Space Chronicle General Issue
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ISSN 0007-084X Space Chronicle General Issue Journal of the British Interplanetary Society Vol. 66, Suppl. 2, 2013 JBIS Publication Date: 19 November 2013 Space Chronicle: JBIS Supplement Space Chronicle issues are published as a part of JBIS, but as Supplements to preserve the continuity of the regular series of JBIS (blue cover) issues. Editor: John Becklake Space Chronicle welcomes the submission Production Assistant: B. Jones for publication of technical articles of general Promotion: S. Parry interest, historical contributions and reviews Space Chronicle Office: 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 in space science and technology, astronautics 1SZ, England. and related fields. Tel: 020 7735 3160 Text should be: Fax: 020 7587 5118 Email: [email protected] 1. As concise as the content allows; www.bis-space.com 2. 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Journal of the British JBIS Interplanetary Society The July/August 2013 issue of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society is now available and contains the following papers: Review, Analyses, and Recommendations Related to Modern International use of Nuclear Space Technologies with Focus on United States and Russia Science Fiction and the Big Questions Interstellar Flight, Imagination and Myth Creation as an Effective Means for Enduring Inspiration Interstellar Colonization and Multi-Generation Spaceships: Getting There is Half the Fun Utilizing Video Games The Interstellar Vision: Principles and Practice Comparison of Historic Exploration with Contemporary Space Policy Suggests a Retheorisation of Settings Warp Field Mechanics 101 Project Icarus: A Review of the Daedalus Main Propulsion System Evolutionary Lightsailing Missions for the 100-Year Starship Copies of JBIS, priced at £15 for members, £40 to non-members, P&P: UK £1.50, Europe £3.50, Rest of the World £3.50 Back issues are also available and can be obtained from The British Interplanetary Society, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1SZ, England Published By The British Interplanetary Society Space Chronicle Journal of the British Vol. 66, Suppl. 2, 2013 JBIS Interplanetary Society LIST OF CONTENTS 46 Mystery WW2 German Liquid Rocket Engine Martin Postranecky 49 Walterwerke KG Shamus Reddin 65 The Nuclear Possibility: History, Current Status and Future Prospects Anders Hansson 77 The Ariane 5 from a Technical Point of View: The Ariane 5 ECA Versus its Early 5G Version Lieven Roesems * * * Front Cover: (upper left) Artist’s concept of the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO). (lower left) Walter U-Boat V80 on trial in the Schlei inlet. (right) Cut open view of an Ariane 5G. The payload pictured is that of Ariane 502, launched on 30 October 1997. The payload was stacked using a SPELTRA payload adapter. 45 MartinSpace Chronicle: Postranecky JBIS, Vol. 66, pp.46-48, 2013 Mystery WW2 German Liquid Rocket Engine MARTIN POSTRANECKY, FBIS Email: [email protected] In the eastern corner of Moravia in the Czech Republic, near the border with Slovakia, there is a little known private military museum based in the former Czechoslovak Army Base Sokolov outside the town Slavicin. This “Army Park Slavicin” [1], founded in 2006, aims to build up a museum of military vehicles, arms and equipment of the former Czechoslovak People’s Army. It also includes collections (unfortunately incomplete) of various products of nearby munitions factories during and after the Second World War The museum contains an unique collection of military rockets and missiles, including vehicles and launchers, mainly of Soviet and Czech manufacture from the 1960’s onwards. Also included are various training aids, sectioned rocket motors, etc [2]. Among this cornucopia of modern military rocketry there stands an obviously old, sad, strange, sectioned rocket motor with an inconspicuous, hand-written note stuck on with sellotape, which just says - in Czech - “Nemecka Pokusna PL Raketa” (“German Test AA Rocket” in English) [3]. When we visited this museum in the spring of 2013 (and you may need to make a prior appointment by telephone or email, as this place is normally open to public only on Sundays during the summer months - apart from special events), the guide had no idea what this engine was, and where it came from. He said that, as far as he knew, it was donated to the collection by somebody who “worked in the military/explosives industry” and didn’t wish Fig. 1 Test AA Rocket Engine. (Martin Postranecky) to see it “thrown on the scrap heap after his retirement...” A quick search through some old reference material, Our question is - what engine is it, and how it came to be and discussions with friends and colleagues, produced few there? possible answers: from the size and shape it could be the VfK Zg.613-A/-A01 engine, as designed for the Rheinmetall-Borsig There doesn’t appear to be much to go on to try and identify Rheintochter R3(F) anti-aircraft rocket - this engine was also this rocket motor (Fig. 1). It is obviously a small (Fig. 2), ~2ft/60cm used for tests of the experimental Messerschmitt Enzian E-3, tall, liquid-bi-fuel rocket engine, with double-walled chamber E-4 and E-5 test articles [5, 6]. construction for cooling, and with multiple (oxidiser?) injectors in four staggered rows (Fig. 3), one central-threaded (fuel?) It was designed by Dr. Helmuth Konrad (Conrad?) of the injector bushing (no injector present), and an almost cylindrical Berlin Technische Hochschule, working for the “Deutsche chamber - very unlike the usual spherical A-4 shape chamber. Versuchsanstalt fur Kraftfahrzeuge und Fahrzeuge Motoren” (DVK), in 1944 and built and flown in 1945 [5, 6, 7]. There were not many German liquid-bi-fuel anti-aircraft rockets made during the WW2, and the size is the limiting factor. It used Salbei (92% HNO3 + 8% H2SO4) as oxidiser and Visol (Vinyl Isobutyl Ether) as fuel, pressurised by compressed air. It looks almost as a small-scale version of the EMW There is a Rheintochter R3 engine at RAF Cosford Museum [8, Wasserfall engine [4], but not as spherical. 9] which, if accessible, will be examined for comparison. 46 Mystery WW2 German Liquid Rocket Engine Fig. 2 Some of the SAM rocket engines displayed at the Army Park Slavicin. From left; engine of S-200 ‘Vega’ Soviet large SAM missile, the unknown mystery German liquid engine, a sectioned engine from S-75 ‘Volchov’ SAM missile and a nozzle from a solid booster of the S-200 ‘Vega’. (Mgr. Jirka Kroulik) 47 Martin Postranecky universities, aimed at designing improved injectors and mixers for large A-4 type liquid-fuel rocket engines, with articles being tested at Kummersdorf and Peenemunde. Could this be one of these test engines? But without detailed research in German archives, this would be impossible to prove. Also, the paper label does seem to point to an AA rocket. So, let us say that it could well be the Konrad VfK Zg.613-A engine - unless somebody can show us a better fit! And, finally, how did this (sectioned) engine came to be in this remote Moravian museum? Fig. 3 Enlargement of (oxidiser?) injectors. Note the difference It is known that a manufacture of the A-4/V-2 engines was between rows 1, 2, 3 and 4. (Martin Postranecky) being prepared in the (pro-German) Slovakian armament Few other options mentioned were the experimental Dr. factory in Dubnice nad Vahem (then part of “Hermann Goring Konrad DVK SG20 engine for the Rheinmetall-Borsig Feuerlilie Waffenwerke A.G.”) in 1945 [14]. Is it just possible that there F55 tests [10] - probably too small, or the Walter HWK 109-739 were plans to manufacture other rocket parts there...? original engine for Enzian [11] - the wrong shape, or the BMW 109-558 engine for the Henschel Hs-117 Schmetterling rocket But the most likely explanation is that this engine found [12] - too small & the wrong shape. its way, after the war - possibly via the Soviet Union - to some military or technical research establishment in the A completely different suggestion was made by my Czech Czechoslovak Republic where it was used for research or friend Mgr.