Sounding rocket

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A Black Brant XII being launched from Wallops Flight Facility

A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its

Improved Orion, lifting 270–450-kg (600–1,000-pound) payloads into the exoatmospheric region between 97 and 201 km (60 and 125 miles).[4]

Etymology

The origin of the term comes from nautical vocabulary to sound, which is to throw a weighted line from a ship into the water to measure the water's depth. The term itself has its etymological roots in the Romance languages word for probe, of which there are nouns sonda and sonde and verbs like sondear which means "to do a survey or a poll". Sounding in the rocket context is equivalent to "taking a measurement".[3]

Design

Sample payloads for sounding rockets

The basic elements of a sounding rocket are a

first stage of the rising part of the flight, then separates and falls away, leaving the payload to complete the arc and return to the ground under a parachute.[3]

Advantages

Sounding rockets are advantageous for some research because of their low cost,[2] relatively short lead time (sometimes less than six months)[3] and their ability to conduct research in areas inaccessible to either balloons or satellites. They are also used as test beds for equipment that will be used in more expensive and risky orbital spaceflight missions.[2] The smaller size of a sounding rocket also makes launching from temporary sites possible, allowing field studies at remote locations, and even in the middle of the ocean, if fired from a ship.[5]

Applications

Meteorology

A Loki-Dart (foreground) on display at the White Sands Missile Range rocket garden

air density during the flight. Position data (altitude and latitude/longitude
) may also be recorded.

Common meteorological rockets are the

apogee
(highest point). This can be set to an altitude of 20 km to 113 km.

Research

Sounding rockets are commonly used for:

Dual use

Due to the high military relevance of ballistic missile technology, there has always been a close relationship between sounding rockets and military missiles. It is a typical

Non-Proliferation Treaty on Nuclear Weapons at that time, such as Brazil, Argentina and India. In the course of investigations by the German peace movement, this cooperation was revealed by a group of physicists in 1983.[7] The international discussion that was thus set in motion led to the development of the Missile Technology Control Regime
(MTCR) at the level of G7 states. Since then, lists of technological equipment whose export is subject to strict controls have been drawn up within the MTCR framework.

Operators and programs

See also

References

  1. ^ nasa.gov NASA Sounding Rocket Program Handbook, June 2005, p. 1
  2. ^ a b c d e "NASA Sounding Rocket Program Overview". NASA Sounding Rocket Program. NASA. 24 July 2006. Retrieved 10 October 2006.
  3. ^ a b c d e Marconi, Elaine M. (12 April 2004). "What is a Sounding Rocket?". Research Aircraft. NASA. Retrieved 10 October 2006.
  4. ^ NASA Sounding Rocket Handbook
  5. ^ "General Description of Sounding Rockets". Johns Hopkins University Sounding Rocket Program. Retrieved 10 October 2006.
  6. .
  7. ^ Campbell, D. (5 August 1983). "Germany helps Brazil to nuclear supremacy" (PDF). New Statesman.
  8. ^ Serra, Jean-Jacques. "Skylark sounding rockets". Rockets in Europe. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  9. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  10. ^ "Sounding Rockets". www.isro.gov.in. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  11. ^ Messier, Doug (2023-04-25). "Evolution Space Launches Rocket on Suborbital Flight From Mojave Desert". Parabolic Arc. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  12. ^ PTI. "IIST students' designed rocket launched". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  13. ^ "ESRA". ESRA. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  14. ^ Wade, Mark. "Titus". Astronautix. Archived from the original on December 28, 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2020.

External links