The Holloman High Speed Test Track (HHSTT) is a United States

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

ground test facility located at

Holloman Air Force Base Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, which is the county seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. The b ...

in south-central

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. It is adjacent to the

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established in 1941 as the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, where the Trinity t ...

and is operated by the 846th Test Squadron of the 704th Test Group of the

Arnold Engineering Development Complex The Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), Arnold Engineering Development Center before July 2012, is an Air Force Materiel Command facility under the control of the Air Force Test Center (AFTC). Named for General Henry "Hap" Arnold ...

Arnold Air Force Base Arnold Air Force Base (Arnold AFB) is a United States Air Force base located in Coffee County, Tennessee, Coffee and Franklin County, Tennessee, Franklin counties, Tennessee, adjacent to the city of Tullahoma, Tennessee, Tullahoma. It is named ...

. The Test Track provides its services to a wide variety of American defense and

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

al agencies such as the Air Force,

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

, and the

Missile Defense Agency The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is a component of the Federal government of the United States, United States government's United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense responsible for developing a comprehensive Missile defense, defe ...

, as well as America's allies.Holloman High Speed Test Track: Facilities and Capabilities. Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. Air Force Materiel Command, Air Armament Center, September 2006.

Mission

The HHSTT's mission is to provide a cost-effective, realistic, dynamic test environment for the entire acquisition community, including the DoD, other government agencies, contractors,Streeter, Lulynne. "Holloman Test Group offers high-tech services to private sector – Holloman Air Force Base". ''New Mexico Business Journal'' (January 1990) and foreign governments. As a ground-based test facility,Mattson, Wayne O., Martyn D. Tagg, and George House. "We Develop Missiles, Not Air!" ''The Legacy of Early Missile, Rocket, Instrumentation, and Aeromedical Research Development at Holloman Air Force Base''. Holloman Air Force Base Cultural Resources Publication No. 2. Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico: Air Combat Command, United States Air Force, United States Department of Defense, 1995. the HHSTT provides a cost-effective, controlled test environment for high-speed weapons, systems, and components. Full-scale flight tests tend to be more expensive than sled testing and present fewer opportunities to recover the test article for post-test evaluation.

History

The HHSTT was originally long when initial construction was completed in August 1949.Bushnell, David. ''AFMDC Origin and Operation of the First Holloman Track 1949–1956: Volume I, History of Tracks and Track Testing at the Air Force Missile Development Center''. Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico: Historical Branch, Office of Information, Air Force Missile Development Center, Air Research and Development Command, 1959. The first test performed at the HHSTT was the launching of the Northrop N-25 Snark in 1950,Meeter, George F. ''The Holloman Story''. Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico Press, 1967. but soon included human tolerance testing under the command of Colonel John P. Stapp.Associated Press, "Doctor Sets Speed Mark: Travels 632 M.P.H. In Air Survival Test in New Mexico", Los Angeles, December 28, 1954.Associated Press, "Scientists Keep Finding New Uses For Test Track of the 'Fastest Man, ''Free Lance-Star'' (Virginia), March 24, 1965.Associated Press, "Supersonic Test Track Used in Many Projects", ''Owosso Argus-Press'' (Michigan), December 19, 1964. Col. Stapp was the last human test subject to ride the rocket-powered sleds at the HHSTT in December 1954."Medicine: The Fastest Man on Earth"
''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''. September 12, 1955. The track was lengthened to in 1956, followed by another extension to in 1957. The next major track extension occurred in 1974 when the rails from the

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...

test track were shipped to Holloman and added to the existing tracks to give a new total length of . During this upgrade, a third rail, approximately , was added for high-speed, narrow-gauge sleds. In 2000, pulldown extensions of were added to the north end of each rail, bringing the two primary rails to . The last major upgrade to the primary rail system occurred in 2002, when the narrow-gauge track was lengthened to . The HHSTT currently holds the world land speed record for rocket sleds set in April 2003, at

Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...

8.6, or 9,465 feet per second (2,885 meters per second), or 6,453.409 miles per hour (10,385.755 kilometres per hour).''The Land of Space and Time''
Dir. Michael Lennick. Foolish Earthling Productions, 2009.Vorenberg, Sue. "Scientists shatter world land speed record at Holloman: Rocket-powered sled adds to New Mexico's collection of record-breaking events". ''Santa Fe New Mexican'' February 1, 2008.

Capabilities

As of April 2014, over 12,400 sled tests have been performed at the HHSTT. The first sled tests were performed in 1950; the facility has been in continuous operation since. The HHSTT is unusual within the DoD Test and Evaluation community because it has organic management, engineering, fabrication, and test-operation capabilities in one location. This ability to provide a "one-stop-shop" reduces test costs and schedule issues associated with geographically separated project functions. A wide variety of tests have been performed at the HHSTT,''Holloman High Speed Test Track: Design Manual''. Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. Air Force Materiel Command, Air Armament Center, March 2005 including aircraft crew-escape systems,Philpott, Bryan. ''Eject! Eject!'' Shepperton, Surrey, United Kingdom: Ian Allan Ltd., 1989.Tuttle, Jim. ''Eject! The Complete History of U.S. Aircraft Escape Systems''. St. Paul: MBI Publishing Company, 2002. rain and particle

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

tests, impact testing, weapons dispense testing, electronic warfare,

guidance system A guidance system is a virtual or physical device, or a group of devices implementing a controlling the movement of a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or any other moving object. Guidance is the process of calculating the changes in pos ...

testing, and a wide array of

aerodynamic Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...

tests. Because of the HHSTT's location on a

military reservation A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

in a sparsely populated area, tests may be performed in a secure environment. These large areas of open space may also be used to test items that are

explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ex ...

ballistic Ballistics may refer to: Science * Ballistics, the science that deals with the motion, behavior, and effects of projectiles ** Forensic ballistics, the science of analyzing firearm usage in crimes ** Internal ballistics, the study of the proce ...

, or otherwise

hazard A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would potentially allow them to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that ...

ous.

Facilities

The most prominent feature of the facility is the

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fil ...

system (similar in appearance to railroad tracks) used to launch

rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

-powered test vehicles known as " sleds". The rail system is located just east of the

White Sands National Park White Sands National Park is a national park of the United States located in New Mexico and completely surrounded by the White Sands Missile Range. The park covers in the Tularosa Basin, including the southern 41% of a field of white sand ...

, and consists of a concrete foundation known as the girder that supports the two primary rails and a single tertiary rail. The westernmost rail is known as "A rail", followed by the adjacent "B rail" and "C rail". The alignment of the rails is nearly north–south. All three rails are fabricated from heavy-duty crane rail () and are maintained to an alignment of no more than deviation from a nominal reference line between rail tiedowns. A and B rails constitute the primary rails and are long. C rail, located at the north end of the track facility, is long. A and B rails are spaced , center to center, while C rail is spaced to the east of B rail. Despite the simple appearance of the setup, the tracks constitute the straightest system of track ever laid. Rails A, B, and C are continuously

welded Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, primarily by using high temperature to melt the parts together and allow them to cool, causing fusion. Common alternative methods include solvent w ...

and pre- stressed to be under tension at temperatures below . Within the HHSTT infrastructure, there is a rainfield that is used to study the erosive effects caused by the impact of raindrops on material samples or components of weapon systems carried on rocket sleds. The rainfield system has been characterized for droplet size distribution and can simulate various combinations of rain environments from light rain to heavy rain, and produce flight conditions ranging from

subsonic Subsonic may refer to: Motion through a medium * Any speed lower than the speed of sound within a sound-propagating medium * Subsonic aircraft, a flying machine that flies at air speeds lower than the speed of sound * Subsonic ammunition, a type o ...

hypersonic In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that exceeds five times the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above. The precise Mach number at which a craft can be said to be flying at hypersonic speed varies, since i ...

. This capability is used both for material development (usually involving systematic testing of material samples) and for qualifying flight hardware. A separate system is currently under construction to support

magnetic levitation Magnetic levitation (maglev) or magnetic suspension is a method by which an object is levitation (physics), suspended with no support other than magnetic fields. Lorentz force, Magnetic force is used to counteract the effects of the gravitation ...

, or maglev, sled development. The reason for this system is to produce flight-like

vibration Vibration () is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an equilibrium point. Vibration may be deterministic if the oscillations can be characterised precisely (e.g. the periodic motion of a pendulum), or random if the os ...

environments that can not be achieved on the main steel rail track. This system performed its first test in 2012 and continues to be operational. Other facilities at the HHSTT include fabrication shops, project management and engineering buildings,

munitions Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of ...

storage buildings, and heavy equipment staging areas.

Data collection

Electronic data, which include test timing, vehicle position,

velocity Velocity is a measurement of speed in a certain direction of motion. It is a fundamental concept in kinematics, the branch of classical mechanics that describes the motion of physical objects. Velocity is a vector (geometry), vector Physical q ...

, and

acceleration In mechanics, acceleration is the Rate (mathematics), rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Acceleration is one of several components of kinematics, the study of motion. Accelerations are Euclidean vector, vector ...

, are routinely collected at the HHSTT. These data are captured by various means, including

Doppler radar A Doppler radar is a specialized radar that uses the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by bouncing a microwave signal off a desired target and analyzing how the object's motion has altered the fre ...

, optical beam interrupter blades, breakwire installations and

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

ic sensors, and a wide variety of component sensors to collect specialized data such as acceleration forces, strain, temperature, etc. The data are collected with a variety of onboard

data acquisition Data acquisition is the process of sampling signals that measure real-world physical conditions and converting the resulting samples into digital numeric values that can be manipulated by a computer. Data acquisition systems, abbreviated by the ...

systems or telemetered for post-test analysis. Additionally, world-class technical imagery, including high-speed digital images, is available for customers to examine the status of their payloads. Track personnel use the same imagery to determine the status of the sled vehicle during tests. All data can be post-processed and merged using a common time reference to verify the accuracy of the data, and to produce a unified data product. Optical imagery is captured with high-speed digital cameras. Local meteorological data (e.g., temperature and barometric pressure) are also collected for each test for the calculation of

Mach number The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physicist and philosopher Erns ...

knots A knot is a fastening in rope or interwoven lines. Knot or knots may also refer to: Other common meanings * Knot (unit), of speed * Knot (wood), a timber imperfection Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Knots'' (film), a 2004 film * ''Kn ...

equivalent air speed as desired by the test customer.

References

External links

Holloman High Speed Test Track
on

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Holloman Air Force Base
{{authority control Installations of the United States Air Force in New Mexico 1943 establishments in New Mexico Research installations of the United States Air Force Buildings and structures in Otero County, New Mexico Tularosa Basin