BRIGADIER (to Peabody): Is that the hottest you've got?

COLONEL PEABODY: Yes, sir. I don't think it could have been Denmark. Though that sculptor, Williams, does live in San Francisco.

BRIGADIER: We'd better wait and be sure. Captain, how are your lines now?

COLONEL SPARKS (with rising hysteria): What have we got this stuff for if we don't use it? My God, didn't you hear what the President said? He's depending on us; they're all depending on us. If you haven't got the guts, I have. (Before he can be stopped, he rushes to the control board and shoves a sergeant to the floor. Peabody is after Sparks in a flash. He pulls him around and knocks him to the floor. Sparks's head hits hard, and he lies still.

COLONEL PEABODY: General, he did it! Copenhagen shows red!

SERGEANT (at a teletype): Sir, here's a message from the defense center. They've got their line working again. (He tears it off and brings it to the Brigadier.)

CAPTAIN: Stockholm's gone red, sir.

COLONEL PEABODY: Sure. The Danes thought it was the Swedes. That export-duties

row.

BRIGADIER: And the Swedes have got two hot arguments on their hands. They'll take the British, too, just to be sure. The British soak the Russians, and then we're next. (He reads the message he has been holding, and drops into a chair.) My God! Peabody, that was an earthquake. Epicenter right smack in San Francisco.

CAPTAIN: London's gone red, sir. And Edinburgh, and Manchester, and Nottingham, and

COLONEL PEABODY: Dark ages, here I come. It's a pity the Security Council didn't have time to consider all this.

BRIGADIER: Peabody, you're beginning to sound a little like Sparks. Come to think of it, there was nothing wrong with him but too much patriotism and too little sense. Captain, we probably can't pull this out of the fire, but we've got to try. Send a message on all circuits. (The Captain sits down at a teletype keyboard.)

CAPTAIN: Ready, sir.

BRIGADIER: To all stations: URGE IMMEDIATE WORLDWIDE BROADCAST THIS MESSAGE: DESTRUCTION COPENHAGEN 1910 HOURS THIS DATE INITIATED BY THIS STATION THROUGH GRIEVOUS ERROR. ATTACKS MADE SINCE BASED ON IDEA DESTRUCTION COPENHAGEN WAS ACT OF WAR, WHICH IT WAS NOT REPEAT NOT. URGE ATTACKS BE STOPPED UNTIL SITUATION CAN BE CLARIFIED. THERE IS NO REPEAT NO WAR. END.

COLONEL PEABODY (who has been watching board): The hell there isn't. New York's gone red, and Chicago, and... (The room rocks, the lights go out. With a dull, powerful rumble, the roof caves in.)

CURTAIN

Document II-2

Document title: Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., "Preliminary Design of an Experimental World-Circling Spaceship," Report No. SM-11827, May 2, 1946, pp. i-viii, 1-16, 211-12.

Source: Archives, The Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, California.

The newly formed Rand group, a unit of Douglas Aircraft, was directed by General Curtis LeMay to investigate the possible uses of satellites for the Air Force. LeMay took this action after he learned that the Navy was conducting a similar study. The resulting report, released in May 1946, was the first study completed by Rand and the first comprehensive analysis of the military uses of satellites. It suggested that satellites had broad uses in meteorology, reconnaissance, and communications. But while extensive in scope and providing much new information on the value of satellites, including the possibility of a vehicle that could carry humans, the report was virtually ignored by the Air Force, which was unconvinced as to the utility of satellites and unwilling to support a report that questioned the role of the manned bomber. These excerpts from the report, which contained 236 pages plus several lengthy appendices, give a sense of the broader thinking that guided the engineering analyses that comprised the bulk of the document.

This report presents an engineering analysis of the possibilities of designing a manmade satellite. The questions of power plants, structural weights, multiple stages, optimum design values; trajectories, stability, and landing are considered in detail. The results are used to furnish designs for two proposed vehicles. The first is a four stage rocket using alcohol and liquid oxygen as propellants. The second is a two stage rocket using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as propellants. The latter rocket offers better specific consumption rates, but this is found to be partially offset by the greater structural weight necessitated by the use of hydrogen. It is concluded that modern technology has advanced to a point where it now appears feasible to undertake the design of a satellite vehicle.

In this report, we have undertaken a conservative and realistic engineering appraisal of the possibilities of building a spaceship which will circle the earth as a satellite. The work has been based on our present state of technological advancement and has not included such possible future developments as atomic energy.

If a vehicle can be accelerated to a speed of about 17,000 m.p.h. and aimed properly, it will revolve on a great circle path above the earth's atmosphere as a new satellite. The centrifugal force will just balance the pull of gravity. Such a vehicle will make a complete circuit of the earth in approximately 1-1/2 hours. Of all the possible orbits, most of them will not pass over the same ground stations on successive circuits because the earth will turn about 1/16 of a turn under the orbit during each circuit. The equator is the only such repeating path and consequently is recommended for early attempts at establishing satellites so that a single set of telemetering stations may be used.

Such a vehicle will undoubtedly prove to be of great military value. However, the present study was centered around a vehicle to be used in obtaining much desired scientific information on cosmic rays, gravitation, geophysics, terrestrial magnetism, astronomy, meteorology, and properties of the upper atmosphere. For this purpose, a payload of 500 lbs. and 20 cu ft. was selected as a reasonable estimate of the requirements for scientific apparatus capable of obtaining results sufficiently far-reaching to make the undertaking worthwhile. It was found necessary to establish the orbit at an altitude of about 300 miles to insure sufficiently [iii] low drag so that the vehicle could travel for 10 days or more, without power, before losing satellite speed.

The only type of power plant capable of accelerating a vehicle to a speed of 17,000 m.p.h. on the outer limits of the atmosphere is the rocket. The two most important performance characteristics of a rocket vehicle are the exhaust velocity of the rocket and the ratio of the weight of propellants to the gross weight. Very careful studies were made to establish engineering estimates of the values that can be obtained for these two characteristics.

The study of rocket performance indicated that while liquid hydrogen ranks highest among fuels having large exhaust velocities, its low density, low temperature and wide explosive range cause great trouble in engineering design. On the other hand, alcohol, though having a lower exhaust velocity, has the benefit of extensive development in the German V-2. Consequently it was decided to conduct parallel preliminary design studies of vehicles using liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen and alcohol-liquid oxygen as propellants. It has been frequently assumed in the past that structural weight ratios become increasingly favorable as rockets increase in size, and fixed weight items such as radio equipment become insignificant weight items. However, the study of weight ratios indicated that for large sizes the weight of tanks and similar items actually become less favorable. Consequently, there is an optimum middle range of sizes. Improvements in weight ratios over that of the German V-2 are possible only by the slow process of technological development, not by the brute force methods of increase in size. This study showed that an alcohol-oxygen vehicle [iv] could be built whose entire structural weight (including motors, controls, etc.) was about 16% of the gross weight. On the other hand, the difficulties with liquid hydrogen, such as increased tank size, necessitated an entire structural weight of about 25% of the gross weight. These studies also indicated that a maximum acceleration of about 6.5 times that of gravity gave the best overall performance for the vehicles considered. If the acceleration is greater, the increased structural design loads increase the structural weight. If the acceleration is less, rocket thrust is inefficiently used to support the weight of the vehicle without producing the desired acceleration.

Using the above results, it was found that neither hydrogen-oxygen nor alcohol-oxygen is capable of accelerating a single unassisted vehicle to orbital speeds. By the use of a multi-stage rocket, these velocities can be attained by vehicles feasible within the limits of our present knowledge. To illustrate the concept of a multi-stage rocket, first consider a vehicle composed of two parts. The primary vehicle, complete with its rocket motor, tanks, propellants and controls is carried along as the "payload" of a similar vehicle of much greater size. The rocket of the large vehicle is used to accelerate the combination to as great a speed as possible, after which, the large vehicle is discarded and the small vehicle accelerates under its own power, adding its velocity increase to that of the large vehicle. By this means we have obtained an effective decrease in the amount of structural weight that must be accelerated to high speeds. This same idea can be used in designing vehicles with a greater number of stages. A careful analysis of the advantages of staging showed that for a given set of performance requirements, [v] an optimum number of stages exists. If the stages are too few in number, the required velocities can be attained only by the undesirable process of exchanging payload for fuel. If they are too many, the multiplication of tanks, motors, etc. eliminates any possible gain in the effective weight ratio. For the alcohol-oxygen rocket it was found that four stages were best. For the hydrogen-oxygen rocket, preliminary analysis indicated that the best choice for the number of stages was two, but refinements showed the optimum number of stages was three. Unfortunately, insufficient time was available to change the design, so the work on the hydrogen-oxygen was completed using two stages. The characteristics of the vehicles studies are tabulated below....

[vi] (had three stages been used for the hydrogen-oxygen rockets, the overall gross weight of this vehicle could have been reduced to about 84,000 lbs. indicating this combination should be given serious consideration in any future study).

In arriving at the above design figures, a detailed study was made of the effects of exhaust velocity, structural weight, gravity, drag, acceleration, flight path inclination, and relative size of stages on the performance of the vehicles so that an optimum design could be achieved or reasonable compromises made.

It was found that the vehicle could best be guided during its accelerated flight by mounting control surfaces in the rocket jets and rotating the entire vehicle so that lateral components of the jet thrust could be used to produce the desired control forces. It is planned to fire the rocket vertically upward for several miles and then gradually curve the flight path over in the direction in which it is desired that the vehicle shall travel. In order to establish the vehicle on an orbit at an altitude of about 300 miles without using excessive amounts of control it was found desirable to allow the vehicle to coast without thrust on an extended elliptic arc just preceding the firing of the rocket of the last stage. As the vehicle approaches the summit of this arc, which is at the final altitude, the rocket of the last stage is fired and the vehicle is accelerated so that it becomes a freely revolving satellite.

It was shown that excessive amounts of rocket propellants are required to make corrections if the orbit is incorrectly established in direction or in velocity. Therefore, considerable attention was devoted to the stability and control problem during the acceleration to orbital [vii] speeds. It was concluded that the orbit could be established with sufficient precision so that the vehicle would not inadvertently re-enter the atmosphere because of an eccentric orbit.

Once the vehicle has been established on its orbit, the questions arise as to what are the possibilities of damage by meteorites, what temperatures will it experience, and can its orientation in space be controlled? Although the probability of being hit by very small meteorites is great, it was found that by using reasonable thickness plating, adequate protection could be obtained against all meteorites up to a size where the frequency of occurrence was very small. The temperatures of the satellite vehicle will range from about 40°F when it is on the side of the earth facing the sun to about -20°F when it is in the earth's shadow. Either small flywheels or small jets of compressed gas appear to offer feasible methods of controlling the vehicle's orientation after the cessation of rocket thrust.

An investigation was made of the possibility of safely landing the vehicle without allowing it to enter the atmosphere at such great speeds that it would be destroyed by the heat of air resistance. It was found that by the use of wings on the small final vehicle, the rate of descent could be controlled so that the heat would be dissipated by radiation at temperatures the structure could safely withstand. These same wings could be used to land the vehicle on the surface of the earth.

An interesting outcome of the study is that the maximum acceleration and temperatures can be kept within limits which can be safely withstood by a human being. Since the vehicle is not likely to be damaged by meteorites and can be safely brought back to earth, there is good reason [viii] to hope that future satellite vehicles will be built to carry human beings.

It has been estimated that to design, construct and launch a satellite vehicle will cost about $150,000,000. Such an undertaking could be accomplished in approximately 5 years time. The launching would probably be made from one of the Pacific islands near the equator. A series of telemetering stations would be established around the equator to ob

tain the data from the scientific apparatus contained in the vehicle. The first vehicles will probably be allowed to burn up on plunging back into the atmosphere. Later vehicles will be designed so that they can be brought back to earth. Such vehicles can be used either as long range missiles or for carrying human beings....

[1] 1. Introduction

Technology and experience have now reached the point where it is possible to design and construct craft which can penetrate the atmosphere and achieve sufficient velocity to become satellites of the earth. This statement is documented in this report, which is a design study for a satellite vehicle judiciously based on German experience with V-2, and which relies for its success only on sound engineering development which can logically be expected as a consequence of intensive application to this effort. The craft which would result from such an undertaking would almost certainly do the job of becoming a satellite, but it would clearly be bulky, expensive, and inefficient in terms of the spaceship we shall be able to design after twenty years of intensive work in this field. In making the decision as to whether or not to undertake construction of such a craft now, it is not inappropriate to view our present situation as similar to that in airplanes prior to the flight of the Wright brothers. We can see no more clearly all the utility and implications of spaceships than the Wright brothers could see fleets of B-29's bombing Japan and air transports circling the globe.

Though the crystal ball is cloudy, two things seem clear:

1. A satellite vehicle with appropriate instrumentation can be expected to be one of the most potent scientific tools of the Twentieth Century.

[2] 2. The achievement of a satellite craft by the United States would inflame the imagination of mankind, and would probably produce repercussions in the world comparable to the explosion of the atomic bomb.

Chapter 2 of this report attempts to indicate briefly some of the concrete results to be derived from a spaceship which circles the world on a stable orbit.

As the first major activity under contract W33-038AC-14105, we have been asked by the Air Forces to explore the possibilities of making a satellite vehicle, and to present a program which would aid in the development of such a vehicle. Our approach to this task is along two related lines:

1. To undertake a design study which will evaluate the possibility of making a satellite vehicle using known methods of engineering and propulsion.

2. To explore the fields of science in an attempt to discover and to stimulate research and development along lines which will ultimately be of benefit in the design of such a satellite vehicle and which will improve its efficiency or decrease its complexity and cost.

This report concerns itself solely with the first line of approach. It is a practical study based on techniques that we now know. The implications of atomic energy are not considered here. This and other possibilities in the fields of science may be the subject of future [3] reports, which will cover the second line of approach.

In the preliminary design study analytical methods have been developed which may be used as a basis for future studies in this new field of astronautical engineering. Among these are the following:

1. Analysis of single- and multi-stage rocket performance and methods for selecting the optimum number of stages for any given application.

2. Dimensional analysis of varying size and gross weight of rockets, deriving laws which are useful in design scaling. These laws are also of assistance in appraisal of the effect of shape and proportions on the design of multi-stage rockets.

3. The effect of acceleration and inclination of the trajectory on structural weight and performance of a satellite rocket.

4. Methods of determining the optimum trajectory for satellite rockets.

5. Variation of rocket performance with altitude and its effect on the proportioning of stages.