Ford RM-92 Air Force Scout

The designation XRM-92 was allocated in 1960 to a U.S. Air Force Scout four-stage rocket (for more information on the USAF's Scout program, see article on RM-89 Blue Scout I), which was identical to the NASA Scout X-1. However, available launch records indicate that the Air Force didn't launch any XRM-92 vehicles. NASA, on the other hand, launched a total of seven Scout X-1 rockets between 2 July 1960 and 19 October 1961. Of these, two suborbital missions and one orbital one were completely successful.

The designation SLV-1A, allocated in 1962 to a four-stage Blue Scout configuration, apparently referred to the XRM-92 and/or other four-stage orbital Scout launch vehicles for use by the Air Force.

Specifications

Note: Data given by several sources show slight variations. Figures given below may therefore be inaccurate!

Data for XRM-92:

Length	21.64 m (71 ft 0 in)
Finspan	2.84 m (9 ft 4 in)
Diameter	1st stage: 102 cm (40 in) 2nd stage: 79 cm (31 in) 3rd stage: 76 cm (30 in) 4th stage: 51 cm (20 in)
Weight	16700 kg (36800 lb)
Orbital altitude	185 km (115 miles) (for 59 kg (130 lb) payload)
Propulsion	1st stage: Aerojet General XM68 (Algol) solid-fueled rocket; 413 kN (92700 lb) for 44 s 2nd stage: Thiokol XM75 (XM33E5 Castor) solid-fueled rocket; 215 kN (48400 lb) for 40 s 3rd stage: Allegany Ballistics Lab X-254A1 Antares solid-fueled rocket; 59.4 kN (13350 lb) for 40 s 4th stage: Allegany Ballistics Lab XM87 (X-248A5 Altair) solid-fueled rocket; 13.4 kN (3020 lb) for 38.6 s

Photo: NASA

Scout X-1 (XRM-92)

Main Sources

[1] Peter Alway: "Rockets of the World, 2000 Supplement", Saturn Press, 2000
[2] Mark Wade: Encyclopedia Astronautica
[3] USAF Missile Nomenclature Records

Back to Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 1

Last Updated: 4 July 2007