ARS (rocket family)
The ARS rocket family was a series of rockets developed by the American Interplanetary Society — later the American Rocket Society — during the 1930s. Based on the German Verein für Raumschiffahrt's (VfR) Mirak rocket, it used a liquid-fueled rocket engine, powered by liquid oxygen and gasoline propellants. The first successful launch, of the ARS-2, took place on May 14, 1933. The design was modified and refined by successive rockets; the last launch of an ARS rocket took place on May 9, 1937.[1]
Rocket No. 1
Rocket No. 1 was a seven-foot-tall, liquid-oxygen-and-gasoline rocket based on the VfR's Repulsor with an engine just under the nose cone, and two long fuel tanks hanging off the side below.[2] On 12 November 1932 Rocket No. 1 underwent a static fire at a farm near Stockton, New Jersey producing 60 pounds of thrust for 20–30 seconds.[2] The static firing resulted in damage to the rocket, which was ultimately never launched.[2]
Rocket No. 2
Rocket No. 2 was an improved design of Rocket No. 1 and would be launched at Marine Park at Great Kills, Staten Island on 14 May 1933.[2] Rocket No. 2 reached an altitude of approximately 250 feet before its oxygen tank failed and the rocket fell into the Lower New York Bay where it was recovered by two boys in a rowboat.[2] It would be the first American rocket designed, fabricated, publicly demonstrated, launched, and recovered by an association of volunteers.[2]
Rocket No. 3
Rocket No. 3 incorporated an experimental concentric propellant tank and unusually long nozzles to investigate cooling and overall efficiency of nozzles.[2] However, the tank would not be adequately filled with liquid oxygen as it boiled away through contact with the warm metal structure.[2] As such the rocket was never launched.[2]
Rocket No. 4
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Rocket No. 4 was another experimental design conceived by John Shesta that unlike the rockets designed by the VfR, used a four-nozzle combustion chamber and tandem tanks.[2] Rocket No. 4 would be launched twice, first on 10 June 1934 when the rocket failed due to inadequate fuel flow preventing sufficient thrust and again on 9 September 1934 when the rocket did successfully launch and reached an altitude of 382 feet and a distance of roughly 1,585ft along its flight path.[2] Rocket No. 4's parachutes failed to properly deploy, but regardless, it was viewed as the society's most successful liquid propellant launch.[2]