PGM-19 Jupiter

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A USAF Jupiter

The PGM-19 Jupiter was a medium-range missile (IRBM) developed by Wernher von Braun on behalf of the US Army . It was based on the PGM-11 Redstone , but had a range increased to 2,410 km.

history

In 1953, Wernher von Braun began planning a successor to Redstone with an extended range . At that time, he presented his plans to the responsible authorities and applied to be entrusted with the development. Work on this rocket then began in 1956 as a joint project between the Army and the Navy . A year earlier, President Eisenhower described the development of a modern medium-range missile as one of the country's most important armaments projects. The Navy withdrew towards the end of 1956 from the program, which was continued by the Army alone. As a result of the Sputnik shock , Eisenhower ordered a large number of these missiles in addition to the Thor in 1957 . Series production began in 1958. In 1960 three squadrons with 15 missiles and around 500 men were put into service. The rocket was built by the Chrysler Corporation .

It was originally planned that the rocket would be used by the United States Army as well as the United States Navy, which is why the rocket was built to be extremely short to accommodate on surface ships and submarines . In order to still be able to accommodate enough fuel in the tanks, it was given a significantly larger diameter than the Redstone, too large for the transport aircraft that existed at the time.

Like the Redstone, the rocket was powered by the fuel combination oxygen and RP-1 (a type of kerosene ). However, the US Navy got out of the project and relied on the Polaris solid rocket for its submarines .

The PGM-19 Jupiter is not to be confused with the Jupiter-C rocket, which is an extended Redstone rocket and was used during the development of the PGM-19 for tests of its reentry vehicle and was subsequently used with solid upper stages as the Juno I launch vehicle .

commitment

Jupiter missiles armed with nuclear warheads were stationed in Italy ( Gioia del Colle ) and Turkey ( Izmir ), but withdrawn from there in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis. From the military Jupiter rocket, the launch vehicle Juno II was created with two solid upper stages (or three in an extended version) , which had a slightly higher payload capacity than the Juno I.

Technical specifications

A Jupiter rocket before a night launch
Launch of a Jupiter medium-range missile
Parameter Data of the PGM-19 Jupiter
Length: 18.3 m
Diameter : 2.67 m
Takeoff weight : 49,353 kg
Empty weight : 6,221 kg
Oxygen ( LOX ): 31,189 kg
RP-1 (type of kerosene): 13,796 kg
Thrust : 667 kN
Engine: Rocketdyne LR70-NA (Model S-3D)
Specific impulse : 247.5 m / s (2,448 N * s / kg)
Burn time: 157.8 s
Fuel consumption : 284.7 kg / s
Range : 2,410 km
Flight time : 1,016.9 s
Speed ​​at the end of the burn : Mach 13.04 (14,458 km / h)
Re-entry speed : Mach 15.45 (17,131 km / h)
Acceleration : 13.69 g (134 m / s²)
Delay: 44.0 g (431 m / s²)
Maximum altitude : 628 km
Target accuracy : 50% within a radius of 1,500 m
Warhead : 1.45 Mt Thermonuclear W-49
Ignition: Approach and impact
Control: Inertial

Web links

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