Maxwell Hunter
Encyclopedia
Maxwell White Hunter II was a prominent American aerospace engineer. He worked on the design of the Douglas
B-42 and B-43 bombers, the Honest John, Nike-Ajax, and Nike-Zeus missiles, the Thor IRBM, and on parts of the Strategic Defense Initiative
.
In later years he worked on space-launch vehicles and was a proponent of Single-Stage-to-Orbit (SSTO) designs. He was honored in 1995 by the National Space Society
for lifelong contributions to the technology of spaceflight.
and graduated from Washington and Jefferson College in that state with a degree in physics and mathematics. In 1944, he earned a Master's Degree in aeronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT).
Douglas Aircraft began work on the Thor
, an early Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM), in late 1955 and put Hunter in charge of that program. He assembled a small team of crack designers and brought the development to success in a short time. Thor became the basis of the McDonnell Douglas
Delta rocket
, whose descendants are still boosting payloads into Earth orbit today.
After working for Douglas Aircraft from 1944 to 1961, Hunter joined the staff of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, a group that advised the U.S. president on space policy. Following several years in that position, he went back to the aerospace industry in 1965, spending over two decades with Lockheed Missiles and Space Company (LMSC). (LMSC was a division of Lockheed Corporation
, which merged with Martin Marietta
in 1995 to become Lockheed-Martin.)
At LMSC, Hunter worked on a variety of projects including parts of the mammoth Strategic Defense Initiative
. SDI gave him a chance at realizing a dream he had nurtured since the 1960s: the construction of a Single-stage-to-orbit
(SSTO) vehicle. In 1984, Hunter proposed a vehicle he called the X-rocket, based on those earlier SSTO designs. The design was reviewed by LMSC's Astronautics Division (AD), which judged it worth pursuing, and by its Missile Systems Division (MSD), which did not.
LMSC then declined to support further work on the X-rocket, and Hunter retired. As an independent consultant, he renamed the concept SSX (for Space Ship Experimental), and began to refine it. In December 1988 the ad hoc Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy was briefed on the concept by Hunter and others. The general concept was endorsed by the Council and by High Frontier, Inc., a Washington-based group headed by Lt. Gen. Daniel O. Graham
that lobbied for SDI programs. Working together, Hunter and High Frontier convinced SDI management and other national officials that a study should be initiated to determine once and for all the feasibility of SSTO vehicles for military missions.
This led to a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) program to design a single-stage vehicle that could replace military satellites on short notice during a national emergency. This vehicle was known as the Delta Clipper. McDonnell Douglas
Corporation was contracted to build and test fly a one-third-scale, suborbital testbed called the DC-X
, or Delta Clipper Experimental. While not capable of spaceflight, the DC-X incorporated many of the technologies needed for an SSTO vehicle, including highly automated systems enabling a quick turnaround (just twenty-six hours) between launches. It made eight successful test flights between August 18, 1993, and July 7, 1995, and then was taken over by NASA and flown four times as the DC-XA between May 18 and July 31, 1996. It was damaged on its last flight when one landing strut failed to deploy and the vehicle tipped over at landing. Funding to make repairs and continue flight tests was not made available.
Max Hunter continued to advise on space policy issues and advocate the building of SSTO vehicles for airline-like access to space, a goal he was sure could be attained. He chaired the Rules Committee for the Ansari X Prize
, announced in 1996, a $10 million prize for the first reusable craft to reach space twice within two weeks without substantial refit. In October 2000, he agreed to serve as Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Undersea Hotel Project of the Cala Corporation. He died at Stanford Hospital, Stanford, California on the evening of November 10, 2001 after a lingering illness.
, Tau Beta Pi
, and a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
(AIAA), the American Astronautical Society
(AAS), and the British Interplanetary Society
(BIS). He was also a member of the International Academy of Astronautics
(IAA) and an honorary member of the Japanese Rocket Society. In 1995, he received the Wernher von Braun Memorial Award of the National Space Society
for "lifelong contributions to the fields of rockets, missiles and spaceflight." He was also the recipient of a NASA Public Service Medal for "the definition and promotion of the Space Shuttle and its utilization." The Space Frontier Foundation
bestowed its 1994 VISION TO REALITY AWARD on Hunter and other key members of the Delta Clipper (DC-X) Team.
Douglas Aircraft Company
The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, based in Long Beach, California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas...
B-42 and B-43 bombers, the Honest John, Nike-Ajax, and Nike-Zeus missiles, the Thor IRBM, and on parts of the Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...
.
In later years he worked on space-launch vehicles and was a proponent of Single-Stage-to-Orbit (SSTO) designs. He was honored in 1995 by the National Space Society
National Space Society
The National Space Society is an international nonprofit 501, educational, and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy...
for lifelong contributions to the technology of spaceflight.
Early life and education
Maxwell Hunter was born in Hollidaysburg, PennsylvaniaHollidaysburg, Pennsylvania
Hollidaysburg is a borough in Blair County, Pennsylvania, on the Juniata River, south of Altoona. It is the county seat of Blair County. It is part of the Altoona, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area and is one of the communities that comprises the Altoona Urban Area...
and graduated from Washington and Jefferson College in that state with a degree in physics and mathematics. In 1944, he earned a Master's Degree in aeronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT).
Accomplishments in Aerospace
After earning his MS from MIT, Hunter went to work for the Douglas Aircraft Company. He became their chief designer in aeronautics, working on modifications of the B-42 and B-43 bombers. Later he was promoted to chief engineer for space systems. In this position he oversaw the production of military missiles including the Honest John artillery rocket, the Nike antiaircraft missile, and the Sparrow air-to-air missile.Douglas Aircraft began work on the Thor
PGM-17 Thor
Thor was the first operational ballistic missile of the U.S. Air Force . Named after the Norse god of thunder, it was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate range ballistic missile with thermonuclear warheads. Thor was in height and in diameter. It was...
, an early Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM), in late 1955 and put Hunter in charge of that program. He assembled a small team of crack designers and brought the development to success in a short time. Thor became the basis of the McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...
Delta rocket
Delta rocket
Delta is a versatile family of expendable launch systems that has provided space launch capability in the United States since 1960. There have been more than 300 Delta rockets launched, with a 95 percent success rate. Two Delta launch systems – Delta II and Delta IV – are in active use...
, whose descendants are still boosting payloads into Earth orbit today.
After working for Douglas Aircraft from 1944 to 1961, Hunter joined the staff of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, a group that advised the U.S. president on space policy. Following several years in that position, he went back to the aerospace industry in 1965, spending over two decades with Lockheed Missiles and Space Company (LMSC). (LMSC was a division of Lockheed Corporation
Lockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
, which merged with Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of The Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. The combined company became a leader in chemicals, aerospace, and electronics. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. The...
in 1995 to become Lockheed-Martin.)
At LMSC, Hunter worked on a variety of projects including parts of the mammoth Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...
. SDI gave him a chance at realizing a dream he had nurtured since the 1960s: the construction of a Single-stage-to-orbit
Single-stage-to-orbit
A single-stage-to-orbit vehicle reaches orbit from the surface of a body without jettisoning hardware, expending only propellants and fluids. The term usually, but not exclusively, refers to reusable vehicles....
(SSTO) vehicle. In 1984, Hunter proposed a vehicle he called the X-rocket, based on those earlier SSTO designs. The design was reviewed by LMSC's Astronautics Division (AD), which judged it worth pursuing, and by its Missile Systems Division (MSD), which did not.
LMSC then declined to support further work on the X-rocket, and Hunter retired. As an independent consultant, he renamed the concept SSX (for Space Ship Experimental), and began to refine it. In December 1988 the ad hoc Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy was briefed on the concept by Hunter and others. The general concept was endorsed by the Council and by High Frontier, Inc., a Washington-based group headed by Lt. Gen. Daniel O. Graham
Daniel O. Graham
Daniel O. Graham was a U.S. Army officer. Graham was born in Portland, Oregon and grew up in Medford. He attended college at the United States Military Academy at West Point, the Army's Command and General Staff College, and graduated in 1946. He also attended the U.S...
that lobbied for SDI programs. Working together, Hunter and High Frontier convinced SDI management and other national officials that a study should be initiated to determine once and for all the feasibility of SSTO vehicles for military missions.
This led to a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) program to design a single-stage vehicle that could replace military satellites on short notice during a national emergency. This vehicle was known as the Delta Clipper. McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...
Corporation was contracted to build and test fly a one-third-scale, suborbital testbed called the DC-X
McDonnell Douglas DC-X
The DC-X, short for Delta Clipper or Delta Clipper Experimental, was an unmanned prototype of a reusable single stage to orbit launch vehicle built by McDonnell Douglas in conjunction with the United States Department of Defense's Strategic Defense Initiative Organization from 1991 to 1993...
, or Delta Clipper Experimental. While not capable of spaceflight, the DC-X incorporated many of the technologies needed for an SSTO vehicle, including highly automated systems enabling a quick turnaround (just twenty-six hours) between launches. It made eight successful test flights between August 18, 1993, and July 7, 1995, and then was taken over by NASA and flown four times as the DC-XA between May 18 and July 31, 1996. It was damaged on its last flight when one landing strut failed to deploy and the vehicle tipped over at landing. Funding to make repairs and continue flight tests was not made available.
Max Hunter continued to advise on space policy issues and advocate the building of SSTO vehicles for airline-like access to space, a goal he was sure could be attained. He chaired the Rules Committee for the Ansari X Prize
Ansari X Prize
The Ansari X Prize was a space competition in which the X Prize Foundation offered a US$10,000,000 prize for the first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks...
, announced in 1996, a $10 million prize for the first reusable craft to reach space twice within two weeks without substantial refit. In October 2000, he agreed to serve as Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Undersea Hotel Project of the Cala Corporation. He died at Stanford Hospital, Stanford, California on the evening of November 10, 2001 after a lingering illness.
Honors, Awards and Affiliations
Max Hunter was Phi Beta KappaPhi Beta Kappa Society
The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...
, Tau Beta Pi
Tau Beta Pi
The Tau Beta Pi Association is the oldest engineering honor society in the United States and the second oldest collegiate honor society in America. It honors engineering students who have shown a history of academic achievement as well as a commitment to personal and professional integrity...
, and a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is the professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA was founded in 1963 from the merger of two earlier societies: the American Rocket Society , founded in 1930 as the American Interplanetary Society , and the Institute...
(AIAA), the American Astronautical Society
American Astronautical Society
Formed in 1954, the American Astronautical Society is an independent scientific and technical group in the United States dedicated to the advancement of space science and exploration. AAS supports NASA's Vision for Space Exploration and is a member of the Coalition for Space Exploration and the...
(AAS), and the British Interplanetary Society
British Interplanetary Society
The British Interplanetary Society founded in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest space advocacy organisation in the world whose aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration.-Structure:...
(BIS). He was also a member of the International Academy of Astronautics
International Academy of Astronautics
The International Academy of Astronautics is an international community of experts committed to expanding the frontiers of space. It is a non-governmental organisation established in Stockholm on August 16, 1960....
(IAA) and an honorary member of the Japanese Rocket Society. In 1995, he received the Wernher von Braun Memorial Award of the National Space Society
National Space Society
The National Space Society is an international nonprofit 501, educational, and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy...
for "lifelong contributions to the fields of rockets, missiles and spaceflight." He was also the recipient of a NASA Public Service Medal for "the definition and promotion of the Space Shuttle and its utilization." The Space Frontier Foundation
Space Frontier Foundation
The Space Frontier Foundation is a space advocacy nonprofit corporation organized to promote the interests of increased involvement of the private sector, in collaboration with government, in the exploration and development of space...
bestowed its 1994 VISION TO REALITY AWARD on Hunter and other key members of the Delta Clipper (DC-X) Team.