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Aerojet
Aerojet was an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California, with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange and Gainesville in Virginia, and Camden, Arkansas. Aerojet was owned by GenCorp. In 2013, Aerojet was merged by GenCorp with the former Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to form Aerojet Rocketdyne. History Aerojet developed from a 1936 meeting hosted by Theodore von Kármán at his home. Joining von Kármán, who was at the time director of Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, were a number of Caltech professors and students, including rocket scientist and astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky and explosives expert Jack Parsons, all of whom were interested in the topic of spaceflight. The group continued to occasionally meet, but its activities were limited to discussions rather than experimentation. Their first design was tested on August 16, 1941, consisting of a small cylindrical solid-fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GenCorp
Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. is a holding company of Aerojet Rocketdyne, an American manufacturer of rocket, hypersonic, and electric propulsive systems for space, defense, civil and commercial applications. Aerojet traces its origins to the General Tire and Rubber Company established in 1915, while Rocketdyne was created as a division of North American Aviation in 1955. In addition to Aerojet Rocketdyne, the holding company also owns the real estate firm Easton Development Company, LLC through which it owns over 12,000 acres of land near Sacramento, California originally utilized for Aerojet's operations in testing and manufacturing dating back to the 1950s, however due to the evolution of the firm and propulsion technology, about half of this land is now being redeveloped for residential and commercial use by the company. History Background: Aerojet Several decades after it began manufacturing rubber products, General Tire & Rubber diversified into broadcasting and aero ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aerojet Rocketdyne
Aerojet Rocketdyne is an American manufacturer of rocket, hypersonic, and electric propulsive systems for space, defense, civil and commercial applications. Headquartered in Sacramento, California, the company is owned by Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings. Aerojet Rocketdyne was formed in 2013 when Aerojet (then owned by GenCorp) and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne were merged, following the latter's acquisition by GenCorp from Pratt & Whitney. On April 27, 2015, the name of the holding company, GenCorp, was changed from ''GenCorp, Inc.'' to ''Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc''. Lockheed Martin announced plans to take over Aerojet Rocketdyne on December 20, 2020 as part of a $4.4 billion acquisition; however this was abandoned by Lockheed on February 13, 2022 after opposition from Raytheon led the FTC to move to block the acquisition. Products Current engines * RS-25 ( LH2/ LOX) – Previously known as the Space Shuttle main engine (SSME), it was the reusable main engine developed by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Parsons (rocket Engineer)
John Whiteside Parsons (born Marvel Whiteside Parsons; October 2, 1914 – June 17, 1952) was an American rocket engineer, chemist, and Thelemite occultist. Associated with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Parsons was one of the principal founders of both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Aerojet Engineering Corporation. He invented the first rocket engine to use a castable, composite rocket propellant, and pioneered the advancement of both liquid-fuel and solid-fuel rockets. Born in Los Angeles, Parsons was raised by a wealthy family on Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena. Inspired by science fiction literature, he developed an interest in rocketry in his childhood and in 1928 began amateur rocket experiments with school friend Edward S. Forman. He dropped out of Pasadena Junior College and Stanford University due to financial difficulties during the Great Depression, and in 1934 he united with Forman and graduate Frank Malina to form the Caltech ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aerobee Rocket
The Aerobee rocket was one of the United States' most produced and productive sounding rockets. Developed by the Aerojet Corporation, the Aerobee was designed to combine the altitude and launching capability of the V-2 with the cost effectiveness and mass production of the WAC Corporal. More than 1000 Aerobees were launched between 1947 and 1985, returning vast amounts of astronomical, physical, aeronomical, and biomedical data. Development Research using V-2 rockets after World War II produced valuable results concerning the nature of cosmic rays, the solar spectrum, and the distribution of atmospheric ozone. However, the limited supply and the expense of assembling and firing the V-2 rockets, as well as the small payload capacity of the first purpose-built sounding rocket, the WAC Corporal, created demand for a low cost sounding rocket to be used for scientific research. An Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) effort led by James Van Allen led to a contract presented 17 May 1946 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Tire
Continental Tire the Americas, LLC, d.b.a. General Tire, is an American manufacturer of tires for motor vehicles. Founded in 1915 in Akron, Ohio by William Francis O'Neil, Winfred E. Fouse, Charles J. Jahant, Robert Iredell, & H.B. Pushee as The General Tire & Rubber Company (also referred to as The General Tire & Rubber Co. and starting in the 1960's as simply General Tire) using funding from Michael O'Neil, William Francis' father, who owned Akron's O'Neil's department store. The company later diversified by 1984 into a conglomerate ( GenCorp) with holdings in tires (General Tire), rubber compounds (DiversiTech General), rocketry and aeronautics (Aerojet), entertainment and news ( RKO General), and real estate. The tire division was sold to Germany's Continental in 1987, becoming Continental Tire North America, before its re-incorporation again to its current name. The compounds division was spun off & became OMNOVA Solutions. The rocketry business was kept and expanded, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) was an American company that designed and produced rocket engines that use liquid propellants. It was a division of Pratt & Whitney, a fully owned subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation. It was headquartered in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California. In 2013, the company was sold to GenCorp, becoming part of Aerojet Rocketdyne. History Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne was formed in 2005 when Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion and Boeing Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power were merged, following the latter's acquisition from Boeing by United Technologies Corporation. Boeing retained the 2,800 acre Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory property above Canoga Park while a majority of the engineering and design continued to be carried out at the Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion facility located on Beeline Highway outside West Palm Beach, Florida. In July 2012, United Technologies Corporation agreed to sell Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to GenCorp, which als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azusa, California
Azusa (Tongva: ''Asuksa-nga'') is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Its population was 50,000 in 2020, an increase from 46,361 at the 2010 census. Azusa is located along historic Route 66, which passes through the city on Foothill Boulevard and Alosta Avenue. Azusa is bordered by the San Gabriel Mountains range to the north, Irwindale to the west, the unincorporated community of Vincent to the southwest, Glendora and the unincorporated community of Citrus to the east, and Covina to the south. History The place name ''Azusa'' dates to the Mexican Alta California era in the 19th century when ''Azusa'' was used to refer to the San Gabriel Valley and the San Gabriel River. It appears to have been derived from the Tongva place name Asuksa-nga. The area was part of the Tongva peoples' (''Gabrieleño'' Indians) homeland since at least ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
JATO
JATO (acronym for jet-assisted take-off) is a type of assisted take-off for helping overloaded aircraft into the air by providing additional thrust in the form of small rockets. The term ''JATO'' is used interchangeably with the (more specific) term RATO, for ''rocket-assisted take-off'' (or, in RAF parlance, RATOG, for ''rocket-assisted take-off gear''). Early experiments and World War II In 1927 the Soviet research and development laboratory Gas Dynamics Laboratory developed solid-propellant rockets to assist aircraft take-off and in 1931 the world's first successful use of rockets to assist take-off of aircraft were carried out on a U-1, the Soviet designation for a Avro 504 trainer, which achieved about one hundred successful assisted takeoffs. Successful assisted takeoffs were also achieved on the Tupolev TB-1. and Tupolev TB-3 Heavy Bombers. The official test of the Tupolev TB-1 in 1933 shortened the takeoff by 77% when using the rockets. Early experiments using ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fritz Zwicky
Fritz Zwicky (; ; February 14, 1898 – February 8, 1974) was a Swiss astronomer. He worked most of his life at the California Institute of Technology in the United States of America, where he made many important contributions in theoretical and observational astronomy. In 1933, Zwicky was the first to use the virial theorem to infer the existence of unseen dark matter, describing it as "'". From p 125: ''"Um, wie beobachtet, einen mittleren Dopplereffekt von 1000 km/sek oder mehr zu erhalten, müsste also die mittlere Dichte im Comasystem mindestens 400 mal grösser sein als die auf Grund von Beobachtungen an leuchtender Materie abgeleitete. Falls sich dies bewahrheiten sollte, würde sich also das überraschende Resultat ergeben, dass dunkle Materie in sehr viel grösserer Dichte vorhanden ist als leuchtende Materie."'' (In order to obtain an average Doppler effect of 1000 km/s or more, as observed, the average density in the Coma system would thus have to be at least 400 ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rancho Cordova, California
Rancho Cordova is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States which was incorporated in 2003. It is part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area. The population was 64,776 at the 2010 census. In 2010 and 2019, Rancho Cordova was named as a winner of the All-America City Award. History Originally called Mayhew's Crossing and Hangtown Crossing (c. 1855) during the Gold Rush era, the area was renamed Mayhew Station and Mills Station (c. 1900), respectively. The city itself was named for the Cordova Vineyard, which was located in the center of the Rancho Rio de los Americanos land grant. Other names of the town included Cordova Vineyards and Cordova Village, before it was officially named Rancho Cordova when a post office was established in the community in 1955. In the Gold Rush era of mid-19th-century California, certain Placer mining activities took place in the Rancho Cordova environs, some traces of which disturbance are extant. The elevation of the genera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Malina
Frank Joseph Malina (October 2, 1912 — November 9, 1981) was an American aeronautical engineer and painter, especially known for becoming both a pioneer in the art world and the realm of scientific engineering. Early life Malina was born in Brenham, Texas. His father came from Bohemia. Frank's formal education began with a degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University in 1934. The same year he received a scholarship to study mechanical engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he obtained his doctoral degree in 1940. In 1935, while a graduate student at Caltech, Malina persuaded Professor of Aeronautics Theodore von Kármán to allow him to pursue studies into rocketry and rocket propulsion. The formal goal was development of a sounding rocket. Malina and five associates (including Jack Parsons and Hsue-Shen Tsien) became known at Caltech as the "Suicide Squad" because of their dangerous experiments (and failures) when testing rocket ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josephine De Karman
Josephine (Pipö) de Karman was the sister and life-partner of Theodore von Kármán. She is remembered as the benefactor of a foundation for worthy art students. Born in Budapest, Josephine was the younger sister of four brothers: Elemer, Feri, Tódor, and Miklos. Theodore von Kármán with Lee Edson (1967) ''The Wind and Beyond'', Little, Brown and Company She and her mother joined Theodore when he became director of the aerodynamics laboratory in Aachen, Germany. In 1925, they moved to their new home at Maastrichterlaan 11, in nearby Vaals, the Netherlands. Our home in Vaals was similar to my father’s home in Buda. It had a huge high-ceilinged salon, a library, and numerous guest rooms. It was big, comfortable and altogether amiable. We eventually hired a Hungarian cook who became our most prized possession. My mother and my sister easily took over the organization of my social life, leaving me free for intellectual pursuits. … On weekends we threw open our home to student ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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