Here's a neat little study from 1959, that dovetails nicely with the last study summary that I posted... I think part of it was referred to in that study actually.

Lockheed Missiles and Space Company was contracted by NASA to study the feasibility of large solid-propellant launch vehicles for space missions. Remember that in 1959, lunar plans were just a gleam in the Space Task Groups eye, but they were thinking ahead to what would come after the Mercury Project, and the plans for Apollo in that time period were to do a loop around the Moon (no moon landing) as the culmination of the nascent Apollo project (which wasn't even approved at that point, as IIRC it was still in the proposal stages itself.) At any rate, NASA had probably predicated studies like these on the idea of "flexibility" in being able to do whatever mission they might dream up next, should it get approved.

At the time, the Minuteman and Polaris solid propellant missiles were well in the works, and the field of solid propellant technology was evolving quickly. This study still mentions "jetevators" (vanes in the rocket exhaust) as the primary means of TVC for controlling the flight path of a solid propellant vehicle, a technology which would be quickly rendered obsolete by the liquid injection TVC of Polaris and steerable nozzles on Minuteman.

At any rate, the study looks at a couple different mission scenarios-- launching payloads to a 300 nautical mile (nm) parking orbit, and launching a payload through "escape" (presumably a lunar or interplanetary trajectory). They also looked at several different solid propellant vehicle sizes, from 300,000 pounds at liftoff, to 1 million and even 5 million pound at liftoff vehicles, using 2, 3, or 4 stages. The vehicles considered all used liquid upper stages, some with kerosene propellant second stages, with all using hydrogen powered upper stages, which was in its infancy at the time. (Centaur would suffer considerable developmental problems, so much so that Von Braun recommended repeatedly it be canceled, and an LH2 upper stage (S-IV) for what would become Saturn I hadn't even been considered yet to my knowledge).

They also looked at clustered versus single large monolithic solid motors for the first stages, and compared them on various facets of design, construction, fabrication, handling, erection, launch, reliability, and performance.

So, enjoy this early look at what would be the predecessor to many solid first stage vehicles that would be proposed in the coming decades...

Later! OL JR

Attached Files

STUDY SUMMARY- A Study of Large Solid Propellant Boosters.txt (44.0 KB, 12 views)

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

First, "scope of the study"-- a chart showing the various permutations looked at in various combinations...

Second, Summary of Payload Data for the various vehicles looked at for the various missions considered in the study...

Third, Payload vs. Booster Weight...

Fourth, Payload vs. Mass Ratios...

Fifth, Effect of Structural Mass on Payload... (obviously the heavier the stage, the lower the payload, especially for upper stages.

More to come! OL JR

Attached Thumbnails

         

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

First, Thrust to Weight Ratios and Specific Impulse impact on Performance...

Second, aerodynamic coefficient and TVC...

Third, the typical 1 million pound vehicle considered...

Fourth, weight summary for the typical vehicle...

Fifth, 1 million pound vehicle for 300 nm orbit missions...

More to come! OL JR

Attached Thumbnails

         

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

First, vehicle comparison- clustered motor and non-clustered monolithic motor design...

Second, 1 million pound vehicle, all hydrogen upper stages, for the 300 nm orbit mission...

Third, 1 million pound vehicle, for geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) missions, with kerosene second stage and hydrogen third stage...

Fourth, 1 million pound GEO mission vehicle, with stages 2, 3, and 4 being kerosene, hydrogen, and hydrogen powered respectively...

Fifth, 5 million pound vehicle, kerosene and hydrogen upper stages with clustered tanks...

More to come! OL JR

Attached Thumbnails

         

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

First, 5 million pound vehicle, 4 stage vehicle, with kerosene second stage, and hydrogen third and fourth stages.

Second, weight summary for the four stage vehicle...

Third, Boosters using a single size rocket motor...

Fourth, Effects of using smaller upper stage engines...

Fifth, weight summary of a three stage 300,000 lb vehicle to 300 nm orbit...

More to come! OL JR

Attached Thumbnails

         

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

First, envelope dimensions for solid motors...

Second, typical motor design...

Third, solid motor design...

Fourth, cross section of typical nozzle...

Fifth, weights of motor components...

More to come! OL JR

Attached Thumbnails

         

__________________
The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

First, typical aircraft for booster transportation...

Last, Cost comparison between roughly equivalent solid and liquid vehicles...

Later! OL JR

Attached Thumbnails

   

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!