Figure 102: Two tanks for pressure-operated rocket, Winter 1926

Authors

Esther C. Goddard

Document Type

Photograph

Date

Winter 1926

Keywords

Robert Goddard, rocketry, liquid-propellant rocket, Clark University

Description

Photograph of two tanks for a pressure-operated rocket. The tank on the right would hold liquid oxygen that created pressure once vaporized (a disassembled view can be seen in Figure 103), and the smaller gasoline tank is on the left. These tanks would be modified in several ways leading up to the March 16, 1926 launch. Photographs of the subsequent tanks can be found in Figure 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, and 115.

These were the first pressure tanks made following December 6, 1925 (the day Robert Goddard achieved the first liquid-fuel rocket to lift its own weight) in the months leading up to March 16, 1926. The December 6 test used the pumps, engines, and other moving parts Goddard spent years working with and developing. Following this test, Goddard discarded the pumps, favoring a pressure-fed system in order to reduce the rocket's weight to a minimum. In his words, the test "demonstrated that the problems of pumping, governing, and control of heating were solved, but it also showed that a rocket on so small a scale as this model would not lift itself sufficiently to give a flight, including, as it did, devices which would not be necessary in a larger rocket".

It is important to note that many sources incorrectly claim that forgoing the pumps and engines is the breakthrough that made the December 6 lift possible, but this is untrue. Goddard writes in both his diary and subsequent reports about using pumps and engines in the December 6 test, as well as the realization that he would need to eliminate them in order to produce a light enough rocket to achieve that first launch.

This photograph was used in Goddard's "Report on the Development of a Liquid Propelled Rocket". This is the first time that photographs of these rocket parts have been made available for online viewing, and together they represent the most granular visual documentation of the March 16, 1926 rocket and its leadup in existence. An excerpt of that report covering everything between December 6, 1926 and March 16, 1926 can be found here.

Photographs were scanned at 400dpi.

Comments

Recommended Citation

Goddard, Esther C., "Figure 102: Two tanks for pressure-operated rocket, Winter 1926" (1926). March 16, 1926: The First Liquid-Propellant Rocket Launch. 1.
https://commons.clarku.edu/goddardlaunch/1