Ordnance – Rocket launching – Movable launcher
Patent
1988-10-27
1990-04-17
Brown, David H.
Ordnance
Rocket launching
Movable launcher
89 18, F41F 304
Patent
active
049169998
ABSTRACT:
A jack-up type of offshore oil-drilling platform is adapted for rocket launching, wherein the rocket is assembled on a mobile launch pad in a protected on-shore facility then loaded onto the floating jack-up barge for transport to a launch site miles offshore. The barge is jacked up to create a stable, sea-bottom supported structure; a particular feature is the used of a movable cantilever structure on which the rocket and its supporting pad are loaded while in the on-shore facility, then this structure is moved to a central location on the barge, the barge is floated, and the floating barge is towed to the launch site. At the launch site the structure is moved back to a cantilevered position for launch. In this manner the exhaust gasses from the rocket motors can be directed harmlessly into the sea.
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R. G. LeTourneau, Inc., "Offshore Launch Facilities Study", Proposal to Marshall Space Flight Center, RFQ TP 88-296, 2 Jun. 1961.
"Sea Launch Studied for Space Vehicles", Booda, Aviation Week, Dec. 12, 1960, pp. 69-79.
Woutat, "Star Wars Goes to Sea", Los Angeles Times, Jul. 6, 1988, pp. 1, 13.
Fletcher, "Offshore Rigs Could Become Rocket Launchers", Houston Post, Feb. 14, 1988, p. 10D.
"Rowan Gorilla", Product Brochure, Published by Rowan Companies, Inc., Houston, Tex., (pre-1988).
Keller Robert A.
McNease Daniel F.
Palmer C. R.
Brown David H.
Rowan Companies, Inc.
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