achieved in this series of experiments encouraged Laboratory scientists to believe that, with a more powerful engine and the addition of upper stages, the Viking rocket could be made a vehicle capable of launching an earth satellite. This led to NRL's Project Vanguard.

Improvements were made Viking rockets as they were built and tested. The final version was 13.7 meter (45 ft) long, 1.14 meter (45 in) in diameter and had a 450 kg (1000 lb) payload. Its single engine burnt alcohol and liquid oxygen, producing 89 kN (20000 lbf) of thrust. Hydrogen peroxide was converted to steam to power a turbopump that fed fuel and LOX into the engine.

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