how was the Saturn V stabilised upright and kept upright without toppling over
In: Physics
Look up the Saturn V Crawler. It’s essentially how many large spacecraft like the space shuttle and Saturn V are moved from the assembly facility to the launch pad. Ultimately, the Saturn V was assembled in a very large building, on top of a mobile platform known as the Crawler. There is a stabilizing arm firmly mounted to the platform. The platform can move slowly, and actively keep itself level.
Other rockets like SpaceX’s will tilt into position, using a large arm to support it during the maneuver. And ULA currently has a mobile building that builds the rocket on its launch pad, then the building itself moves away from the pad.
Regardless of how it’s done, there’s usually a support tower to give utilities to the rocket before launch and provide support. (And of course, they don’t take rockets out of stable positions unless they fully expect to launch in good weather)
When it was on the pad the entire rocket was bolted down so it could not move. There were a number of bolts all the way around the base. During the launch these bolts would explode releasing the rocket into the air after all the engines were ignited successfully. During the ascent the rocket was controlled by gimbaling the engines to vector their thrust in the right direction. These gimbals were controlled by gyroscopes and a computer. In addition to this the entire rocket was aerodynamically stable with a wide base and a heavy payload at the top so it would be hard to move it against the direction of travel. The designers even added tail fins to the rocket although these proved to be not needed and would have been dropped for future designs.
There were clamps on the base, holding it down until ignition, and it was attached at a few points on the side to the launch tower, the red structure at its side.
At ignition, the base clamps released, and the side clamps swung back and sideways
The recent Apollo 11 documentary shows the side clamp release, as do other documentaries, whether official release or on YouTube.
There’s also a really good slow-motion video of the base at ignition, on YouTube.
Base clamps;
Side arms;
Watch footage of the Saturn V (or later shuttles and other rockets) and you will notice they are never left standing upright on their own – there is always a gantry structure alongside them to provide support. This was a big steel structure with arms that reached out to clamp the rocket in place and hold it vertically.
When it came time for launch, these arms release at the very last second once the rockets engines are already firing – at this point the rockets engines control the stability of the rocket, as they are designed to move and direct the thrust of the rocket. If the rocket starts tilting to one side the engine directs the thrust the opposite way to counteract that and bring it back to vertical.
Latest Answers