Confirms P120C used for the Vega rocket first stage/Ariane 6 was
unsegmented and its thick casing monolithic.
The place where I saw (as a visitor) the monolithic Ariane vacuum caster
standng on display was the ESA centre in Mourmelon, France.
Surprize: scale models of Arianes flanked by up to 4 solid boosters were
shown in a room near the entrance.
Inside the factory (off limits) from the upper floor I saw several full
scale cryogenic Ariane engines they were working on.
Could be segmented P120 are manufactored as well. Confusing.
John
Verzonden vanuit Proximus Mail
Van: Bruno Berger <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Verzonden: 28 april 2023 09:28:01 CEST
Aan: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Onderwerp: [AR] Re: APCP properties, was Re: Re: starship abort?
Yes, Flugwerft Schleissheim is a nice museum. The main museum in Munich
city has also some nice artifacts. The exhibition has been renovated
lately, not to the good though in my opinion.
The two engines of Europa's first stage are indeed Atlas engines build
in license by Rolls Royce (The outside ones, not the central
sustainer).
Bruno
Am 28.04.2023 um 07:53 schrieb Ben Brockert:
Photos below:
The “Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleißheim” outside Munich is
mostly an aircraft museum, but has a few interesting rocket parts at the
very end. One is an Ariane 5 motor casing that has been cross sectioned,
it was the 7 segment version. I placed a 1 euro coin on it for scale,
23.25mm/0.915in in diameter. According to the plaque, the sections were
held together by a “clevis-tang joint” with 180 pins, and that they were
formed on a “counterroller flow-turning machine” from a 58mm thick
blank.
They also have a nearly complete Europa rocket, which you can
practically climb inside of. Not a particularly successful program, but
still interesting to see the hardware up close. You definitely get the
feeling that the Blue Streak first stage builders got a real good look
at an Atlas at some point.
The museum is easily reached by a 20 minute train ride from Munich
and a 1.5km walk that goes through the local palace grounds, no need to
have a car.
On Friday, April 28, 2023, Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
On Fri, 28 Apr 2023, John Dom wrote:
Ariane 5 APCP boosters have been unsegmented. Cast in one piece.
Saw the vertical casting setup in France which proved big...
Sure you're not thinking of the P80 first stage for Vega? The Ariane
5 boosters are segmented -- three segments, joined at the launch site
(originally bolted together, although midway through the program I
believe they switched to welding them together). Vega's P80 is
basically a single Ariane 5 segment, although with a composite casing
instead of a steel one, and for quite a while it was the world's largest
(operational) unsegmented solid motor.
I do not know about coming Ariane 6's fabrication details. Nor
about their internal geometries.
The Ariane 6 solids are identical to the P120C enlarged first stage
built for the Vega C upgrade of Vega (and since it flew last summer, it
now holds the largest-unsegmented record).
The Shuttle boosters were segmented for ship transportation
(size!) I read at the time.
Not ship, rail -- an SRB segment is about the largest load that can be
carried on the US rail network. (Long ago I visited the Cape, and while
going from one place to another nearby, happened to see a railroad
siding full of the special railcars used to carry the SRB segments.
They looked like tank cars at first glance, until you noticed the NASA
logos and the labels...)
Henry