Vol. 10 No. 1 of the China Winter 2004 N OTSNIK By Bud Sewell The 19503 a fascinating for whole world, but especially for eople at the United Naval Ordnance tation, China Lake. Sidewinder missile had been successfully introduced to the fleet, new Sidewinder conce were proposed, the Polaris program was gettlng under way, we had a very competent work force and energetic and enthusiastic management team, and we felt we could accomplish any task given to us. Some of our technical work force was involved in unclassified U.S. effort in support of In- ternational Geophysical Year (IGY). United States had romised IGY a small satellite in orbit with te emetry capability to send data back to earth. A requirement for this effort was that no militar technolo y was to be used. rocket motors ad to be geveloped and produced using off—the-shelf unclassified materials and proce- dures. US. satellite program was called Van- guard and was under the control of the Naval Re- search Laboratory (NRL) .Then on 4 October1957, the USSR launched the SPUTNIK satellite. say we were shocked and surprised would be a major understatement. NOTS began to look at ways to advance the space pro- gram. A crash proglrlam was started. name of the program was e NOTS Project.” It soon be- came known as NOTSNIK and ears later was dubbed "Project Pilot” and NOTSE -1 (Pilot). basic idea for NOTSNIK program was to develo a satellite launching ca ability that would use a igh-performance aircrat as a truly recoverable first stage in the launching sequence. idea makes a great deal of sense. Airbreathing propulsion systems are far more efficient on a weight basis than rocket systems, and the major pro lem for launching to space is to get follow- ing stages up above most of the atmosphere before accelerating to orbital velocity. Rockets were and are most practical means of providing this exo- atmospheric acceleration. NOTS made a parametric analysis of pro- pulsion requirements and selected a of available military rockets for the following stages to enable an aircraft carried multi-staged rocket system to place a 2— to 5- ound satellite into polar orbit. Ex- cept for the A1 egheny Ballistics La oratory (ABL) 248 rocket, which had been developed for the Navy, all of the selected rockets were Army rockets. (continued on 9) , OCR Text: Vol. 10 No. 1 of the China Winter 2004 N OTSNIK By Bud Sewell The 19503 a fascinating for whole world, but especially for eople at the United Naval Ordnance tation, China Lake. Sidewinder missile had been successfully introduced to the fleet, new Sidewinder conce were proposed, the Polaris program was gettlng under way, we had a very competent work force and energetic and enthusiastic management team, and we felt we could accomplish any task given to us. Some of our technical work force was involved in unclassified U.S. effort in support of In- ternational Geophysical Year (IGY). United States had romised IGY a small satellite in orbit with te emetry capability to send data back to earth. A requirement for this effort was that no militar technolo y was to be used. rocket motors ad to be geveloped and produced using off—the-shelf unclassified materials and proce- dures. US. satellite program was called Van- guard and was under the control of the Naval Re- search Laboratory (NRL) .Then on 4 October1957, the USSR launched the SPUTNIK satellite. say we were shocked and surprised would be a major understatement. NOTS began to look at ways to advance the space pro- gram. A crash proglrlam was started. name of the program was e NOTS Project.” It soon be- came known as NOTSNIK and ears later was dubbed "Project Pilot” and NOTSE -1 (Pilot). basic idea for NOTSNIK program was to develo a satellite launching ca ability that would use a igh-performance aircrat as a truly recoverable first stage in the launching sequence. idea makes a great deal of sense. Airbreathing propulsion systems are far more efficient on a weight basis than rocket systems, and the major pro lem for launching to space is to get follow- ing stages up above most of the atmosphere before accelerating to orbital velocity. Rockets were and are most practical means of providing this exo- atmospheric acceleration. NOTS made a parametric analysis of pro- pulsion requirements and selected a of available military rockets for the following stages to enable an aircraft carried multi-staged rocket system to place a 2— to 5- ound satellite into polar orbit. Ex- cept for the A1 egheny Ballistics La oratory (ABL) 248 rocket, which had been developed for the Navy, all of the selected rockets were Army rockets. (continued on 9) , China Lake Museum,China Laker - Newsletter,China Laker 2000s,China Laker 2004,Vol+10+No+1+Winter+2004.pdf,Vol+10+No+1+Winter+2004.pdf Page 1, Vol+10+No+1+Winter+2004.pdf Page 1