Saturn C-2

Launch vehicle requirements

On 30 September 1960, the fourth meeting of the Space Exploration Program Council was held at NASA Headquarters. The results of a study on Saturn development and utilization were presented by the Ad Hoc Saturn Study Committee.

Objectives of the study were to determine:

• If and when the Saturn C-2 launch vehicle should be developed.
• If mission and spacecraft planning was consistent with the Saturn vehicle development schedule.

Since no change in the NASA FY1962 budget was contemplated, the Committee recommended that the Saturn C-2 development should proceed on schedule (S-II stage contract in FY 1962, with first flight in 1965).

The C-2 would be essential for Apollo crewed circumlunar missions, lunar uncrewed exploration, Mars and Venus orbiters and capsule landers, probes to other planets and out-of-ecliptic, and for orbital starting of nuclear upper stages. During a discussion on the Saturn program, several major problems were brought up:

• The adequacy of the Saturn C-1 launch vehicle for the orbital qualification of the complete Apollo spacecraft was in question. Although the C-1 could be used to launch a command module of 5,100 pounds, it was probable that the command module weight would increase to as much as 8,000 pounds, George Low of NASA Headquarters, in a critical review of the Apollo program, pointed out that a spacecraft for a circumlunar mission could be constructed within the payload limit of the C-2 launch vehicle. Both the developmental and production spacecraft could be available to meet the Saturn schedules.
• Much basic research would be needed before the first Apollo flight, In particular, the problem of reentry heating was of great concern. Low noted that a prediction criterion for proton beam events had been developed, making possible safe crewed circumlunar flights insofar as the radiation exposure problem was concerned.
• Concern was also expressed as to the possible need and availability of additional personnel to support the Apollo program.

Changing configurations

During 1961 Saturn C-x configurations seemed to change month by month. In February 1961, the C-2 design finalized as a three-stage vehicle for Earth-escape missions, using an S-II second stage. It was calculated that 15 launches and rendezvous of the C-2 would have been required to assemble a lunar spacecraft in Low Earth orbit. By May 1961, a more powerful vehicle was desired for circumlunar missions, hence the C-2 was dropped in favor of the Saturn C-3. Further development of the C-2 vehicle was cancelled on 23 June 1961.

Launch vehicle design

The original Saturn C-2 design (1959-1960) was a four-stage launch vehicle, using an S-I first stage with eight Rocketdyne H-1 engines, later flown on the Saturn I. The Army's original design used the S-III stage with two J-2 engines as the second stage; after the Saturn program was transferred to NASA, the second stage was replaced with an S-II second stage using four J-2 engines. The S-III stage would have been added atop the S-II, to convert the C-2 into the five-stage Saturn C-3. Later, a fifth J-2 engine was added to the S-II stage to be used on the Saturn C-5, which eventually was developed as the Saturn V launch vehicle.

The S-IV, later flown on the Saturn I, was to serve as the third C-2 stage and fourth C-3 stage; and an S-V Centaur would be the fourth C-2 stage. While this S-V/Centaur stage would never fly on any Saturn rockets, it would be used on Atlas and Titan launch vehicles. Modern versions of the Centaur are still in use on Atlas V and Vulcan. File:Saturn Configurations, 1961.jpg|Saturn stage configurations, 1961 File:Saturn C-2 Jun 25 1963 (cropped).png|Saturn C-2 diagram File:Saturn C-2 second stage, 1959.jpg|S-II stage, 1959 File:S-IV, 6 engine configuration, 1961.jpg|S-IV stage, 6 engine configuration, 1961

References

;Inline citations

;Bibliography

• Bilstein, Roger E, Stages to Saturn, US Government Printing Office, 1980. . Excellent account of the evolution, design, and development of the Saturn launch vehicles.
• Stuhlinger, Ernst, et al., Astronautical Engineering and Science: From Peenemuende to Planetary Space, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1964.
• NASA, "Earth Orbital Rendezvous for an Early Manned Lunar Landing," pt. I, "Summary Report of Ad Hoc Task Group Study" [Heaton Report], August 1961.
• David S. Akens, Saturn Illustrated Chronology: Saturn's First Eleven Years, April 1957 through April 1968, 5th ed., MHR-5 (Huntsville, AL : MSFC, 20 Jan. 1971).
• Free return trajectory simulation, Robert A. Braeunig, August 2008
• Encyclopedia Astronautica Saturn C-2

References

1. This is ''not'' the larger [[S-II]] stage used on the [[Saturn V]], which added a fifth [[J-2 (rocket engine). J-2 engine]].
2. "Saturn C-2". Astronautix.com.
3. Bilsten, Roger E.. (1980). "Stages to Saturn". NASA SP-4206.
4. Bilsten, Roger E.. (1980). "Stages to Saturn". NASA SP-4206.
5. Bilstein, Roger E.. (1996). "Stages to Saturn: a technological history of the Apollo/Saturn launch vehicles". National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA History Office : For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs.