Aerobee rocket

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The Aerobee rocket was a small (8 m) unguided suborbital sounding rocket used for high atmospheric and cosmic radiation research in the United States in the 1950s.

It was built by Aerojet General. The company began work in 1946 and test fired the first complete Aerobee from the White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico in November 1947, it reached an altitude of almost 58 km. The rocket was two stage with a solid-fuel boost and a nitric acid/aniline sustainer. The rockets could reach around 230 km (a later variant exceeded 400 km), instrumentation usually provided constant telemetry and was recovered by parachute. For accurate pointing special gimbal mounts were developed.

The first instrument carrying Aerobee was the A-5 which was launched on March 5, 1948 from White Sands, carrying instruments for cosmic radiation research it reached an altitude of 117.5 km. The last Aerobee flight was in 1958, around 165 (including variants) had been successfully fired. Variants of the Aerobee were launched in 1968 and 1969 for research relating to the Apollo program. The Aerojet engineers also developed the Aerobee-Hi (first launched in 1955).

A total of 1,037 Aerobees (including variants) were launched, the last on January 17, 1985.

Contents

1 Technical data

1.1 Aerobee
1.2 Aerobee 75
1.3 Aerobee 150
1.4 Aerobee 170
1.5 Aerobee 170A
1.6 Aerobee 170B
1.7 Aerobee 200
1.8 Aerobee 300
1.9 Aerobee 350

Technical data

Aerobee

Payload: 68 kg
Maximum flight height: 130 km
Liftoff Thrust: 18 kN
Total Mass: 727 kg
Core Diameter: 0.38 m
Total Length: 7.80 m

Aerobee 75

Maximum flight height: 80 km
Liftoff Thrust: 7.00 kN
Total Mass: 400 kg
Total Length: 6.00 m

Aerobee 150

Payload: 68 kg
Maximum flight height: 270 km
Liftoff Thrust: 18 kN
Total Mass: 930 kg
Core Diameter: 0.38 m
Total Length: 9.30 m

Aerobee 170

Maximum flight height: 200 km
Liftoff Thrust: 225 kN
Total Mass: 1,270 kg
Core Diameter: 0.42 m
Total Length: 12.60 m

Aerobee 170A

Maximum flight height: 200 km
Liftoff Thrust: 217 kN
Total Mass: 1,270 kg
Core Diameter: 0.42 m
Total Length: 12.40 m

Aerobee 170B

Maximum flight height: 200 km
Liftoff Thrust: 225 kN
Total Mass: 1,270 kg
Core Diameter: 0.42 m
Total Length: 12.40 m

Aerobee 200

Maximum flight height: 250 km

Liftoff Thrust: 225 kN
Total Mass: 1,600 kg
Core Diameter: 0.42 m
Total Length: 12.60 m

Aerobee 300

Payload: 45 kg
Maximum flight height: 300 km
Liftoff Thrust: 18 kN
Total Mass: 983 kg
Core Diameter: 0.38 m
Total Length: 9.90 m

Aerobee 350

Payload: 227 kg
Maximum flight height: 450 km
Liftoff Thrust: 217 kN
Total Mass: 3,839 kg
Core Diameter: 0.56 m
Total Length: 15.90 m
Span: 2.30 m

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