Minuteman ICBM reaches Mach 1 at 60-ft above launcher?

I found a web page on Edwards Air Force Base website that describes
early captive silo test launches of the Minuteman ICBM.

In the article it is claimed that, "a Minuteman passes through Mach
1.0 by the time it travels its own length above the launcher."

A Minuteman I is 55.9-ft tall, A Minuteman III is 59.75-ft tall.

Can anyone verify this claim?

The original article is at this URL:

http://www.edwards.af.mil/moments/do.../59-02-17.html



--
Rusty Barton - Antelope, California |
E-mail - |
Visit my Minuteman ICBM website at: |
http://www.geocities.com/minuteman_missile |

On 22 Oct 2003 10:30:13 -0700, in a place far, far away,
(Rusty B) made the phosphor on my monitor glow
in such a way as to indicate that:

I found a web page on Edwards Air Force Base website that describes
early captive silo test launches of the Minuteman ICBM.

In the article it is claimed that, "a Minuteman passes through Mach
1.0 by the time it travels its own length above the launcher."

A Minuteman I is 55.9-ft tall, A Minuteman III is 59.75-ft tall.

Can anyone verify this claim?

Seems dubious to me. Unless I screwed up the calculation, that means
over 300 g acceleration (zero to 760 mph in sixty feet). I'm pretty
sure its liftoff T/W is nowhere near that...

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
Swap the first . and @ and throw out the ".trash" to email me.
Here's my email address for autospammers:

Rand Simberg wrote:

Seems dubious to me. Unless I screwed up the calculation, that means
over 300 g acceleration (zero to 760 mph in sixty feet). I'm pretty
sure its liftoff T/W is nowhere near that...



The only one I can think of that would do that is the Sprint ABM.

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:

Rand Simberg wrote:

Seems dubious to me. Unless I screwed up the calculation, that means
over 300 g acceleration (zero to 760 mph in sixty feet). I'm pretty
sure its liftoff T/W is nowhere near that...



The only one I can think of that would do that is the Sprint ABM.

HiBex could possibly pull it off, but not Sprint. Sprint was pokey
compared to HiBex.

--
Scott Lowther, Engineer
Remove the obvious (capitalized) anti-spam
gibberish from the reply-to e-mail address

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 05:46:04 GMT, Scott Lowther
wrote:

Pat Flannery wrote:

Rand Simberg wrote:

Seems dubious to me. Unless I screwed up the calculation, that means
over 300 g acceleration (zero to 760 mph in sixty feet). I'm pretty
sure its liftoff T/W is nowhere near that...



The only one I can think of that would do that is the Sprint ABM.

HiBex could possibly pull it off, but not Sprint. Sprint was pokey
compared to HiBex.


Sprint accelerated at 100 Gs, HiBex at 400 and HEDI at 200. There is
a video clip on the DVD Nukes In Space taken from a distance of a
Sprint launch and that thing is MOVING.

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 17:43:31 -0600, Scott Ferrin
wrote:

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 05:46:04 GMT, Scott Lowther
wrote:

Pat Flannery wrote:

Rand Simberg wrote:

Seems dubious to me. Unless I screwed up the calculation, that means
over 300 g acceleration (zero to 760 mph in sixty feet). I'm pretty
sure its liftoff T/W is nowhere near that...



The only one I can think of that would do that is the Sprint ABM.

HiBex could possibly pull it off, but not Sprint. Sprint was pokey
compared to HiBex.


Sprint accelerated at 100 Gs, HiBex at 400 and HEDI at 200. There is
a video clip on the DVD Nukes In Space taken from a distance of a
Sprint launch and that thing is MOVING.

I looked up the stats for Sprint and Minuteman III.

http://www.paineless.id.au/missiles/Sprint.html

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/icbm/lgm-30_3.htm


-Sprint takeoff weight 16,500-lbs.

-Sprint takeoff thrust 660,000-lbs - thrust to weight ratio 40 to 1.


-Minuteman III takeoff weight - 79,400-lbs.

-Minuteman III takeoff thrust 202,600-lbs - thrust to weight ratio
2.55 to 1.



--
Rusty Barton - Antelope, California |
E-mail - |
Visit my Minuteman ICBM website at: |
http://www.geocities.com/minuteman_missile |

Scott Ferrin wrote:

Sprint accelerated at 100 Gs, HiBex at 400 and HEDI at 200. There is
a video clip on the DVD Nukes In Space taken from a distance of a
Sprint launch and that thing is MOVING.


Like a proverbial bat out of hell...it would be interesting to see how
Sprint's guidance system was able to take this, as this was before the
advent of the laser ring gyro.

Pat

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 05:46:04 GMT, in a place far, far away, Scott
Lowther made the phosphor on
my monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

Pat Flannery wrote:

Rand Simberg wrote:

Seems dubious to me. Unless I screwed up the calculation, that means
over 300 g acceleration (zero to 760 mph in sixty feet). I'm pretty
sure its liftoff T/W is nowhere near that...



The only one I can think of that would do that is the Sprint ABM.

HiBex could possibly pull it off

Probably not. Too short...

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
Swap the first . and @ and throw out the ".trash" to email me.
Here's my email address for autospammers:

On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 03:09:59 GMT, h (Rand
Simberg) wrote:

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 05:46:04 GMT, in a place far, far away, Scott
Lowther made the phosphor on
my monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

Pat Flannery wrote:

Rand Simberg wrote:

Seems dubious to me. Unless I screwed up the calculation, that means
over 300 g acceleration (zero to 760 mph in sixty feet). I'm pretty
sure its liftoff T/W is nowhere near that...



The only one I can think of that would do that is the Sprint ABM.

HiBex could possibly pull it off

Probably not. Too short...

What in the world has THAT got to do with anything?

h (Rand Simberg) wrote in message . ..
On 22 Oct 2003 10:30:13 -0700, in a place far, far away,
(Rusty B) made the phosphor on my monitor glow
in such a way as to indicate that:

I found a web page on Edwards Air Force Base website that describes
early captive silo test launches of the Minuteman ICBM.

In the article it is claimed that, "a Minuteman passes through Mach
1.0 by the time it travels its own length above the launcher."

A Minuteman I is 55.9-ft tall, A Minuteman III is 59.75-ft tall.

Can anyone verify this claim?

Seems dubious to me. Unless I screwed up the calculation, that means
over 300 g acceleration (zero to 760 mph in sixty feet). I'm pretty
sure its liftoff T/W is nowhere near that...

I did a little bit of digging: (Encyclopedia Astronautica)

Minuteman II & III liftoff thrust 210,000-lbs

Minuteman II weight - 73,000-lbs

Minuteman III weight - 78,000-lbs

I found a performance profile for the Minotaur rocket, which is made up
of the 1st and 2nd stages of the Minuteman II ICBM.

Minotaur Users Guide and Fact Sheet:

http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Publ...taur_Guide.pdf

http://www.losangeles.af.mil/SMC/PA/...inotaur_fs.htm


Minotaur lift-off thrust 200,435-lbs

Minotaur weight - 67,000-lbs


For the Minotaur, 1st stage burn-out is at 61.3-seconds, velocity is 4,954-fps
(3,377.7-mph). That makes the average acceleration over the duration of
the burn 55.1-mph per second for 61.3-seconds. (Page 18 of Users Guide).

I know the rocket will accelerate more slowly at liftoff with a full fuel
load and quicker near burnout with most of the fuel load gone.

My guess is, coming out of the silo, the Minuteman is going 50 - 100-mph.

There may be some extra acceleration from the exhaust gases pushing
the missile out of the silo, but I don't think that would add 600-mph
to the velocity.


--
Rusty Barton - Antelope, California |
E-mail - |
Visit my Minuteman ICBM website at: |
http://www.geocities.com/minuteman_missile |