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Information about Sounding Rocket

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A Black Brant XII launching from Wallops Flight Facility.
A sounding rocket, sometimes called a research rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The origin of the term comes from the nautical term to take a sounding, meaning to take a measurement.[1]

The rockets are commonly used to take readings or carry instruments from 50 to 1,500 kilometers (30–932 mi) above the surface of the Earth, the altitude generally between weather balloons and satellites; the region above the maximum altitude for balloons is about 40 km (25 miles) and the minimum for satellites is approximately 120 kilometers (75 mi)[2]. Certain sounding rockets, such as the Black Brant X and XII, have an apogee between 1,000 and 1,500 kilometers (621–932 mi), well above low Earth orbit. Sounding rockets often use military surplus rocket motors.[1] NASA routinely flies the Terrier Mk 70 boosted Improved Orion lofting 270–450 kilogram (600–1000 lb) payloads into the region between 100 and 200 kilometers (62–124 mi).

Design

A common sounding rocket consists of a solid-fuel rocket motor and a payload.[1] The freefall part of the flight is an elliptic trajectory with vertical major axis allowing the payload to appear to hover near its apogee[2]. The average flight time is less than 40 minutes, usually between five and 20 minutes[2]. The rocket consumes its fuel on the 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 with a parachute.[1]

Advantages

Sounding rockets are advantages for some research due to their low cost[2], short lead time (sometimes less than six months)[1] and their ability (as mentioned above) 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 for field studies at remote locations, even in the middle of the ocean, if fired from a ship.[3]

Operators

  • The Australian Space Research Institute (ASRI) operates a Small Sounding Rocket Program (SSRP) for launching payloads (mostly educational) to altitudes of about 7km.
  • Iranian Space Agency operated its first sounding rocket in February 2007.
  • UP Aerospace operates the UP Aerospace SpaceLoft™XL sounding rockets that can reach altitudes of 225km.
  • The German TEXUS and MINITEXUS Programmes.
  • The Swedish MASER Programme.
  • The EADS-ST and Swedish Space Corportation MAXUS Programme.
  • The NASA Sounding Rocket Program
  • The JAXA operate the sounding rockets S-310/S-520/SS-520
  • Beyond-Earth Enterprises

See also

References

1. ^ Marconi, Elaine M. (April 12 2004). What is a Sounding Rocket?. Research Aircraft. NASA. Retrieved on October 10, 2006.
2. ^ NASA Sounding Rocket Program Overview. NASA Sounding Rocket Program. NASA (July 24 2006). Retrieved on October 10, 2006.
3. ^ General Description of Sounding Rockets. Johns Hopkins University Sounding Rocket Program. Retrieved on October 10, 2006.

External links

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Meteorological instrumentation and equipment (Earth based)
Anemometer
rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving fluid from within a rocket engine.

The history of rockets goes back to at least the 13th century[1].
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A sub-orbital spaceflight (or sub-orbital flight) is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches space, but its trajectory then intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitational body from which it was launched, and thus does not enter a stable orbit.
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EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001. Their greatest hit, their debut single "time after time", peaked at #13 in the Oricon singles chart.
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weather or sounding balloon is a balloon which carries instruments aloft to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, and humidity by means of a small, expendable measuring device called a radiosonde.
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satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon.
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balloon is a flexible bag normally filled with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide or air. Early balloons were made of dried animal bladders. Modern balloons can be made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene or a nylon fabric.
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satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon.
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This article contains information regarding a rocket or spacecraft which is either currently in the process of launching, or is scheduled to launch within the next 12 days.
Details may change as the countdown and ascent progress.
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Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km. Given the rapid orbital decay of objects below approximately 200 km, the commonly accepted definition for LEO is between 200 - 2000 km
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA logo
Motto: For the Benefit of All[1]

NASA seal
Agency overview
Formed 29 July 1958

Headquarters Washington D.C.

Annual Budget $16.
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RIM-2 Terrier was a two-stage medium-range naval surface-to-air missile (SAM), and was among the earliest surface-to-air missiles to equip United States Navy ships. Originally, the Terrier had a launch thrust of 23 kN (5,200 lbf), and weight of 1392 kg (3,069 lb).
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Improved Orion is the designation of an American sounding rocket. It has a maximum flight altitude of 85 km, a liftoff thrust of 7.00 kN, a total mass of 400 kg, a core diameter of 0.35 m and a total length of 5.60 m.
  • http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/imporion.htm

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solid rocket or a solid-fuel rocket is a rocket with a motor that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid fueled, powered by gunpowder, used by the Chinese in warfare as early as the 13th century.
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In military aircraft or space exploration, the payload is the carrying capacity of an aircraft or space ship, including as cargo, munitions, scientific instruments or experiments, or external fuel, although internal fuel is usually not included.
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Free fall is motion with no acceleration other than that provided by gravity. This also applies to objects in orbit, even though these objects are not "falling" in the usual sense of the word.
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elliptic orbit can be computed from the Vis-viva equation as:
where:
  • is standard gravitational parameter,
  • is radial distance of orbiting body from central body,
  • is length of semi-major axis.

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semi-major axis (also semimajor axis) is used to describe the dimensions of ellipses and hyperbolae.

Ellipse

The major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter, a line that runs through the centre and both foci, its ends being at the widest points of the shape.
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parachute is usually a soft fabric device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag. Parachutes are normally used to slow the descent of a person or object to Earth or another celestial body within an atmosphere.
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orbital spaceflight (or orbital flight) is a spaceflight in which a spacecraft is placed on a trajectory where it could remain in space for at least one orbit. To do this around the Earth, it must be on a free trajectory which has an altitude at perigee (altitude at closest
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The Iranian Space Agency (ISA) is Iran's governmental space agency.

The president of Iranian Space Agency is one of the deputies of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.
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UP Aerospace, Inc.

Private
Founded
Headquarters Farmington, Connecticut

Industry Aerospace
Website Official website

UP Aerospace, Inc. is a spaceflight corporation based out of Farmington, Connecticut.
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Astrobee is the designation of series of American sounding rockets with 1 - 3 stages. Several versions were realized.

The three-stage Astrobee 500 (first stage: Genius, second stage: Alcor, third stage: Asp) has a ceiling of 1000 km, a takeoff thrust of 161 kN, a
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Boosted Dart is a United States single-stage sounding rocket of the Loki family. Between 1966 and 1968, 39 of these rockets were launched by NASA. The Boosted Dart has a length of 3.30 metres, a diameter of 0.1 metres and a maximum flight altitude of 75 kilometres.
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A rocketsonde, a kind of sounding rocket, is a system for atmospheric observations that consists of a rocket that launches instruments that can make weather observations up to an altitude of 250,000 ft (76,200 m).

A typical rocket is 12 feet (3.
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