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Thor Missile
The PGM-17A Thor was the first operative ballistic missile of the United States Air Force (USAF). It was 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 (IRBM) with thermonuclear warheads. Thor was in height and in diameter. The first generation of Thor missiles were rushed into service, and design mistakes resulted in a 24% launch failure rate. The competing PGM-19 Jupiter missile saw more use, but both were quickly eclipsed by the Air Force's long range ICBM program, which could be fired from U.S. soil. By 1959, with the Atlas missile well on its way to operational status, both Thor and Jupiter programs became obsolete as delivery vehicles, yet continued to be built and deployed until 1963 for political reasons and to maintain aerospace industry employment. The missile's lasting legacy continued as the Thor and later Delta families of space launch vehicles used boosters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intermediate-range Ballistic Missile
An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range between (), categorized between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ballistic missiles by range is done mostly for convenience. In principle there is little difference between a high-performance IRBM and a low-performance ICBM, because decreasing payload mass can increase the range over the ICBM threshold. The range definition used here is used within the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. History The progenitor for the IRBM was the Aggregate (rocket family)#A4b/A9, A4b rocket, winged for increased range and based on the famous V-2 rocket, V-2, Vergeltung, or "Reprisal", officially called Aggregate series, A4, rocket designed by Wernher von Braun. The V-2 was widely used by Nazi Germany at the end of World War II to bomb English and Belgian cities. The A4b was the prototype for the upper stage of the Aggregate (rock ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conventional weapon, Conventional, Chemical weapon, chemical, and Biological agent, biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, but have never been deployed on ICBMs. Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRVs), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target. The Nuclear weapons of the United States, United States, Russia and weapons of mass destruction, Russia, China and weapons of mass destruction, China, France and weapons of mass destruction, France, India and weapons of mass destruction, India, the United Kingdom and weapons of mass destruction, United Kingdom, Nuclear weapons and Israel, Israel, and North Korea and weapons of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vernier Thruster
A vernier thruster is a rocket engine used on a spacecraft or launch vehicle for fine adjustments to the attitude or velocity. Depending on the design of a craft's maneuvering and stability systems, it may simply be a smaller thruster complementing the main propulsion system, or it may complement larger attitude control thrusters, or may be a part of the reaction control system. The name is derived from vernier calipers (named after Pierre Vernier) which have a primary scale for gross measurements, and a secondary scale for fine measurements. Vernier thrusters are used when a heavy spacecraft requires a wide range of different thrust levels for attitude or velocity control, as for maneuvering during docking with other spacecraft. On space vehicles with two sizes of attitude control thrusters, the main ACS (Attitude Control System) thrusters are used for larger movements, while the verniers are reserved for smaller adjustments. Due to their weight and the extra plumbing requi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlas (missile)
The SM-65 Atlas was the first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the United States and the first member of the Atlas rocket family. It was built for the U.S. Air Force by the Convair Division of General Dynamics at an assembly plant located in Kearny Mesa, San Diego. Development dates to 1946, but over the next few years the project underwent several cancellations and re-starts. The deepening of the Cold War and intelligence showing the Soviet Union was working on an ICBM design led to it becoming a crash project in late 1952, along with the creation of several other missile projects to ensure one would enter service as soon as possible. The first test launch was carried out in June 1957, which failed. The first success of the Soviet R-7 Semyorka in August gave the program new urgency, leading to the first successful Atlas A launch in December. Of the eight flights of the A model, only three were successful, but the later models demonstrat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SM-64 Navaho
The North American SM-64 Navaho was a supersonic intercontinental cruise missile project built by North American Aviation (NAA). The final design was capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to the USSR from bases within the US, while cruising at at altitude. The missile is named after the Navajo Nation. The original 1946 project called for a relatively short-range system, a boost-glide weapon based on a winged V-2 rocket design. Over time the requirements were repeatedly extended, both due to the US Air Force's desire for longer ranged systems, as well as competition from similar weapons that successfully filled the shorter-range niche. This led to a new design based on a ramjet powered cruise missile, which also developed into a series of ever-larger versions, along with the booster rockets to launch them up to speed. Through this period the US Air Force was developing the SM-65 Atlas, based on rocket technology developed for Navaho. Atlas filled the same performance goals but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglas C-124 Globemaster II
The Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, nicknamed "Old Shaky", is a retired American heavy-lift cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California. The C-124 was the primary heavy-lift transport for United States Air Force (USAF) Military Air Transport Service (MATS) during the 1950s and early 1960s, until the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter entered service. It served in MATS, later Military Airlift Command (MAC), and units of the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard until retired in 1974. Design and development Douglas Aircraft developed the C-124 from 1947 to 1949, from a prototype they created from a World War II–design Douglas C-74 Globemaster, and based on lessons learned during the Berlin Airlift. The aircraft was powered by four, large Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major piston engines producing each. The C-124's design featured two, large, clamshell doors and a hydraulically actuated ramp in the nose, as well as a cargo elevator under the aft fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalitarianism, totalitarian dictatorship. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", referred to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945, after 12 years, when the Allies of World War II, Allies defeated Germany and entered the capital, Berlin, End of World War II in Europe, ending World War II in Europe. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi Party began to eliminate political opposition and consolidate power. A 1934 German referendum confirmed Hitler as sole ''Führer'' (leader). Power was centralised in Hitler's person, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Redstone Arsenal
Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army base adjacent to Huntsville, Alabama in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. A census-designated place in Madison County, Alabama, United States, it is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The Arsenal is a host to over 75 tenant agencies including the United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense (DoD), United States Department of Justice, Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and NASA's largest field center, the Marshall Space Flight Center. The Arsenal today contains a government and contractor workforce that averages 36,000 to 40,000 personnel daily. The base has benefited from decisions by the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission and has a residential population of 837 as of 2020. Established during World War II as a Chemical weapon, chemical manufacturing facility, in the immediate post-war era the Arsenal was used for research and development by Nazi Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TRW Inc
TRW Inc. was an American corporation involved in a variety of businesses, mainly aerospace, electronics, automotive, and credit reporting.http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/TRW-Inc-Company-History.html TRW Inc. It was a pioneer in multiple fields including electronic components, integrated circuits, computers, software and systems engineering. TRW built many spacecraft, including Pioneer 1, Pioneer 10, and several space-based observatories. It was #57 on the 1986 Fortune 500 list, and had 122,258 employees. The company was called Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc., after the 1958 merger of the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation and Thompson Products. This was later shortened to TRW. The company was founded in 1901 and lasted for just over a century until being acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2002. It spawned a variety of corporations, including Pacific Semiconductors, The Aerospace Corporation, Bunker-Ramo and Experian. Its automotive businesses were sold off by Northro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adolf Thiel
Adolf Karl Thiel (also spelled Adolph; February 12, 1915 – June 2, 2001 Los Angeles) was an Austrian-born German expert in guided missiles during World War II, and later worked for the United States Army and TRW. Thiel had been an associate professor of engineering at the Institute of Technology in Darmstadt before joining Wernher von Braun's team at the Army Research Center Peenemünde, where he was involved in developing the V-2 rocket. By the end of the war, he was transferred to the United States by the US Army (see Operation Paperclip and German rocket scientists in the US) where he resumed his work with von Braun's group in Fort Bliss, Texas. During the nine years Thiel worked for the U.S. Army, he held positions at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and at Huntsville, Alabama. He primarily supervised preliminary design of the Redstone missile and other short- and intermediate-range ballistic missile systems. Thiel left the Army in 1955 to join Space Technology L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Truax
Captain Robert C. Truax ( USN) (September 3, 1917 – September 17, 2010) was an American rocket engineer in the United States Navy, and companies such as Aerojet and Truax Engineering, which he founded. Truax was a proponent of low-cost rocket engine and vehicle designs. Life As a teenager, Truax was inspired by Robert Goddard articles in ''Popular Mechanics'' magazine to build his own rockets while residing in Alameda, California. From 1936 to 1939, midshipman Truax tested liquid-fuel rocket motors and published a February 1939 report in Astronautics. In 1938, he showed a thrust chamber that he had constructed to the British Interplanetary Society and wrote technical reports published by the American Rocket Society. Following two years' sea duty, first on and then a destroyer, then-Lieutenant Commander Truax worked at the Engineering Experiment Station at Annapolis in the Bureau of Aeronautics Ship Installations Division under Commander C. A. Bolster. Truax headed the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Circular Error Probability
Circular error probable (CEP),Circular Error Probable (CEP), Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center Technical Paper 6, Ver 2, July 1987, p. 1 also circular error probability or circle of equal probability, is a measure of a weapon system's precision in the military science of ballistics. It is defined as the radius of a circle, centered on the aimpoint, that is expected to enclose the landing points of 50% of the rounds; said otherwise, it is the median error radius, which is a 50% confidence interval. That is, if a given munitions design has a CEP of 100 m, when 100 munitions are targeted at the same point, an average of 50 will fall within a circle with a radius of 100 m about that point. There are associated concepts, such as the DRMS (distance root mean square), which is the square root of the average squared distance error, a form of the standard deviation. Another is the R95, which is the radius of the circle where 95% of the values would fall, a 9 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
