Rockoon

Rockoon moments after being released from an aircraft.

A rockoon, contraction of the English terms rocket, and balloon, was a modification of the rockets that allowed them to reach greater distances traveled. Rockoon was a solid fuel rocket that was transported to the upper atmosphere by a balloon filled with air, then separated from the balloon when it reached its maximum height and automatically ignited. This would allow the rocket to reach a higher height, because it would no longer have to move through the lower layers of air.

The original rockoon concept was developed by US military Lee Lewis, G. Halvorson, SF Singer, and James A. Van Allen during the USS Norton Sound's Aerobee rocket launch cruise on March 1, 1949. < / p>

The disadvantages of rockoons are that the balloons can not be handled, and consequently neither the direction to which the rocket is directed; nor the area where it will fall is easy to adjust. Therefore, it is required to have a large area where the rocket will possibly fall, for safety reasons. According to a 1959 report in TIME magazine, Van Allen rockoons could not be launched in Iowa because of fears that the rockets would fall on people or their homes. So Van Allen convinced the US Coast Guard to allow him to launch his rockoons from the Eastwind icebreaker that was stationed in Greenland. The first balloon rose up to 70,000 feet high, but the rocket that was held underneath did not ignite. The second rockoon behaved in the same way. With the theory that extreme cold at high altitudes must have stopped the counter that was intended to ignite the rockets, Van Allen heated cans of orange juice, placed them near the gondola of the third rockoon, and this finally if was lit. Related Searches

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