Trailblazer 2
Launch vehicle · USA
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
American test vehicle. NASA rocket designed for high-speed re-entry tests.
The Trailblazer 2 continued the work of NASA's Trailblazer 1 in taking re-entry test payloads high into space, then ramming them back down into the atmosphere. However the earlier version had a very small payload, meaning only ground observations could be made of the re-entry. The Trailblazer-2 was much more powerful, meaning instrumentation in the vehicle could send data to the ground. The first two stages of the rocket would take the upper stage package to an altitude of 300 km. The upper two stages would then fire, driving the 18 kg payload into the atmosphere at 6.1 km/sec.
The rocket was also used for further 'artificial meteorite' experiments. 0.7-0.8 gram steel pellets or chunks of explosive would be accelerated by a fifth stage and a shaped charge to up to 11.9 km/sec. The meteorite trails thus created were observed from the ground and gave astronomers a calibrated basis for inferring the size of natural meteorites from the trails they created.
Payload: 18 kg (39 lb) to a 300 km altitude.
More at: Trailblazer 2.
Related
- Family
- test vehicle
- Country
- USA
- Launch Sites
- Wallops Island
- Stages
- Altair 1, Cygnus 15, TX-77, 1.5KS35000, Castor 1
- Agency
- NASA Langley
Chronology
16 events
1961 December 14
07:09 GMT - . Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Trailblazer test vehicle. Launch Vehicle: Trailblazer 2.- Trailblazer IIa re-entry vehicle test flight - .
Nation: USA.
Agency: NASA.
Apogee: 157 km (97 mi).
NASA fired a four-stage solid-fuel Trailblazer rocket from Wallops Station, Virginia, in the first of a series of reentry tests. Two stages boosted the rocket to 167 miles; then the other two drove the nose cone down through the atmosphere at 14,000 miles per hour.
1962 May 6
05:41 GMT - . Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Trailblazer test vehicle. Launch Vehicle: Trailblazer 2.1963
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Trailblazer test vehicle. Launch Vehicle: Trailblazer 2.- Trailblazer IId re-entry vehicle test flight - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA. Apogee: 300 km (180 mi).
1965 May 1
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Trailblazer test vehicle. Launch Vehicle: Trailblazer 2.- Ultraviolet reentry experiment Re-entry vehicle test - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA. Apogee: 300 km (180 mi).