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{{Short description|Rocket designed to take measurements during its flight}}
[[Image:Black Brant.jpg|thumb|right|A '''[[Black Brant (rocket)|Black Brant]] XII''' being launched from [[Wallops Flight Facility]].]]
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}
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 spaceflight| sub-orbital]] flight. The origin of the term comes from nautical vocabulary, where ''to sound'' is to throw a weighted line from a ship into the water, to gauge the water's depth. ''Sounding'' in the rocket context is equivalent to ''taking a measurement''.<ref name=what>{{cite web|last=Marconi|first=Elaine M.|date =12 April 2004|url=http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/f_sounding.html|title=What is a Sounding Rocket?|work=Research Aircraft|publisher=NASA|accessdate=10 October 2006}}</ref>
[[File:Black Brant.jpg|thumb|A [[Black Brant (rocket)|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 [[sub-orbital spaceflight|sub-orbital]] flight. The rockets are used to launch instruments from 48 to 145&nbsp;km (30 to 90 miles)<ref>[http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810/files/SRHB.pdf nasa.gov] NASA Sounding Rocket Program Handbook, June 2005, p. 1</ref> above the surface of the Earth, the altitude generally between [[weather balloon]]s and [[satellite]]s; the maximum altitude for balloons is about 40&nbsp;km (25 miles) and the minimum for satellites is approximately 121&nbsp;km (75 miles).<ref name="overview">{{cite web|date=24 July 2006|url=http://rscience.gsfc.nasa.gov/srrov.html|title=NASA Sounding Rocket Program Overview|work=NASA Sounding Rocket Program|publisher=NASA|access-date=10 October 2006}}</ref> Certain sounding rockets have an [[apogee]] between 1,000 and 1,500&nbsp;km (620 and 930 miles), such as the [[Black Brant (rocket)|Black Brant X and XII]], which is the maximum apogee of their class. For certain purposes Sounding Rockets may be flown to altitudes as high as 3,000 kilometers to allow observing times of around 40 minutes to provide geophysical observations of the magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere and mesosphere.<ref name="highaltitude">{{cite web|date=29 September 2024|url=https://rscience.gsfc.nasa.gov/keydocs/HASR_Slides.pdf|title=High Altitude Sounding Rocket|work=NASA Sounding Rocket Program|publisher=NASA|access-date=29 September 2024}}</ref>
Sounding rockets have been used for the examination of atmospheric nuclear tests by revealing the passage of the shock wave through the atmosphere.<ref name="ropetrick">{{cite web|date=29 September 2024|url=https://nnss.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DOENV_1136-1.pdf|title=Rope Trick effect|publisher=Wikipedia|access-date=29 September 2024}}</ref>
<ref name="rapatronic">{{cite web|date=29 September 2024|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope_trick_effect|title=Rope Trick effect|work=Rapatronic Photography |publisher=Navada National Security Site |access-date=29 September 2024}}</ref> In more recent times Sounding Rockets have been used for other nuclear weapons research.<ref name="hotshot">{{cite web|date=29 September 2024|url=https://newsreleases.sandia.gov/sounding_rocket/|title=Sandia delivers first DOE sounding rocket program since 1990s|work=Rapatronic Photography |publisher=Sandia National Labrtories |access-date=29 September 2024}}</ref>
Sounding rockets often use military surplus rocket motors.<ref name="what" /> NASA routinely flies the Terrier Mk 70 boosted [[Improved Orion]], lifting 270–450-kg (600–1,000-pound) payloads into the [[Exosphere|exoatmospheric]] region between 97 and 201&nbsp;km (60 and 125 miles).<ref>''NASA Sounding Rocket Handbook''</ref>


==Etymology==
The rockets are used to carry instruments from 50 to 1,500 kilometers<ref>[http://www.sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810/files/SRHB.pdf NASA Sounding Rocket Program Handbook, June 2005, p. 1</ref> above the surface of the [[Earth]], the altitude generally between [[weather balloon]]s and [[satellite]]s (the maximum altitude for [[balloon]]s is about 40km and the minimum for [[satellite]]s is approximately 120km).<ref name=overview>{{cite web|date=24 July 2006|url=http://rscience.gsfc.nasa.gov/srrov.html|title=NASA Sounding Rocket Program Overview|work=NASA Sounding Rocket Program|publisher=NASA|accessdate=10 October 2006}}</ref> Certain sounding rockets, such as the [[Black Brant rocket|Black Brant X and XII]], have an [[apogee]] between 1,000 and 1,500 kilometers; the maximum apogee of their class. Sounding rockets often use military surplus rocket motors.<ref name=what/> [[NASA]] routinely flies the [[RIM-2 Terrier|Terrier]] Mk 70 boosted [[Improved Orion]] lofting 270&ndash;450 kilogram payloads into the [[wiktionary:exoatmospheric|exoatmospheric]] region between 100 and 200 kilometers.<ref>''NASA Sounding Rocket Handbook''</ref>
The origin of the term comes from nautical vocabulary ''to [[Depth sounding|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 ''[[wiktionary:sonda|sonda]]'' and ''[[wiktionary:sonde|sonde]]'' and verbs like ''[[wiktionary:sondear|sondear]]'' which means "to do a survey or a poll". ''Sounding'' in the rocket context is equivalent to "taking a measurement".<ref name=what>{{cite web|last=Marconi|first=Elaine M.|date =12 April 2004|url=http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/f_sounding.html|title=What is a Sounding Rocket?|work=Research Aircraft|publisher=NASA|access-date=10 October 2006}}</ref>


== Design ==
== Design ==
[[File:SoundingRocketSamplePayload-02.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Sample payloads for sounding rockets]]
A common sounding rocket consists of a [[solid-fuel rocket]] motor and a science [[Payload (air and space craft)|payload]].<ref name=what/> The [[freefall]] part of the flight is an [[elliptic orbit|elliptic trajectory]] with vertical [[Semi-major axis|major axis]] allowing the payload to appear to hover near its [[apogee]].<ref name=overview/> The average flight time is less than 30 minutes, usually between five and 20 minutes.<ref name=overview/> 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 under a [[parachute]].<ref name=what/>
The basic elements of a modern sounding rocket are a [[solid-fuel rocket]] motor and a science [[Payload (air and space craft)|payload]].<ref name=what/> In certain Sounding Rockets the payload may even be nothing more than a smoke trail as in the [[Nike Smoke]] which is used to determine wind directions and strengths more accurately than may be determined by [[weather balloons]]. Or a Sounding Rocket such as the [[Nike-Apache]] may deposit sodium clouds to observe very high altitude winds. Larger, higher altitude rockets have multiple [[rocket staging|stages]] to increase altitude and/or payload capability. The [[freefall]] part of the flight is an [[elliptic orbit|elliptic trajectory]] with vertical [[Semi-major axis|major axis]] allowing the payload to appear to hover near its [[apogee]].<ref name=overview/> The average flight time is less than 30 minutes; usually between five and 20 minutes.<ref name=overview/> The rocket consumes its fuel on the [[First stage (rocketry)|first stage]] of the rising part of the flight, then often separates and falls away, leaving the payload to complete the arc, sometimes descending under a drag source such as a small balloon or a [[parachute]].<ref name=what/>

Sounding rockets have utilized balloons, airplanes and artillery as "first stages." Project Farside<ref name=Farside>{{cite web |title=Farside |url=http://www.astronautix.com/f/farside.html |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=Astronautix |publisher=Mark Wade |access-date=21 September 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/farside.htm |title=Farside |last=Krebs |first=Gunter |date= |website=Gunter’s Space Page |publisher=Gunter Krebs |access-date=22 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref> utilized a Rockoon composed of a 106,188-m3 (3,750-ft3) balloon, lifting a four stage rocket composed of 4 Recrute rockets as the first stage with 1 Recruit as the second stage, with 4 Arrow II motors composing the third stage and finally a single Arrow II as the fourth stage. [[Sparoair]], air launched from Navy F4D and F-4 fighters were examples of air launched sounding rockets. There were also examples of artillery launched sounding rockets including [[Project HARP]]'s 5", 7", and 15" guns, sometimes having additional Martlet rocket stages.<ref>''BRL Memorandum Report No. 1825''</ref>

== Development history ==
{{Copyedit|date=October 2024}}
The earliest Sounding Rockets were [[liquid rocket propellant|liquid propellant]] rockets such as the [[WAC Corporal]], [[Aerobee]], and [[Viking (rocket)|Viking]]. The German [[V-2]] served both the US and the USSR's [[R-1 (missile)|R-1]] missile as sounding rockets during the immediate Post World War II periods. During the 1950s and later the inexpensive availability of surplus military boosters such as those used by the [[MIM-3 Nike Ajax|Nike]], [[RIM-8 Talos|Talos]], [[RIM-2 Terrier|Terrier]], and [[AIM-7 Sparrow|Sparrow]]. Since the 1960s designed for the purpose rockets such as the [[Black Brant (rocket)|Black Brant]] series have dominated sounding rockets, though often having additional stages, many from military surplus.

The earliest attempts at developing Sounding Rockets were in the Soviet Union. While all of the early rocket developers were concerned largely with developing the ability to launch rockets some had the objective of investigating the stratosphere and beyond. The All-Union Conference on the Study of Stratosphere was held in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1936. While the conference primarily dealt with balloon [[Radiosondes]], there was a small group of rocket developers who sought to develop "recording rockets" to explore the stratosphere and beyond.<ref name=Essayshr>{{cite web | title=Essays on the History of Rocketry and Astronautics |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/enwiki/api/citations/19770026104/downloads/19770026104.pdf | author=!NASA |date= |website= |publisher=NASA |access-date=23 September 2024 }}</ref> Amongst the speakers at the conference was [[Sergey Korolev]]{{cn|date=October 2024}} who later became the leading figure of the Soviet space program.

Specifically interested in sounding rocket design were V. V. Razumov, of the Leningrad Group for the Study of Jet Propulsion. A. I. Polyarny working in a special group within the Society for Assistance to the Defense, Aviation and Chemical Construction of the U.S.S.R in Moscow designed the R-06 which eventually flew but not in the meteorological role.<ref name=Essayshr/>

The early Soviet efforts to develop a sounding rocket were the earliest efforts to develop a sounding rocket and ultimately failed before WWII.<ref name=Essayshr/> P. I. Ivanov built a three-stage which flew in March 1946. At the end of summer 1946 development ended because it lacked sufficient thrust to loft a sufficient research payload.<ref name=Essayshr/>

The first successful sounding rocket was created at the [[California Institute of Technology]], where before [[World War II]] there was a group of rocket enthusiasts led by [[Frank Malina]], under the aegis of [[Theodore von Kármán]], known amidst the people of the CIT as the "Suicide Squad." The immediate goal of the Suicide Squad was exploring the upper atmosphere which required developing the means of lofting instruments to high altitude and recovering the results. After the start of WWII the CIT rocketry enthusiast found themselves involved in a number of defense programs, one of which, deemed Corporal, was intended to produce a bombardment guided missile the Corporal. Eventually known as the [[MGM-5 Corporal]] it became the first guided missile deployed by the US Army.

During WWII the [[Signal Corps (United States Army)|Signal Corps]] created a requirement for a sounding rocket to carry {{convert|25|lb}} of instruments to {{convert|100000|ft|km}} or higher.{{sfn|Bragg|1961|p=42}} To meet that goal Malina proposed a small [[Liquid-propellant rocket]] to provide the GALCIT team necessary experience to aid in developing the Corporal missile.<ref name="Malina3">{{cite book | last1 = Malina | first1 = F. J. | date = 1969 | chapter = The U.S. Army Air Corps Jet Propulsion Research Project GALCIT Project No. 1, 1939-1946: A Memoir | url = https://ntrs.nasa.gov/enwiki/api/citations/19770026104/downloads/19770026104.pdf | title = Essays on the History of Rocketry and Astronautics: Proceedings of the Third Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, Volume II | publisher = National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office | location= Washington D.C. |page=153}}</ref><ref name="Malina2">{{cite conference |title=Frank. J Malina : Astronautical Pioneer Dedicated to International Cooperation and the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space |conference=57th International Astronautical Congress |year=2006 |doi=10.2514/6.IAC-06-H.L.4.01}} p11</ref> Malina with Tsien Hsue-shen ([[Qian Xuesen]] in Pinyin transliteration), wrote "Flight analysis of a Sounding Rocket with Special Reference to Propulsion by Successive Impulses." As the Signal Corps rocket was being developed for the Corporal project, and lacked any guidance mechanism, it was Without Attitude Control. Thus it was named the [[WAC Corporal]]. The WAC Corporal served as the foundation of Sounding Rocketry in the USA. WAC Corporal was developed in two versions the second of which was much improved. After the war the WAC Corporal was in competition for sounding mission funding with the much larger captured [[V-2 rocket]] being tested by the U.S. Army. WAC Corporal was overshadowed at its job of cost-effectively lifting pounds of experiments to altitude, thus it effectively became obsolescent. WAC Corporals were later modified to become the upper stage of the first two staged rocket the [[RTV-G-4 Bumper]].

Captured V-2s dominated American sounding rockets and other rocketry developments during the late 1940s.<ref>{{cite book |last=DeVorkin |first=David H. |title=Science With A Vengeance |publisher=[[Springer-Verlag]] |location=New York |year=1992 |isbn=0-387-94137-1}}</ref> To meet the need for replacement a new sounding rocket was developed by the [[Aerojet|Aerojet Corporation]] to meet a requirement of the [[Applied Physics Laboratory]] and the [[Naval Research Laboratory]]. Over 1,000 Aerobees of various versions for varied customers were flow between 1947 and 1985.<ref name=soundingrockets>{{cite book|author=Newell, Homer E. Jr.|title=Sounding Rockets|publisher=McGraw-Hill|location=New York|date=1959}}</ref>{{rp|57}}<ref name=Kennedy>{{cite book|author=Kennedy, Gregory P|title=The Rockets and Missiles of White Sands Proving Ground 1945–1958|publisher=Schiffer Military History|location=Atglen, PA|date=2009|isbn=978-0-7643-3251-7|page=107}}</ref> One engine produced for the Aerobee ultimately powered the second stage of the [[Vanguard (rocket)]], the first designed for the purpose [[Satellite Launch Vehicle]], Vanguard. The AJ10 engine used by many Aerobees eventually evolved into the AJ10-190 which formed the [[Orbital Maneuvering System]] of the Space Shuttle.<ref name=Sutton>{{cite book |last=Sutton |first=George |title=History of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines | year=2006 |publisher=American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics |location=Reston Virginia |isbn=1-56347-649-5}}</ref>

The [[Viking (rocket)]] was intended from the start by the Navy not only to be a sounding rocket capable of replacing, even exceeding the V-2, but also to advance guided missile technology.<ref name=vikingstory>{{cite book|author=Milton W. Rosen|title=The Viking Rocket Story|publisher=Harper & Brothers|location=New York|date=1955|oclc=317524549}}</ref> The Viking was controlled by a multi-axis guidance system with gimbled [[Reaction Motors]] XLR10-RM-2 engine. The Viking was developed through two major versions. After the United States announced it intended to launch a satellite in the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958) the Viking was chosen as the first stage of the Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle. The last two Vikings were fired as Vanguard Test Vehicle 1 and 2.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Green |first1=Constance |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19710008544 |title=Vanguard - a History |last2=Lomask |first2=Milton |publisher=NASA |year=1970 |location=Washington D.C. |page= |id=NASA-SP-4202}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>

During the post WWII era the USSR also pursued V-2 base sounding rockets. The last two R-1As were flown in 1949 as sounding rockets. They were followed between July 1951 and June 1956 by 4 R-1B, 2 R-1V, 3 R-1D and 5 R-1Es, and 1 R-1E (A-1).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/r/r-1.html |title=R-1 |last=Wade |first=Mark |date= |website=Astronautix |publisher=Mark Wade |access-date=26 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref> The improved V-2 descendant the R-2A could reach 120 miles and were flown between April 1957 and May 1962.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/r/r-2a.html |title=R-2A |last=Wade |first=Mark |date= |website=Astronautix |publisher=Mark Wade |access-date=26 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref> Fifteen R-5Vs were flown from June 1965 to October 1983. Two R-5 VAOs were flown in September 1964 and October 1965.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/r/r-5v.html |title=R-5V |last=Wade |first=Mark |date= |website=Astronautix |publisher=Mark Wade |access-date=26 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref> The first solid-fueled Soviet sounding rocket was the M-100.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/m/m-100.html |title=M-100 |last=Wade |first=Mark |date= |website=Astronautix |publisher=Mark Wade |access-date=26 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref> Some 6640 M-100 sounding rockets were flown from 1957 to 1990.

Other early users of Sounding Rockets were Britain, France and Japan.

Great Britain developed the [[Skylark (rocket)]] series and the later [[Skua]] for the [[International Geophysical Year]].<ref name=soundingrockets/>

France had begun the design of a [[Super V-2]] but that program had been abandoned in the late 1940s due to the inability of France to manufacture all components necessary. Though development of the [[Veronique (rocket)]] was began in 1949, it was not until 1952 that the first full scale Veronique was launched. Veronique variants were flown until 1974.<ref name=soundingrockets/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/v/veronique.html |title=Veronique |last=Wade |first=Mark |date= |website=Astronautix |publisher=Mark Wade |access-date=26 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref> The [[Monica (rocket)]] family, an all solid fueled which was pursued in a number of versions and later replaced by the ONERA. series of rockets.<ref name=soundingrockets/>

Japan was another early user with the [[Kappa (rocket)]]. Japan also pursued Rockoons.<ref name=soundingrockets/>

The People's Republic of China was the last nation to launch a new liquid fueled sounding rocket, the T-7.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/t/t-7.html |title=T-7 |last=Wade |first=Mark |date= |website=Astronautix |publisher=Mark Wade |access-date=28 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref> It was first fired from a very primitive launch site, where the "command center" and borrowed power generator were in a grass hut separated from the launcher by a small river. There was no communications equipment- not even a telephone between the command post and the rocket launcher. The T-7 led to the T-7M, T-7A, T-7A-S, T-7A-S2 and T-7/GF-01A. The T-7/ GF-01A was used in 1969 to launch the FSW satellite technology development missions. Thus the I-7 led to the first Chinese satellite, the Dong Fang Hong 1 (The East is Red 1), launched by a DF-1. Vital to the development of Chinese rocketry and the Dong Feng-1 was [[Qian Xuesen]] (Tsien Hsue-shen in Wade Guiles transliteration) who with [[Theodore von Kármán]] and the California Institute of Technology "Suicide Squad" created the first successful Sounding Rocket the [[WAC Corporal]].

By the early 1960s the Sounding Rocket was established technology.


== Advantages ==
== Advantages ==
Sounding rockets are advantageous for some research due to their low cost,<ref name=overview/> short lead time (sometimes less than six months)<ref name=what/> 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.<ref name=overview/> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pha.jhu.edu/groups/rocket/general.html|title=General Description of Sounding Rockets|work=Johns Hopkins University Sounding Rocket Program|accessdate=10 October 2006}}</ref>
Sounding rockets are advantageous for some research because of their low cost,<ref name=overview/> relatively short [[lead time]] (sometimes less than six months)<ref name=what/> 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.<ref name=overview/> The smaller size of a sounding rocket also makes launching from temporary sites possible, allowing [[Field research|field studies]] at remote locations, and even in the middle of the ocean, if fired from a ship.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pha.jhu.edu/groups/rocket/general.html|title=General Description of Sounding Rockets|work=Johns Hopkins University Sounding Rocket Program|access-date=10 October 2006}}</ref>

==Applications==
===Meteorology===
{{further|Atmospheric sounding}}
[[File:Loki-dart display.jpg|right|thumb|A Loki-Dart (foreground) on display at the [[White Sands Missile Range]] [[rocket garden]]]]

[[Weather]] observations, up to an altitude of 75&nbsp;km, are done with '''rocketsondes''', a kind of sounding rocket for [[atmosphere|atmospheric]] observations that consists of a [[rocket]] and [[radiosonde]]. The sonde records data on [[temperature]], [[moisture]], [[wind speed]] and direction, [[wind shear]], [[atmospheric pressure]], and [[air density]] during the flight. [[Geographic coordinate system|Position]] data ([[altitude]] and [[latitude]]/[[longitude]]) may also be recorded.

Common meteorological rockets are the [[Loki (rocket)|Loki]] and [[Loki (rocket)|Super Loki]], typically 3.7 m tall and powered by a 10&nbsp;cm diameter [[Solid-fuel rocket|solid fuel rocket motor]]. The rocket motor separates at an altitude of 1500 m and the rest of the rocketsonde coasts to [[apogee]] (highest point). This can be set to an altitude of 20&nbsp;km to 113&nbsp;km.


==Research applications==
===Research===
Sounding rockets are commonly used for:
Sounding rockets are commonly used for:
* Research in [[Aeronomy]], which requires this tool for ''in situ'' measurements in the upper atmosphere
* Research in [[aeronomy]], the study of the [[upper atmosphere]], which requires this tool for ''in situ'' measurements in the upper atmosphere.
* Ultraviolet and [[X-ray astronomy]], which require being above the bulk of the Earth's atmosphere
*[[Ultraviolet astronomy|Ultraviolet]] and [[X-ray astronomy]], which require being above the bulk of the Earth's atmosphere.
* [[Microgravity]] Research, which benefits from a few minutes of [[weightlessness]] on rockets launched to altitudes of a few hundred kilometers
*[[Microgravity]] research which benefits from a few minutes of [[weightlessness]] on rockets launched to altitudes of a few hundred kilometers.
*[[Remote sensing]] of Earth resources uses sounding rockets to get an essentially instant synoptic view of the geographical area under observation.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/07038992.1976.10854945| title=Remote Sensing of Earth Resources Sounding Rocket Capabilities| year=1976| last1=Payne| first1=B.R.| last2=Baird| first2=J.L.| journal=Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing| volume=2| pages=12–17| bibcode=1976CaJRS...2...12P}}</ref>


===Dual use===
==Operators and Programmes==
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 [[dual-use technology]], which can be used for both civil and military purposes.<ref>DeVorkin, Science With A Vengeance, [[Springer-Verlag]], New York, 1992, ISBN 0-387-94137-1</ref> During the [[Cold War]], the Federal Republic of Germany cooperated on this topic with countries that had not signed the [[Non-Proliferation Treaty]] on Nuclear Weapons at that time, such as Brazil, Argentina and India. In the course of investigations by the [[peace movement#Germany|German peace movement]], this cooperation was revealed by a group of physicists in 1983.<ref name=NeS1983>{{cite journal | last = Campbell | author-link = Duncan Campbell (journalist) | first = D. | date = 5 August 1983 | title = Germany helps Brazil to nuclear supremacy | journal = [[New Statesman]] | url= https://www.duncancampbell.org/menu/journalism/newstatesman/newstatesman-1983/germany%20helps%20brazil%20to%20nucular%20supremacy.pdf }}</ref> 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.
* The British [[Skylark (rocket)]] was first designed in 1955 and was used for 441 launches before it was terminated in 2005
* [[India]]'s [[VSSC]] developed the ''Rohini'' sounding rockets series starting in 1967 that reached altitudes of 500 km
* The Australian Space Research Institute ([[ASRI]]) operates a Small Sounding Rocket Program (SSRP) for launching payloads (mostly educational) to altitudes of about 7 km
* The [[University of Queensland]] operates Terrier-Orion sounding rockets (capable of reaching altitudes in excess of 300 km) as part of their [[HyShot]] hypersonics research
* [[Iranian Space Agency]] operated its first sounding rocket in February 2007
* [[UP Aerospace]] operates the UP Aerospace SpaceLoftXL sounding rockets that can reach altitudes of 225 km
* [[TEXUS]] and MiniTEXUS, German rocket programmes at [[Esrange]] for [[German Aerospace Center|DLR]] and [[ESA]] microgravity research programmes
* Astrium operates missions with sounding rockets on a commercial basis, as prime contractor to ESA or the German Aerospace Centre (DLR).
* [[Maser (rocket)|MASER]], Swedish rocket programme at [[Esrange]] for [[ESA]] microgravity research programmes
* [[Maxus (rocket)|MAXUS]], German-Swedish rocket programme at [[Esrange]] for [[ESA]] microgravity research programmes
* [[Rexus and Bexus|REXUS]], German-Swedish rocket programme at [[Esrange]] for [[German Aerospace Center|DLR]] and [[ESA]] student experiment programmes
* The NASA Sounding Rocket Program
* The [[JAXA]] operates the sounding rockets [[S-310]]/[[S-520]]/SS-520
* [[New Zealand]] company [[Rocket Lab]] is developing the highly adaptable Atea series of sounding rockets to carry 5-70 kg payloads to altitudes of 250 km or greater
* [http://www.Beyond-Earth.com Beyond-Earth Enterprises]


==Operators and programs==
==Other Uses==
* [[Andøya Space Center]] in Norway operates two sounding rocket launch sites, one at Andøya and one at Svalbard. Has launched sounding rockets since 1962.
The term sounding rocket is sometimes colloquially used to refer to the firework rockets used during the [[Diwali]] festival in India. The reference derives from these rockets usually exploding with a loud bang at their apogee.
* [[Poker Flat Research Range]] is owned by the [[University of Alaska Fairbanks]].
* The British [[Skylark (rocket)|Skylark sounding rocket]] programme began in 1955 and was used for 441 launches from 1957 to 2005. Skylark 12, from 1976, could lift {{convert|200|kg|lb}} to {{convert|575|km|mi}} altitude.<ref name=Serra >{{cite web
|url=http://www.sat-net.com/serra/skylar_e.htm
|title=Skylark sounding rockets
|last= Serra
|first=Jean-Jacques
|date=
|website=Rockets in Europe
|publisher=
|access-date=2021-05-20}}</ref>
* The British also developed the [[Falstaff (rocket)|Falstaff sounding rocket]] as a part of the [[Chevaline]] program. There were eight launches between 1969 and 1979 from the [[Woomera Test Range]], Australia.
* Cedar, a program of the Haigazian College Rocket Society, Ceadar 8 crossed the Karman line<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lebanon.zenith.me/en/society/lebanon-space |title=From Cedars to the Stars |last=Alhussayni |first=Ryme |date=23 October 2020 |website=Lebanon Chronicles |publisher=Zenith Channels |access-date=22 September 2024}}</ref>
* [[ISRO]]'s [[VSSC]] developed the [[Rohini sounding rocket series|''Rohini'']] sounding rockets series starting in 1967 that reached altitudes of 500&nbsp;km<ref>{{Cite news |last=The Hindu |first= |date=2022-11-23 |title=ISRO's RH-200 sounding rocket records 200th consecutive successful flight |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/isros-rh-200-sounding-rocket-records-200th-consecutive-successful-flight/article66174909.ece |access-date=2024-01-09 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sounding Rockets |url=https://www.isro.gov.in/100TH_SoundingRockets.html |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=www.isro.gov.in}}</ref>
* [[Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering]] from the [[Delft University of Technology]] operates the Stratos sounding rocket program, which reached 21.5&nbsp;km in 2015.
* Exela Space Industries is developing the Aims-1 sounding rocket that will launch to 100&nbsp;km in 2035.
* [[Evolution Space]] operates the Gold Chain Cowboy sounding rocket with launch to 124.5&nbsp;km on April 22, 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Messier |first=Doug |date=2023-04-25 |title=Evolution Space Launches Rocket on Suborbital Flight From Mojave Desert |url=https://parabolicarc.com/2023/04/25/suborbital-launches/ |access-date=2023-07-26 |website=Parabolic Arc |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-07-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230726042207/https://parabolicarc.com/2023/04/25/suborbital-launches/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* The Australian Space Research Institute ([[ASRI]]) operates a Small Sounding Rocket Program (SSRP) for launching payloads (mostly educational) to altitudes of about 7&nbsp;km.
* [[Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology|Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST)]] launched a Sounding Rocket (Vyom) in May, 2012, which reached an altitude of 15&nbsp;km. Vyom Mk-II is in its conceptual design stage with an objective to reach 70&nbsp;km altitude with 20&nbsp;kg payload capacity.<ref>{{Cite web |last=PTI |title=IIST students' designed rocket launched |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/india/iist-students-designed-rocket-launched-2333375 |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}}</ref>
* The [[University of Queensland]] operates Terrier-Orion sounding rockets (capable of reaching altitudes in excess of 300&nbsp;km) as part of their [[HyShot]] hypersonics research.
* [[Iranian Space Agency]] operated its first sounding rocket in February 2007.
* [[UP Aerospace]] operates the [[SpaceLoft XL]] sounding rocket that can reach altitudes of 225&nbsp;km.
* [[TEXUS]] and MiniTEXUS, German rocket programmes at [[Esrange]] for [[German Aerospace Center|DLR]] and [[ESA]] microgravity research programmes.
* Astrium operates missions with sounding rockets on a commercial basis, as prime contractor to ESA or the German Aerospace Centre (DLR).
* [[Maser (rocket)|MASER]], Swedish rocket programme at Esrange for ESA microgravity research programmes.
* [[Maxus (rocket)|MAXUS]], German-Swedish rocket programme at [[Esrange]] for [[ESA]] microgravity research programmes.
* Pakistan's [[Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission|SUPARCO]] launched [[Rehbar-I|Rehbar series]] of sounding rockets, based on American [[Nike-Cajun]] series of rockets, from 1962 to 1971.
* REXUS, German-Swedish rocket programme at Esrange for [[German Aerospace Center|DLR]] and ESA student experiment programmes.
* The [[NASA Sounding Rocket Program]].
* The [[JAXA]] operates the sounding rockets [[S-Series (rocket family)|S-Series]]: S-310 / S-520 / SS-520.
* United States/New Zealand company [[Rocket Lab]] developed the highly adaptable Ātea series of sounding rockets to carry 5–70&nbsp;kg payloads to altitudes of 250&nbsp;km or greater, launched once on 30 November 2009.
* The [[Meteor (rocket)|Meteor]] rockets were built in Poland between 1963 and 1974.
* The [[Kartika I]] rocket was built and launched in Indonesia by [[LAPAN]] on 1964, becoming the fourth sounding rocket in Asia, after those from Japan, China and Pakistan.
* The [[Soviet Union]] developed an extensive program using rockets such as the [[M-100 (rocket)|M-100]], the most used ever; its successor by its successor state, Russia, is the [[MR-20]] and later the MR-30.
* Brazil has been launching its own sounding rockets since 1965. The largest and most current family of rocket are the ''[[Sonda (rocket)|Sonda]]'', which are the R&D basis for Brazil's soon-to-be-launched VLS satellite launcher. Other rockets include the [[VSB-30]]
* The [[Paulet I]] rocket was built and launched in Peru by The [[National Commission for Aerospace Research and Development]] (CONIDA) on 2006, becoming the first sounding rocket of the country and the third rocket in South America, after those from Brazil and Argentina.
*The [[Experimental Sounding Rocket Association]] (ESRA) is a non-profit organization based in the United States which has operated the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) since 2006.<ref>{{Cite web|title=ESRA|url=http://www.soundingrocket.org/|access-date=2021-03-29|website=ESRA|language=en}}</ref>
* [[ONERA]] in France launched a sounding rocket named [[Titus (rocket)|Titus]], developed for observation of the total [[solar eclipse]] in Argentina on November 12, 1966. Titus was a two-stage rocket with a length of 11.5 m, a launch weight of 3.4 tons, and a diameter of 56&nbsp;cm. It reached a maximum height of 270 kilometers. It was launched twice in [[Las Palmas, Chaco]] during the eclipse, in collaboration with the Argentine space agency CNIE.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wade |first1=Mark |title=Titus |url=http://www.astronautix.com/t/titus.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228032624/http://astronautix.com/t/titus.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 28, 2016 |website=Astronautix |access-date=17 May 2020}}</ref>
* German Aerospace Center's Mobile Rocket Base ([[German Aerospace Center|DLR]] [[MORABA]]) designs, builds and operates a variety of sounding rocket types and custom vehicles in support for national and international research programs.
* [[Interstellar Technologies]] is a Japanese company that is developing the experimental [[Momo (rocket)|MOMO]] sounding rocket.


== See also ==
== See also ==
{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|
* [[Rocket Lab]]
* [[Aerobee]]
* [[Arcon (rocket)]]
* [[Astrobee]]
* [[Astrobee]]
* [[Black Brant (rocket)|Black Brant]]
* [[Bellier (rocket)]]
* [[Black Brant (rocket)]]
* [[Boosted Dart]]
* [[Boosted Dart]]
* [[Kookaburra (rocket)|Kookaburra]]
* [[Castor (rocket stage)|Castor]]
* [[Mesquito]]
* [[Castor-Lance]]
* [[Rocketsonde]]
* [[Castor-Orbus]]
* [[Seliger Rocket]]
* [[Castor-Star]]
* [[Skylark (rocket)|Skylark]]
* [[Centaure (rocket)]]
* [[Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering]]
* [[Dragon (rocket)]]
* [[Frank Malina]]
* [[Frank Malina]]
* [[Model rocket]]
* [[High Power Rocketry]]
* [[High Power Rocketry]]
* [[Hopi Dart]]
* [[Iris (rocket)]]
* [[Kappa (rocket)]]
* [[Kookaburra (rocket)]]
* [[Loki (rocket)]]
* [[Mesquito]]
* [[M-100 (rocket)]]
* [[MMR06]]
* [[Model rocket]]
* [[Monica (rocket)]]
* [[MR-12]]
* [[MR-20]]
* [[Nike-Apache]]
* [[Petrel (rocket)]]
* [[Project HARP]]
* [[Project Nike#Nike as sounding rocket|Nike Boster based sounding rockets]]
* [[R-1 (missile)]]
* [[R-2 (missile)]]
* [[R-5 Pobeda]]
* [[Raven (rocket)]]
* [[Rocket Lab]]
* [[Sonda (rocket)|Sonda]]
* [[Seliger Rocket]]
* [[Sigma (rocket)]]
* [[Skua Rocket]]
* [[Skylark (rocket)]]
* [[Sparoair]]
* [[Talos-Castor]]
* [[V-2 sounding rocket]]
* [[Veronique (rocket)]]
* [[Viking (rocket)]]
* [[VS-30|VS-30 family]]
* [[WAC Corporal]]
}}


==References ==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist|30em}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{wiktionary}}
* [http://www.astrium.eads.net/en/prog/sounding-rockets.html Sounding rockets at EADS Astrium page]
* [[ESA]] [http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/users/file.cfm?filename=facsrockets article on sounding rockets]
* [http://www.esa.int/esapub/bulletin/bullet88/peder88.htm 30 years of sounding rocket launches] at [[Esrange]] in [[Kiruna]], [[Sweden]]
* [http://www.esa.int/esapub/bulletin/bullet88/peder88.htm 30 years of sounding rocket launches] at [[Esrange]] in [[Kiruna]], [[Sweden]]
*{{cite book | last = Amato | first=Ivan | date = 2001 | title = Pushing the Horizon. Seventy-Five Years of High Stakes Science and Technology at the Naval Research Laboratory | publisher = Defense Technical Information Center | location= Fort Belvoir, Virginia}}
*[[Andøya Space Center|Sounding rockets launched from Andøya Space Center in Norway]]
* [http://www.asri.org.au/SSRP Australian Space Research Institute Small Sounding Rocket Program] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219230912/http://www.asri.org.au/SSRP |date=2008-12-19 }}
*{{Cite book | last1 = Bollermann| first1 = Bruce | date = 1970 | title = A Study of 30Km to 200Km Meteorological Rocket Sounding Systems, Volume II. Literature and Data Review| url = https://ntrs.nasa.gov/enwiki/api/citations/19700020646/downloads/19700020646.pdf | url-access = | access-date = 2024-08-28 | language = en-us | publisher = George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama}}
*{{cite book | last = Hall | first=R. Cargiil | date = 1969 | title = Essays on the History of Rockerty and Astronautics: Proceedings of the Third Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, Volume II | publisher = National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office | location= Washington D.C.}}
*{{cite book | last1 = Chertokt | first1 = Boris E. | date = 2005-01-01 | title = Rockets and People Volume I SP-2005-4110 | url = https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/635675main_rocketspeoplevolume1-ebook.pdf?emrc=3b9dce | url-access = | access-date = 2024-09-01 | language = en-us | series = The NASA History Series | publisher = National Aeronautics and Space Administration | location = Washington D.C.l}}
*{{cite book | last1 = Chertokt | first1 = Boris E. | date = 2006-06-01 | title = Rockets and People Volume II Creating a Rocket Industry SP-2006-4110 | url = https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/sp-4110-vol2.pdf?emrc=82104f | url-access = | access-date = 2024-09-01 | language = en-us | series = The NASA History Series | publisher = National Aeronautics and Space Administration | location = Washington D.C.}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100715030227/http://www.astrium.eads.net/en/prog/sounding-rockets.html Sounding rockets at EADS Astrium page]
*{{cite book | last1 = Corliss | first1 = William R. | date = 1971 | title = NASA Sounding Rockets, 1958-1968 | url =https://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4401/sp4401.htm | url-access = | access-date = 2024-08-24 | language = en-us | series = The NASA Historical Report Series | publisher = National Aeronautics and Space Administration | location= Washington D.C. Library of Congress Catalog Number = 70-169175 }}
*Cornell, Lloyd H. Jr, Editor, History of Rocketry and Astronautics AAS History Series, Number 15, [[American Astronautical Society]], San Diego, California, 1993, INBN 0-87703-377-3
*{{cite book | last1 = DeLuca | first1 = Luigi T. | date = 2017-05-21 | title = GALCIT Projects: The Birth of US Rocketry | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317175795 | url-access = | access-date = 2024-08-24 }}
*DeVorkin, David H., Science With A Vengeance, [[Springer-Verlag]], New York, 1992, ISBN 0-387-94137-1
*{{cite book | last = Dougherty | first=Kerrie | date = 2006 | title = Upper atmospheric research at Woomera: The Australian-built sounding rockets | publisher = Powerhouse Museum | location= Australia}}
*{{Cite book |last=Eckles |first=Jim |title=Pocketful Of Rockets |publisher=Fiddlebike Partnership |year=2013 |isbn=9781492773504 |location=Las Cruces, New Mexico}}
*[http://www.soundingrocket.org/ Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA)]*{{cite book | last1 = Fraser | first1 = L. W. | last2 = Siegler | first2 = E. H. | date = 1948 | title = To High Altitude Research Using The V-2 Rocket | url = https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0636108.pdf | url-access = | access-date = 2024-08-28 | language = en-us | publisher = [[Defense Technical Information Center]]}}
* {{cite book |last1=Green |first1=Constance |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19710008544 |title=Vanguard - a History |last2=Lomask |first2=Milton |publisher=NASA |year=1970 |location=Washington D.C. |page= |id=NASA-SP-4202}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070323162515/http://spaceflight.esa.int/users/index.cfm?act=default.page&level=11&page=1792 German, Swedish and EADS-ST Programmes]* [[ESA]] [http://wsn.spaceflight.esa.int/docs/EUG2LGPr3/EUG2LGPr3-6-SoundingRockets.pdf article on sounding rockets]
*{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Gregory P. |title=The Rockets and Missiles of White Sands Proving Grounds 1945-1958 |publisher=Schiffer Military History |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7643-3251-7 |location=Atglen, Pennsylvania}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Morrow |first1=Richard B. |title=Small Sounding Rockets |last2=Pines |first2=Mitchell S. |publisher=Small Rocket Press |year=2000 |isbn=0-967-4106-0-6 |location=Searingtown, New York}}
*{{cite book | last1 = Murphy | first1 = C. H. | last2 = Bull | first2 = G. V. | date = 1967-02-01 | title = BRL Memorandum Report No. 1825 | url = https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD0654123.pdf | url-access = | access-date = 2024-09-07 | language = en-us | series = U.S. Army Material Command, Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland | publisher = [[Defense Technical Information Center]]}}
* [http://rscience.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html NASA Sounding Rocket Program]
* [http://rscience.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html NASA Sounding Rocket Program]
* [http://www.nsroc.com NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000302115537/http://www.nsroc.com/ NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract]
* [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4401/sp4401.htm ''NASA Sounding Rockets, 1958&ndash;1968: A Historical Summary'' (NASA SP-4401, 1971)]
* [https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4401/sp4401.htm ''NASA Sounding Rockets, 1958&ndash;1968: A Historical Summary'' (NASA SP-4401, 1971)]
*{{Cite book |last=Newell |first=Homer E. Jr. |title=Express to the Stars |publisher=McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1961, Library of Congress Card Number 61-16734 |location=New York}}
* [http://www.asri.org.au/SSRP Australian Space Research Institute Small Sounding Rocket Program]
*{{Cite book |last=Newell |first=Homer E. Jr. |title=Sounding Rockets |publisher=McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1959,Library of Congress Card Number 59-13884 |location=New York}}
* [http://www.upaerospace.com/index.html UP Aerospace]
*{{cite book | last1 = Peraton, Inc | date = 2023 | title = NASA Sounding Rockets User Handbook | url = https://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810/files/SRHB.pdf | url-access = | access-date = 2023-05-24 | language = en-us | series = | publisher = National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA/TP-20230006855 | location= Greenbelt, Maryland}}
* [http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/users/index.cfm?act=default.page&level=11&page=1792 German, Swedish and EADS-ST Programmes]
*Rosen, Milton W., The Viking Rocket Story, Harper & Brothers, New York, Library of Congress Card Number 55-6592
* [http://www.ssc.se/?id=6279 MASER Programme of the Swedish Space Corporation]
*{{cite book | last1 = Seibertt | first1 = Günther | title = The History of Sounding Rockets and Their Contribution to European Space Research | publisher=ESA Publications Division |year=2006 |isbn=92-9092-550-7 |location=The Netherlands}}
*Smith, Jr., Charles P., Pressly. Elanor C., 1958, Upper Atmosphere Research Report No. XXI Summary of Upper Atmosphere Research Firings, https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADB957191.pdf, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C.*{{cite book | last = Sounding Rocket Division | date = 1971 | title = The United States Sounding Rocket Program | publisher = Godard Space Flight Center | location= Greenbelt, Maryland}}
*White, L.D., 1952, Final Report, Project Hermes V-2 Missile Program, General Electric Company, Defense Products Group, Aeronauti and Ordnance Systems Division, Guided Missile Dept Schenectady, NY, Call Number 39088014776371, lccn96036508, oclc 1045303092l, https://archive.org/details/finalreportproje00whi


{{Meteorological equipment}}
{{Meteorological equipment}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:Sounding rockets|*]]
[[Category:Sounding rockets| ]]
[[Category:Meteorological instrumentation and equipment]]
[[Category:Meteorological instrumentation and equipment]]

[[ar:صاروخ تجارب]]
[[de:Höhenforschungsrakete]]
[[es:Cohete sonda]]
[[eo:Sonda raketo]]
[[fr:Fusée-sonde]]
[[ko:관측 로켓]]
[[it:Razzo-sonda]]
[[ml:സൗണ്ടിംഗ് റോക്കറ്റ്]]
[[nl:Sondeerraket]]
[[ja:観測ロケット]]
[[no:Sonderakett]]
[[nn:Sonderakett]]
[[pl:Rakieta sondażowa]]
[[pt:Foguete de sondagem]]
[[ru:Метеорологическая ракета]]
[[fi:Luotainraketti]]
[[sv:Sondraket]]
[[zh:探空火箭]]

Latest revision as of 19:48, 5 November 2024

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 sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to launch instruments from 48 to 145 km (30 to 90 miles)[1] above the surface of the Earth, the altitude generally between weather balloons and satellites; the maximum altitude for balloons is about 40 km (25 miles) and the minimum for satellites is approximately 121 km (75 miles).[2] Certain sounding rockets have an apogee between 1,000 and 1,500 km (620 and 930 miles), such as the Black Brant X and XII, which is the maximum apogee of their class. For certain purposes Sounding Rockets may be flown to altitudes as high as 3,000 kilometers to allow observing times of around 40 minutes to provide geophysical observations of the magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere and mesosphere.[3] Sounding rockets have been used for the examination of atmospheric nuclear tests by revealing the passage of the shock wave through the atmosphere.[4] [5] In more recent times Sounding Rockets have been used for other nuclear weapons research.[6] Sounding rockets often use military surplus rocket motors.[7] NASA routinely flies the Terrier Mk 70 boosted Improved Orion, lifting 270–450-kg (600–1,000-pound) payloads into the exoatmospheric region between 97 and 201 km (60 and 125 miles).[8]

Etymology

[edit]

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".[7]

Design

[edit]
Sample payloads for sounding rockets

The basic elements of a modern sounding rocket are a solid-fuel rocket motor and a science payload.[7] In certain Sounding Rockets the payload may even be nothing more than a smoke trail as in the Nike Smoke which is used to determine wind directions and strengths more accurately than may be determined by weather balloons. Or a Sounding Rocket such as the Nike-Apache may deposit sodium clouds to observe very high altitude winds. Larger, higher altitude rockets have multiple stages to increase altitude and/or payload capability. 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 30 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 often separates and falls away, leaving the payload to complete the arc, sometimes descending under a drag source such as a small balloon or a parachute.[7]

Sounding rockets have utilized balloons, airplanes and artillery as "first stages." Project Farside[9][10] utilized a Rockoon composed of a 106,188-m3 (3,750-ft3) balloon, lifting a four stage rocket composed of 4 Recrute rockets as the first stage with 1 Recruit as the second stage, with 4 Arrow II motors composing the third stage and finally a single Arrow II as the fourth stage. Sparoair, air launched from Navy F4D and F-4 fighters were examples of air launched sounding rockets. There were also examples of artillery launched sounding rockets including Project HARP's 5", 7", and 15" guns, sometimes having additional Martlet rocket stages.[11]

Development history

[edit]

The earliest Sounding Rockets were liquid propellant rockets such as the WAC Corporal, Aerobee, and Viking. The German V-2 served both the US and the USSR's R-1 missile as sounding rockets during the immediate Post World War II periods. During the 1950s and later the inexpensive availability of surplus military boosters such as those used by the Nike, Talos, Terrier, and Sparrow. Since the 1960s designed for the purpose rockets such as the Black Brant series have dominated sounding rockets, though often having additional stages, many from military surplus.

The earliest attempts at developing Sounding Rockets were in the Soviet Union. While all of the early rocket developers were concerned largely with developing the ability to launch rockets some had the objective of investigating the stratosphere and beyond. The All-Union Conference on the Study of Stratosphere was held in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1936. While the conference primarily dealt with balloon Radiosondes, there was a small group of rocket developers who sought to develop "recording rockets" to explore the stratosphere and beyond.[12] Amongst the speakers at the conference was Sergey Korolev[citation needed] who later became the leading figure of the Soviet space program.

Specifically interested in sounding rocket design were V. V. Razumov, of the Leningrad Group for the Study of Jet Propulsion. A. I. Polyarny working in a special group within the Society for Assistance to the Defense, Aviation and Chemical Construction of the U.S.S.R in Moscow designed the R-06 which eventually flew but not in the meteorological role.[12]

The early Soviet efforts to develop a sounding rocket were the earliest efforts to develop a sounding rocket and ultimately failed before WWII.[12] P. I. Ivanov built a three-stage which flew in March 1946. At the end of summer 1946 development ended because it lacked sufficient thrust to loft a sufficient research payload.[12]

The first successful sounding rocket was created at the California Institute of Technology, where before World War II there was a group of rocket enthusiasts led by Frank Malina, under the aegis of Theodore von Kármán, known amidst the people of the CIT as the "Suicide Squad." The immediate goal of the Suicide Squad was exploring the upper atmosphere which required developing the means of lofting instruments to high altitude and recovering the results. After the start of WWII the CIT rocketry enthusiast found themselves involved in a number of defense programs, one of which, deemed Corporal, was intended to produce a bombardment guided missile the Corporal. Eventually known as the MGM-5 Corporal it became the first guided missile deployed by the US Army.

During WWII the Signal Corps created a requirement for a sounding rocket to carry 25 pounds (11 kg) of instruments to 100,000 feet (30 km) or higher.[13] To meet that goal Malina proposed a small Liquid-propellant rocket to provide the GALCIT team necessary experience to aid in developing the Corporal missile.[14][15] Malina with Tsien Hsue-shen (Qian Xuesen in Pinyin transliteration), wrote "Flight analysis of a Sounding Rocket with Special Reference to Propulsion by Successive Impulses." As the Signal Corps rocket was being developed for the Corporal project, and lacked any guidance mechanism, it was Without Attitude Control. Thus it was named the WAC Corporal. The WAC Corporal served as the foundation of Sounding Rocketry in the USA. WAC Corporal was developed in two versions the second of which was much improved. After the war the WAC Corporal was in competition for sounding mission funding with the much larger captured V-2 rocket being tested by the U.S. Army. WAC Corporal was overshadowed at its job of cost-effectively lifting pounds of experiments to altitude, thus it effectively became obsolescent. WAC Corporals were later modified to become the upper stage of the first two staged rocket the RTV-G-4 Bumper.

Captured V-2s dominated American sounding rockets and other rocketry developments during the late 1940s.[16] To meet the need for replacement a new sounding rocket was developed by the Aerojet Corporation to meet a requirement of the Applied Physics Laboratory and the Naval Research Laboratory. Over 1,000 Aerobees of various versions for varied customers were flow between 1947 and 1985.[17]: 57 [18] One engine produced for the Aerobee ultimately powered the second stage of the Vanguard (rocket), the first designed for the purpose Satellite Launch Vehicle, Vanguard. The AJ10 engine used by many Aerobees eventually evolved into the AJ10-190 which formed the Orbital Maneuvering System of the Space Shuttle.[19]

The Viking (rocket) was intended from the start by the Navy not only to be a sounding rocket capable of replacing, even exceeding the V-2, but also to advance guided missile technology.[20] The Viking was controlled by a multi-axis guidance system with gimbled Reaction Motors XLR10-RM-2 engine. The Viking was developed through two major versions. After the United States announced it intended to launch a satellite in the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958) the Viking was chosen as the first stage of the Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle. The last two Vikings were fired as Vanguard Test Vehicle 1 and 2.[21]

During the post WWII era the USSR also pursued V-2 base sounding rockets. The last two R-1As were flown in 1949 as sounding rockets. They were followed between July 1951 and June 1956 by 4 R-1B, 2 R-1V, 3 R-1D and 5 R-1Es, and 1 R-1E (A-1).[22] The improved V-2 descendant the R-2A could reach 120 miles and were flown between April 1957 and May 1962.[23] Fifteen R-5Vs were flown from June 1965 to October 1983. Two R-5 VAOs were flown in September 1964 and October 1965.[24] The first solid-fueled Soviet sounding rocket was the M-100.[25] Some 6640 M-100 sounding rockets were flown from 1957 to 1990.

Other early users of Sounding Rockets were Britain, France and Japan.

Great Britain developed the Skylark (rocket) series and the later Skua for the International Geophysical Year.[17]

France had begun the design of a Super V-2 but that program had been abandoned in the late 1940s due to the inability of France to manufacture all components necessary. Though development of the Veronique (rocket) was began in 1949, it was not until 1952 that the first full scale Veronique was launched. Veronique variants were flown until 1974.[17][26] The Monica (rocket) family, an all solid fueled which was pursued in a number of versions and later replaced by the ONERA. series of rockets.[17]

Japan was another early user with the Kappa (rocket). Japan also pursued Rockoons.[17]

The People's Republic of China was the last nation to launch a new liquid fueled sounding rocket, the T-7.[27] It was first fired from a very primitive launch site, where the "command center" and borrowed power generator were in a grass hut separated from the launcher by a small river. There was no communications equipment- not even a telephone between the command post and the rocket launcher. The T-7 led to the T-7M, T-7A, T-7A-S, T-7A-S2 and T-7/GF-01A. The T-7/ GF-01A was used in 1969 to launch the FSW satellite technology development missions. Thus the I-7 led to the first Chinese satellite, the Dong Fang Hong 1 (The East is Red 1), launched by a DF-1. Vital to the development of Chinese rocketry and the Dong Feng-1 was Qian Xuesen (Tsien Hsue-shen in Wade Guiles transliteration) who with Theodore von Kármán and the California Institute of Technology "Suicide Squad" created the first successful Sounding Rocket the WAC Corporal.

By the early 1960s the Sounding Rocket was established technology.

Advantages

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Sounding rockets are advantageous for some research because of their low cost,[2] relatively short lead time (sometimes less than six months)[7] 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.[28]

Applications

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Meteorology

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Further information: Atmospheric sounding
A Loki-Dart (foreground) on display at the White Sands Missile Range rocket garden

Weather observations, up to an altitude of 75 km, are done with rocketsondes, a kind of sounding rocket for atmospheric observations that consists of a rocket and radiosonde. The sonde records data on temperature, moisture, wind speed and direction, wind shear, atmospheric pressure, and air density during the flight. Position data (altitude and latitude/longitude) may also be recorded.

Common meteorological rockets are the Loki and Super Loki, typically 3.7 m tall and powered by a 10 cm diameter solid fuel rocket motor. The rocket motor separates at an altitude of 1500 m and the rest of the rocketsonde coasts to apogee (highest point). This can be set to an altitude of 20 km to 113 km.

Research

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Sounding rockets are commonly used for:

  • Research in aeronomy, the study of the upper atmosphere, which requires this tool for in situ measurements in the upper atmosphere.
  • Ultraviolet and X-ray astronomy, which require being above the bulk of the Earth's atmosphere.
  • Microgravity research which benefits from a few minutes of weightlessness on rockets launched to altitudes of a few hundred kilometers.
  • Remote sensing of Earth resources uses sounding rockets to get an essentially instant synoptic view of the geographical area under observation.[29]

Dual use

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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 dual-use technology, which can be used for both civil and military purposes.[30] During the Cold War, the Federal Republic of Germany cooperated on this topic with countries that had not signed the 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.[31] 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

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  • Andøya Space Center in Norway operates two sounding rocket launch sites, one at Andøya and one at Svalbard. Has launched sounding rockets since 1962.
  • Poker Flat Research Range is owned by the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
  • The British Skylark sounding rocket programme began in 1955 and was used for 441 launches from 1957 to 2005. Skylark 12, from 1976, could lift 200 kilograms (440 lb) to 575 kilometres (357 mi) altitude.[32]
  • The British also developed the Falstaff sounding rocket as a part of the Chevaline program. There were eight launches between 1969 and 1979 from the Woomera Test Range, Australia.
  • Cedar, a program of the Haigazian College Rocket Society, Ceadar 8 crossed the Karman line[33]
  • ISRO's VSSC developed the Rohini sounding rockets series starting in 1967 that reached altitudes of 500 km[34][35]
  • Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering from the Delft University of Technology operates the Stratos sounding rocket program, which reached 21.5 km in 2015.
  • Exela Space Industries is developing the Aims-1 sounding rocket that will launch to 100 km in 2035.
  • Evolution Space operates the Gold Chain Cowboy sounding rocket with launch to 124.5 km on April 22, 2023.[36]
  • The Australian Space Research Institute (ASRI) operates a Small Sounding Rocket Program (SSRP) for launching payloads (mostly educational) to altitudes of about 7 km.
  • Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) launched a Sounding Rocket (Vyom) in May, 2012, which reached an altitude of 15 km. Vyom Mk-II is in its conceptual design stage with an objective to reach 70 km altitude with 20 kg payload capacity.[37]
  • The University of Queensland operates Terrier-Orion sounding rockets (capable of reaching altitudes in excess of 300 km) as part of their HyShot hypersonics research.
  • Iranian Space Agency operated its first sounding rocket in February 2007.
  • UP Aerospace operates the SpaceLoft XL sounding rocket that can reach altitudes of 225 km.
  • TEXUS and MiniTEXUS, German rocket programmes at Esrange for DLR and ESA microgravity research programmes.
  • Astrium operates missions with sounding rockets on a commercial basis, as prime contractor to ESA or the German Aerospace Centre (DLR).
  • MASER, Swedish rocket programme at Esrange for ESA microgravity research programmes.
  • MAXUS, German-Swedish rocket programme at Esrange for ESA microgravity research programmes.
  • Pakistan's SUPARCO launched Rehbar series of sounding rockets, based on American Nike-Cajun series of rockets, from 1962 to 1971.
  • REXUS, German-Swedish rocket programme at Esrange for DLR and ESA student experiment programmes.
  • The NASA Sounding Rocket Program.
  • The JAXA operates the sounding rockets S-Series: S-310 / S-520 / SS-520.
  • United States/New Zealand company Rocket Lab developed the highly adaptable Ātea series of sounding rockets to carry 5–70 kg payloads to altitudes of 250 km or greater, launched once on 30 November 2009.
  • The Meteor rockets were built in Poland between 1963 and 1974.
  • The Kartika I rocket was built and launched in Indonesia by LAPAN on 1964, becoming the fourth sounding rocket in Asia, after those from Japan, China and Pakistan.
  • The Soviet Union developed an extensive program using rockets such as the M-100, the most used ever; its successor by its successor state, Russia, is the MR-20 and later the MR-30.
  • Brazil has been launching its own sounding rockets since 1965. The largest and most current family of rocket are the Sonda, which are the R&D basis for Brazil's soon-to-be-launched VLS satellite launcher. Other rockets include the VSB-30
  • The Paulet I rocket was built and launched in Peru by The National Commission for Aerospace Research and Development (CONIDA) on 2006, becoming the first sounding rocket of the country and the third rocket in South America, after those from Brazil and Argentina.
  • The Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA) is a non-profit organization based in the United States which has operated the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) since 2006.[38]
  • ONERA in France launched a sounding rocket named Titus, developed for observation of the total solar eclipse in Argentina on November 12, 1966. Titus was a two-stage rocket with a length of 11.5 m, a launch weight of 3.4 tons, and a diameter of 56 cm. It reached a maximum height of 270 kilometers. It was launched twice in Las Palmas, Chaco during the eclipse, in collaboration with the Argentine space agency CNIE.[39]
  • German Aerospace Center's Mobile Rocket Base (DLR MORABA) designs, builds and operates a variety of sounding rocket types and custom vehicles in support for national and international research programs.
  • Interstellar Technologies is a Japanese company that is developing the experimental MOMO sounding rocket.

See also

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References

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  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. ^ "High Altitude Sounding Rocket" (PDF). NASA Sounding Rocket Program. NASA. 29 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Rope Trick effect" (PDF). Wikipedia. 29 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Rope Trick effect". Rapatronic Photography. Navada National Security Site. 29 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  6. ^ "Sandia delivers first DOE sounding rocket program since 1990s". Rapatronic Photography. Sandia National Labrtories. 29 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e Marconi, Elaine M. (12 April 2004). "What is a Sounding Rocket?". Research Aircraft. NASA. Retrieved 10 October 2006.
  8. ^ NASA Sounding Rocket Handbook
  9. ^ "Farside". Astronautix. Mark Wade. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  10. ^ Krebs, Gunter. "Farside". Gunter’s Space Page. Gunter Krebs. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  11. ^ BRL Memorandum Report No. 1825
  12. ^ a b c d !NASA. "Essays on the History of Rocketry and Astronautics" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  13. ^ Bragg 1961, p. 42.
  14. ^ Malina, F. J. (1969). "The U.S. Army Air Corps Jet Propulsion Research Project GALCIT Project No. 1, 1939-1946: A Memoir". Essays on the History of Rocketry and Astronautics: Proceedings of the Third Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, Volume II (PDF). Washington D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office. p. 153.
  15. ^ Frank. J Malina : Astronautical Pioneer Dedicated to International Cooperation and the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. 57th International Astronautical Congress. 2006. doi:10.2514/6.IAC-06-H.L.4.01. p11
  16. ^ DeVorkin, David H. (1992). Science With A Vengeance. New York: Springer-Verlag. ISBN 0-387-94137-1.
  17. ^ a b c d e Newell, Homer E. Jr. (1959). Sounding Rockets. New York: McGraw-Hill.
  18. ^ Kennedy, Gregory P (2009). The Rockets and Missiles of White Sands Proving Ground 1945–1958. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-7643-3251-7.
  19. ^ Sutton, George (2006). History of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines. Reston Virginia: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. ISBN 1-56347-649-5.
  20. ^ Milton W. Rosen (1955). The Viking Rocket Story. New York: Harper & Brothers. OCLC 317524549.
  21. ^ Green, Constance; Lomask, Milton (1970). Vanguard - a History. Washington D.C.: NASA. NASA-SP-4202. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  22. ^ Wade, Mark. "R-1". Astronautix. Mark Wade. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  23. ^ Wade, Mark. "R-2A". Astronautix. Mark Wade. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  24. ^ Wade, Mark. "R-5V". Astronautix. Mark Wade. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  25. ^ Wade, Mark. "M-100". Astronautix. Mark Wade. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  26. ^ Wade, Mark. "Veronique". Astronautix. Mark Wade. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  27. ^ Wade, Mark. "T-7". Astronautix. Mark Wade. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  28. ^ "General Description of Sounding Rockets". Johns Hopkins University Sounding Rocket Program. Retrieved 10 October 2006.
  29. ^ Payne, B.R.; Baird, J.L. (1976). "Remote Sensing of Earth Resources Sounding Rocket Capabilities". Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing. 2: 12–17. Bibcode:1976CaJRS...2...12P. doi:10.1080/07038992.1976.10854945.
  30. ^ DeVorkin, Science With A Vengeance, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1992, ISBN 0-387-94137-1
  31. ^ Campbell, D. (5 August 1983). "Germany helps Brazil to nuclear supremacy" (PDF). New Statesman.
  32. ^ Serra, Jean-Jacques. "Skylark sounding rockets". Rockets in Europe. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  33. ^ Alhussayni, Ryme (23 October 2020). "From Cedars to the Stars". Lebanon Chronicles. Zenith Channels. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  34. ^ The Hindu (2022-11-23). "ISRO's RH-200 sounding rocket records 200th consecutive successful flight". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  35. ^ "Sounding Rockets". www.isro.gov.in. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  36. ^ Messier, Doug (2023-04-25). "Evolution Space Launches Rocket on Suborbital Flight From Mojave Desert". Parabolic Arc. Archived from the original on 2023-07-26. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  37. ^ PTI. "IIST students' designed rocket launched". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  38. ^ "ESRA". ESRA. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  39. ^ Wade, Mark. "Titus". Astronautix. Archived from the original on December 28, 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
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