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Aerojet was an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California, with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange and Gainesville in Virginia, and Camden, Arkansas. Aerojet was owned by GenCorp. In 2013, Aerojet was merged by GenCorp with the former Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to form Aerojet Rocketdyne.〔("Here's how Aerojet Rocketdyne might bring 5,000 new aerospace engineering jobs to Huntsville" ).〕 ==History== Aerojet developed from a 1936 meeting hosted by Theodore von Kármán at his home. Joining von Kármán, who was at the time director of Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, were a number of Caltech professors and students, including rocket scientist and astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky and explosives expert Jack Parsons, all of whom were interested in the topic of spaceflight. The group continued to meet from time to time, but its activities were limited to discussions as opposed to experimentation. In 1938, the United States Army offered two research projects, one for aircraft windshield de-icing and another for rocket engines to launch aircraft (known as JATO). Dr. Jerome Clarke Hunsaker at MIT had the first pick and, feeling that the rocket research was a "Buck Rogers" project, left rockets to the Caltech team. Their first design was tested on August 16, 1941, consisting of a small cylindrical solid-fuel motor attached to the bottom of a plane. Takeoff distance was shortened by half, and the USAAF placed an order for experimental production versions. On March 19, 1942, the company was officially formed in Azusa, CA, known as Aerojet Engineering Corporation. The founders were Frank Malina, von Kármán, Parsons, Edward S. Forman, Martin Summerfield, and Andrew Haley.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Malina, Frank Joseph )〕 In 1943 the Army Air Forces finally placed a full order, demanding that 2000 be delivered before year's end. The company also invested in pure rocket research, developing both a liquid-fueled design and a new solid-fueled design based on a rubber binding agent in partnership with General Tire. In the immediate post-war era, Aerojet downsized dramatically, but their JATO units continued to sell for commercial aircraft operating in hot-and-high conditions. By 1950, their research into the rubber binder had led to much larger engines and then to the development of the Aerobee sounding rocket. Aerobee was the first US-designed rocket to reach space (albeit not orbit) and completed over 1,000 flights before it was retired in 1985. Aerojet designed and built a total of 1,182 engines for all four incarnations of the Titan rockets, which were used for civilian projects ranging from Gemini's manned flights to solar system explorations including Viking, Voyager, and Cassini.〔http://www.aerojet.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=42〕 The newly formed US Air Force used Aerojet as the primary supplier on a number of their ICBM projects, including the Titan and Minuteman missiles. They also delivered propulsion systems for the US Navy's submarine-launched Polaris missile. A new plant was set up in Sacramento that took over most rocket construction, while the original Azusa offices returned primarily to research. One of Azusa's major projects was the development of the infra-red detectors for the Defense Support Program satellites, used to detect ICBM launches from space. The new research arm was formed as Aerojet Electro-Systems Corp., and after purchasing a number of ordnance companies, Aerojet Ordnance was created as well. A new umbrella organization oversaw the three major divisions, Aerojet General. President Kennedy's challenge to place a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s led to increased civilian work at Aerojet. Previously, they had repeatedly lost contracts for large engines for the Saturn and Nova boosters, being designed in the late 1950s, often to their rival Rocketdyne, but in the end were selected to develop and build the main engine for the Apollo Command/Service Module. In 1962 they were also selected to design a new upper-stage engine to replace the cluster of five J-2s used on the Saturn second stage in the post-Apollo era, but work on their resulting M-1 design was ended in 1965 when it became clear the public's support for a massive space program was waning. Similar work continued in the 1970s, delivering the second-stage motor for the MX missile, the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) for the Space Shuttle, and the first US-designed cluster bombs. A contract for 30-mm ammunition for the A-10 Thunderbolt II was so extensive that new branch plants were set up in Downey and Chino in 1978. Aerojet also purchased a number of other firms over this period, and their plant in Jonesborough, TN developed the use of depleted uranium ordnance. To this day they are the primary supplier of these weapons. Their electronics and ordnance divisions also collaborated on the SADARM 8" anti-armor artillery round, but this was never put into production. The 1980s saw a brief revival of the aerospace business during President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative program, but the company shrank during the late 1980s and into the 1990s. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Aerojet」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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