Missile test
A rocket test is the testing of the functionality of a newly developed or converted rocket engine . Such tests are necessary in large numbers in order to gradually check all units for their proper function and finally to refine their mutual coordination in the overall rocket system.
A rocket consists of many thousands of individual parts, the smooth functioning of which must be guaranteed to almost 100% in order to keep the failure probability below a few percent or per thousand. The greatest challenges lie in the necessary heat resistance (extreme temperatures in the combustion chamber ), the mechanical stability - also against the vibrations that occur at every start - as well as the reliable control and averting of the risk of explosion .
Since the development of the first larger rockets in the 1920s ( e.g. by rocket pioneers such as Robert Goddard and Max Valier ), rocket tests have been carried out in several stages: heat resistance of the material, fuel components and combustion efficiency, optimization of the combustion chamber and nozzle shape (see Laval nozzle ), Ground tests on the rocket test stand , first flight tests, optimization of the gyro control , as well as flight tests under load.
As a result of the high risk of explosion, serious accidents often occurred in the early days - but space travel has not been entirely spared to this day - but also to the optimal coordination of the individual test phases.
German engineers led by Wernher von Braun needed around 400 test shots during the Second World War until the unit 4 (V2) was ready for use.
Today, the mass media use the word missile test primarily for the first flight or long-range tests of military missiles , which are attracting a great deal of political and media attention , especially from potential nuclear powers such as Pakistan or states classified as unpredictable such as Iran or North Korea .
For example, in April 2012 the third North Korean missile test in a row failed.
In the testing of missile weapons, in addition to the pure functional check, there is also the perfect interaction with the missile carrier (especially an aircraft ) and the operating personnel. How important these tests are, too, is shown by a bizarre aircraft accident that gave the two pilots involved the humorous title “The Tomcat pilots who shot themselves down”. During a weapon test on June 20, 1973, the prototype of a Grumman F-14 collided with an AIM-7 Sparrow missile that had been shot down by the same machine shortly before . The jet crew was just able to save themselves with the ejection seat .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b spiegel.de: Kim does a little boom