DOCSLIB.ORG

Bombing Hitler's Supergun PBS/NOVA Airdate: May 11, 2016

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Bombing Hitler's Supergun PBS/NOVA Airdate: May 11, 2016 archived as http://www.stealthskater.com/Documents/Nazi_Supergun.doc (also …Nazi_Supergun.pdf) => doc pdf URL-doc URL-pdf more on this topic is on the /Military.htm page at doc pdf URL note: because important websites are frequently "here today but gone tomorrow", the following was archived from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/military/hitlers-supergun.html on January 16, 2018. This is NOT an attempt to divert readers any website. Indeed, the reader should only read this back-up copy if it cannot be found at the original author's site. Bombing Hitler's Supergun PBS/NOVA Airdate: May 11, 2016 NARRATOR: It is the height of World War II. Allied intelligence officers spot something terrifying. The muzzle of an enormous cannon protruding from an underground Nazi bunker. It is a SuperGun. A monstrous new weapon, part of Hitler's plan to reduce London to rubble and win the War through terror. TONY POLLARD (Battlefield Archaeologist): It's a very cruel and a very nasty way of making war. But they believed it might work. NARRATOR: The Allies hatch 2 bold plans to defeat it. One involves Joe Kennedy, Jr., the eldest son of what would become an American political dynasty. He would be piloting an explosive drone. NICK SPARK (World War II Drone Expert): What happened to Joe Kennedy and his co-pilot on that plane is actually one of the greatest mysteries of World War II. NARRATOR: The other scheme would use the biggest bomb the world had ever seen. But would either plan work? HUGH HUNT (Engineer): 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... NARRATOR: Now in a series of explosive experiments, engineer Hugh Hunt will investigate the allies' bunker-busting technologies. HUGH HUNT: It's vanished. There's ground-zero and there's nothing there. NARRATOR: And he will build his own supergun … HUGH HUNT: Firing! NARRATOR: …to see if the weapon really could have brought London to its knees. Bombing Hitler's Supergun -- right now on NOVA. By spring of 1943, the tide of World War II was beginning to turn against Hitler. In an effort to regain the offensive, he drew up plans for the World's biggest gun. With 25 barrels, this - 1 - enormous cannon would be buried deep underground in Nazi-controlled France. It was designed to fire shells 100 miles, cripple London, and pave the way for a Nazi victory. In a desperate race to knock out Hitler's supergun, the Allies devised their own miracle weapons. The Americans pioneered the drone. A radio-controlled heavy bomber packed with 12 tons of high explosives. Leading the drone mission was 29-year-old Joe Kennedy, Jr., a man groomed from birth to be the first Catholic president of the United States. The British drafted in the brilliant engineer Barnes Wallis. He came up with the original bunker-buster. A bomb that would explode underground and trigger a manmade earthquake. The Allied efforts were focused on the tiny hamlet of Mimoyecques 5 miles inland from the French coast. On the surface, it's now just a ruin. But hidden inside this hollowed-out hill is the secret installation built to house the V-3 Nazi supergun. TONY POLLARD: Good grief! HUGH HUNT: I can't quite make sense of this. This isn't natural rock. This is concrete. TONY POLLARD: No, this is a roof. Look at it. It's 4-or-5 meters thick! NARRATOR: Engineer Hugh Hunt and battlefield archaeologist Tony Pollard have been drawn to find answers to the many questions that remain about this mysterious super weapon. HUGH HUNT: This was the entrance of a tunnel? TONY POLLARD: Yes. It looks as though there is some sort of hatchway. NARRATOR: How did it work? Was it powerful enough to hit London 100 miles away? And could it have ended the War? These are the mysteries that Tony and Hugh are trying to solve. HUGH HUNT: This is a glorified pillbox with a 130-meter-long gun. I'd love to see what's underground. ... Right. Let's go. NARRATOR: The fortified bunker has not been fully explored since the War. TONY POLLARD: Whoa! That's slippy! You okay? HUGH HUNT: Yep, yep! NARRATOR: They rappel down one of the steep shafts that would have each contained 5 barrels of the supergun. TONY POLLARD: Wow! Look how steep it looks from the bottom! This is certainly BIG. HUGH HUNT: This, we reckon, is about 50 meters. TONY POLLARD: And it was 130 meters. HUGH HUNT: And this is one-third of the way down. - 2 - NARRATOR: The shaft extends a further 300 feet beneath them. But now it's blocked by rubble. Today, there is no sign of the barrels. But the design of the shaft reveals a telling detail. HUGH HUNT: This tunnel is centered very accurately on a particular line. ... Well, here we are here at Mimoyecques. And this particular tunnel that we see here points directly over here at Westminster Bridge. Which is astonishing! NARRATOR: Hitler's gun was trained right on central London. By the spring of 1943, the Nazis had tasted defeat in the deserts of North Africa. And they had been driven from the Soviet Union after a bloody battle at Stalingrad. Hitler was determined to strike back. Taking center stage in his war room was the SuperGun or the “London Cannon” as he called it. Its 5 shafts would each contain 5 barrels. That's a total of 25 barrels firing 300 shells an hour 24 hours-a-day. Maintaining this onslaught would require an enormous infrastructure. A network of galleries to store ammunition. 1,200 troops to man the guns and an underground railway to supply them. This was artillery warfare on an industrial scale. HUGH HUNT: Whoa! NARRATOR: Hugh and Tony explore the farthest reaches of the complex looking for clues to how the tunnels were built. TONY POLLARD: It's almost like a city underground, isn't it? HUGH HUNT: Yep. TONY POLLARD: Look at this, Hugh. Look! What they've done is they've actually used drills or spikes. NARRATOR: What they find shows them the tunnels were carved by hand using pickaxes and jackhammers with steel spikes. TONY POLLARD: Oh look! Look! Look at that! Look at that! HUGH HUNT: That fits. TONY POLLARD: They're just using them to prise away fragments of the stone. And imagine the effort all day every day hammering these spikes in and then moving away all the rubble. It's just a horrible thought. NARRATOR: The SuperGun's first victims were not the people of London but the slave laborers who built the installation. - 3 - TONY POLLARD: This complex was built by a large number of people that had been conscripted against their will. And there can be no doubt that many many people lost their lives. This wasn't a normal building site. Work here never stopped. They had gangs of workers on site, 24 hours-a-day 7 days-a-week. The priority here was to get those guns into action. The human cost didn't matter. NARRATOR: Hitler wanted to rush his wonder weapon into action because he was hungry for revenge. He had bombed London during the Blitz in the early days of the War. But since then, his Luftwaffe had lost air superiority in the skies over Europe. The Allies were exploiting this lack of air cover by relentlessly bombing German cities. Hitler began building fortified installations all over Northern France. Massive concrete bunkers hidden in remote woods that would house a new generation of secret armaments called “V-weapons.” TONY POLLARD: They're called the V-weapons because they're about vengeance. They're about retribution. This is Hitler getting his own back. What the R.A.F. and the American Air Force have been doing is bombing German cities and killing German civilians. Hitler is absolutely outraged by this and decides that he's going to take it out on London. So all of these weapons are designed to hit London from France. NARRATOR: These were technologies straight out of science fiction. There was the V-1, a jet- powered flying bomb. There was the V-2, a rocket that would shoot beyond the stratosphere before falling back to Earth. These weapons had the potential to reduce London to rubble. But they were untested in battle and unreliable. TONY POLLARD: Initially, at least, Hitler was fairly skeptical about these new experimental weapons. Rockets and missiles were not really his bag. His was a more traditional military background molded in the trenches of the First World War. But what that experience did give him was knowledge of how effective artillery could be. He had seen how artillery could cut men apart. Upwards of 80 percent of the casualties on the Western front were caused by artillery. And the V-3 was a super gun. It was old school but with a new twist. NARRATOR: The twist was that unlike traditional artillery, the shells of the V-3 SuperGun would not be falling on frontline soldiers but raining down on London's terrified civilians. In September 1943 in a country house in Buckinghamshire, the first evidence began to emerge of Hitler's secret plot against the British capital. An elite team of specially trained intelligence officers had been posted here to comb through aerial photographs taken on reconnaissance missions over occupied northern France. They were searching for signs of Nazi weapons sites. Officers examining pictures of the Mimoyecques area spotted something mysterious. Railway tracks disappearing into a hill.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Canadian Airmen Lost in Wwii by Date 1943
    CANADA'S AIR WAR 1945 updated 21/04/08 January 1945 424 Sqn. and 433 Sqn. begin to re-equip with Lancaster B.I & B.III aircraft (RCAF Sqns.). 443 Sqn. begins to re-equip with Spitfire XIV and XIVe aircraft (RCAF Sqns.). Helicopter Training School established in England on Sikorsky Hoverfly I helicopters. One of these aircraft is transferred to the RCAF. An additional 16 PLUTO fuel pipelines are laid under the English Channel to points in France (Oxford). Japanese airstrip at Sandakan, Borneo, is put out of action by Allied bombing. Built with forced labour by some 3,600 Indonesian civilians and 2,400 Australian and British PoWs captured at Singapore (of which only some 1,900 were still alive at this time). It is decided to abandon the airfield. Between January and March the prisoners are force marched in groups to a new location 160 miles away, but most cannot complete the journey due to disease and malnutrition, and are killed by their guards. Only 6 Australian servicemen are found alive from this group at the end of the war, having escaped from the column, and only 3 of these survived to testify against their guards. All the remaining enlisted RAF prisoners of 205 Sqn., captured at Singapore and Indonesia, died in these death marches (Jardine, wikipedia). On the Russian front Soviet and Allied air forces (French, Czechoslovakian, Polish, etc, units flying under Soviet command) on their front with Germany total over 16,000 fighters, bombers, dive bombers and ground attack aircraft (Passingham & Klepacki). During January #2 Flying Instructor School, Pearce, Alberta, closes (http://www.bombercrew.com/BCATP.htm).
    [Show full text]
  • Interstellar Travel Or Even 1.3 Mlbs at Launch
    Terraforming Mars: By Aliens? Astronomy 330 •! Sometime movies are full of errors. •! But what can you do? Music: Rocket Man– Elton John Online ICES Question •! ICES forms are available online, so far 39/100 Are you going to fill out an ICES form before the students have completed it. deadline? •! I appreciate you filling them out! •! Please make sure to leave written comments. I a)! Yes, I did it already. find these comments the most useful, and typically b)! Yes, sometime today that’s where I make the most changes to the c)! Yes, this weekend course. d)! Yes, I promise to do it before the deadline of May6th! e)! No, I am way too lazy to spend 5 mins to help you or future students out. Final Final •! In this classroom, Fri, May 7th, 0800-1100. •! A normal-sized sheet of paper with notes on both •! Will consist of sides is allowed. –! 15 question on Exam 1 material. •! Exam 1and 2 and last year’s final are posted on –! 15 question on Exam 2 material. class website (not Compass). –! 30 questions from new material (Lect 20+). –! +4 extra credit questions •! I will post a review sheet Friday. •! A total of 105 points, i.e. 5 points of extra credit. •! Final Exam grade is based on all three sections. •! If Section 1/2 grade is higher than Exam 1/2 grade, then it will replace your Exam 1/2 grade. Final Papers Outline •! Final papers due at BEGINNING of discussion •! Rockets: how to get the most bang for the buck.
    [Show full text]
  • Publisher's Note
    Adam Matthew Publications is an imprint of Adam Matthew Digital Ltd, Pelham House, London Road, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 2AG, ENGLAND Telephone: +44 (1672) 511921 Fax: +44 (1672) 511663 Email: [email protected] POPULAR NEWSPAPERS DURING WORLD WAR II Parts 1 to 5: 1939-1945 (The Daily Express, The Mirror, The News of The World, The People and The Sunday Express) Publisher's Note This microfilm publication makes available complete runs the Daily Express, The Daily Mirror, the News of the World, The People, and the Sunday Express for the years 1939 through to 1945. The project is organised in five parts and covers the newspapers in chronological sequence. Part 1 provides full coverage for 1939; Part 2: 1940; Part 3: 1941; Part 4: 1942-1943; and finally, Part 5 covers 1944-1945. At last social historians and students of journalism can consult complete war-time runs of Britain’s popular newspapers in their libraries. Less august than the papers of record, it is these papers which reveal most about the impact of the war on the home front, the way in which people amused themselves in the face of adversity, and the way in which public morale was kept high through a mixture of propaganda and judicious reporting. Most importantly, it is through these papers that we can see how most ordinary people received news of the war. For, with a combined circulation of over 23 million by 1948, and a secondary readership far in excess of these figures, the News of the World, The People, the Daily Express, The Daily Mirror, and the Sunday Express reached into the homes of the majority of the British public and played a critical role in shaping public perceptions of the war.
    [Show full text]
  • Military History Anniversaries 1 Thru 15 MAR
    Military History Anniversaries 1 thru 15 MAR Events in History over the next 15 day period that had U.S. military involvement or impacted in some way on U.S military operations or American interests Mar 01 1781 – American Revolution: Articles of Confederation are Ratified » The Articles are finally ratified. They were signed by Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification on November 15, 1777, after 16 months of debate. Bickering over land claims between Virginia and Maryland delayed final ratification for almost four more years. Maryland finally approved the Articles on March 1, 1781, affirming the Articles as the outline of the official government of the United States. The nation was guided by the Articles of Confederation until the implementation of the current U.S. Constitution in 1789. The critical distinction between the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution —the primacy of the states under the Articles—is best understood by comparing the following lines. The Articles of Confederation begin: “To all to whom these Present shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States” By contrast, the Constitution begins: “We the People of the United States do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” The predominance of the states under the Articles of Confederation is made even more explicit by the claims of Article II: “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.” Less than five years after the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, enough leading Americans decided that the system was inadequate to the task of governance that they peacefully overthrew their second government in just over 20 years.
    [Show full text]
  • The RAF Discovered That a 15 Year-Old 'Gate Guard' Grand Slam Bomb – Was Actually LIVE!!!!
    Vintage News Strangeness, 6 November 2015 The RAF discovered that a 15 year-old ‘Gate Guard’ Grand Slam bomb – was actually LIVE!!!! Apparently when Lincolnshire County Council were widening the road past RAF Scampton’s main gate in about 1958, the ‘gate guards’ there had to be moved to make way for the new carriageway. Scampton was the WWII home of 617 Sqn, and said “gate guards” were a Lancaster…and a Grand Slam bomb. When they went to lift the Grand Slam, thought for years to just be an empty casing, with an RAF 8 Ton Coles Crane, it wouldn’t budge. “Oh, it must be filled with concrete” they said. Then somebody had a horrible thought …. No!….. Couldn’t be? … Not after all these years out here open to the public to climb over and be photographed sitting astride! …. Could it? …. Then everyone raced off to get the Station ARMO. He carefully scraped off many layers of paint and gingerly unscrewed the base plate. Yes, you guessed it, live 1944 explosive filling! The beast was very gently lifted onto an RAF ‘Queen Mary’ low loader, using a much larger civvy crane (I often wonder what, if anything, they told the crane driver), then driven slowly under massive police escort to the coastal experimental range at Shoeburyness. There it was rigged for demolition, and when it ‘high ordered’, it proved in no uncertain terms to anyone within a ten mile radius that the filling was still very much alive! Exhaustive investigations then took place, but nobody could find the long-gone 1944, 1945 or 1946 records which might have shown how a live 22,000 lb bomb became a gate guard for nearly the next decade and a half.
    [Show full text]
  • Engineering 8 Launch Vehicles
    Papers on the Lunar Settlement Engineering 8 : Launch Vehicles mass of each stage is 10% the fuel mass, 0. Introduction This paper since the larger lower stages will be accompanies number 03-01 on the more structurally efficient but must bear logistics of space access. It is intended the load of the upper stages. to present technical analysis of relevant concepts, specifically the expendable If the required velocity increment for multistage rocket for direct ascent, the direct ascent, without an intermediate single-stage reusable terrestrial orbiter, orbit, is taken as the sum of the escape two-stage reusable and partially reusable velocities of Terra and Luna, 13.6 km/s, configurations, the lunar rocket, and the the necessary mass ratio with exhaust space gun. At this early date, however, velocity 4.0 km/s is 30. This sets the nothing more than approximations and maximum delivered mass at 33 t, and general considerations can be furnished. indicates that several steps are required. While specific numerical values are As a little calculation will show, the indicated in certain places, it must be overall efficiency of a step rocket is understood clearly that few of these have improved by using low mass-ratios in any validity ; they are presented in order the lower steps. We may select a to indicate trends of expected behaviour. tristage configuration, with step mass ratios of 2, 3, and 5. 1. Expendable Rocket For the expendable rocket to be useful, it must The mass of the first step, then, is 550 t, be very large. Two factors are at work of which 500 t is fuel ; the second, 330 t, here : first, ceteris paribus , the larger with 300 t fuel ; and the third is the the rocket, the larger the useful mass lunar-landing stage, 120 t with 96 t fuel.
    [Show full text]
  • This Third Edition Bibliography Lists Books and Teaching Aids Related To
    60:CUMENT RESUMB ED 027 215 SE 006 287 Aerospace Bibliography, Third Edition. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washingtan, D.C. Repor t No- EP -35 Pub Date (651 Note-68p. EDRS Price f1F-$0.50 HC-$3.50 Descriptors-*Aerospace Technok)gy, *Annotated Bibliographies, Astronomy, *Bibliographies, Physical Sciences, *Science Education, Technology Identifiers-National Aeronautics and Space Administration Thisthirdeditionbibliographylistsbooks and teaching aids related to aeronautics and space. Aeronautics titles are limited toaerospace-related research subjects, and books on astronomy to those direCtly related to space exploration. Also listed are pertinent references like pamphlets, films,film strips, booklets, charts, pictures, periodicals, and sources of in.formation on specific space subjects available from aerospace industry companies. Reading levels for each document are indicated according to primary, intermediate, upper elementary, secondary, and adult or college. (GR) 33' $ t 'k 4 ;(' " ; , othisit-erP-ie I l if= WIN IP , ., k a k ' II U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFF!CIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY. 0 ,"'". Al 1011011104- 1,," 1. 1,=z;z0z2i Ent AEROSPACE BIBLIOGRAPHY THIRD EDITION Compiled for Educational Programs Division, Office of Public Affairs NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION by National Aerospace
    [Show full text]
  • Call for Papers Abstract Deadline 7 December 2015
    JANNAF INTERAGENCY PROPULSION COMMITTEE JOINT ARMY-NAVY-NASA-AIR FORCE 63rd JANNAF Propulsion Meeting Programmatic and Industrial Base Meeting 47th Combustion (CS) 35th Airbreathing Propulsion (APS) 35th Exhaust Plume and Signatures (EPSS) 29th Propulsion Systems Hazards (PSHS) JOINT SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING 16 - 20 May 2016 Announcement and Call For Papers Abstract Deadline 7 December 2015 Newport News, Virginia last updated 1/27/16 The May 2016 meeting of the Joint Army-Navy-NASA-Air SCOPE Force (JANNAF) will consist of the 63rd JANNAF Propulsion meeting; the Programmatic and Industrial Base (PIB) JANNAF Propulsion Meeting meeting; and the Joint Meeting of the 47th Combustion / The JANNAF Propulsion Meeting (JPM) encompasses research 35th Airbreathing Propulsion / 35th Exhaust Plume and and applications at the systems level. The JPM is held each Signatures / 29th Propulsion Systems Hazards Subcommittees. year in conjunction with standing JANNAF subcommittee Dr. Christine M. Michienzie with OSD (AT&L), MIBP, meetings on a rotating basis. The scope of the 63rd JPM in Alexandria, Virginia, is the meeting chair. This meeting will 2016 spans eight mission areas: Tactical Propulsion; Missile be held Monday through Friday, 16 - 20 May 2016, at the Defense/Strategic Propulsion; Propulsion Systems for Space Newport News Marriott at City Center in Newport News, Access; Gun and Gun-Launched Propulsion; Propulsion and Virginia. Please refer to page 4 for hotel and area information. Energetics Test Facilities; Sensors for Propulsion Measurement Applications;
    [Show full text]
  • Airbase Hardening in the Western Pacific
    AIRPOWER. Airbase hardening in the Western Pacific Dr Carlo Kopp Iraqi Hardened Aircraft Shelter at Balad. The Information Age could be In a world of pervasive PGM use, the nation with probability’ of its dumb sibling, just as a basic described as a blessing and a better infrastructure hardening gains an asymmetic digital ISR sensor is ten times or more faster in advantage over its opponents with less hardened transmitting target data to a weapon system. curse, clearly evident in the domain infrastructure, as the reduced effect of PGM use That a US, EU or Israeli-built PGM or ISR system of strategy. Profound changes are in turn impacts the combat effectiveness of the might be more accurate and more technologically underway, as the globalised market attacking force. This is a replay of the 70 year old sophisticated misses the key point that those contest between tank guns and armour, resolved advantages might at best add a few per cent to for military equipment absorbs a by the PGM, as no warship or tank has yet been an already high kill probability of a PGM targeted generation of new technologies, built capable of withstanding the direct impact of by digital ISR. In a globalised open arms market including Precision Guided Munitions a smart bomb. any nation state can procure Russian or Chinese (PGM), or ‘smart weapons’ and A popular but dangerous misconception in most PGMs and sensors, which are at least as good, if Western defence establishments is that somehow not much better, than the systems that devastated a plethora of digital Intelligence PGMs and modern digital ISR systems are an Saddam’s Iraq during the Desert Storm campaign Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) exclusive feature of Western military forces, and two decades ago.
    [Show full text]
  • To Orbit and Back Again: How the Space Shuttle Flew in Space Free Download
    TO ORBIT AND BACK AGAIN: HOW THE SPACE SHUTTLE FLEW IN SPACE FREE DOWNLOAD Davide Sivolella | 524 pages | 09 Sep 2013 | Springer-Verlag New York Inc. | 9781461409823 | English | New York, NY, United States To Orbit and Back Again: How the Space Shuttle Flew in Space (Springer… Details of how anomalous events were dealt with on individual missions are also provided, as are the recollections of those who built and flew the Shuttle. He involves here few in photographers on: electoral antitrust exceptionalism; teriparatide and significant experience; concept and matters; and s Futurism. Orbiting skyhooks Skyhook Momentum exchange tether. Soviet X-planes. This passion for astronautics led to bacheklor's and master's degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the Polytechnic of Turin Italy. Archived from the original on 26 June Technical material has been obtained from NASA as well as from other forums and specialists. The Rockwell X National Aero-Space Plane NASPbegun in the s, was an attempt to build a scramjet vehicle capable of operating like an aircraft and achieving orbit like the shuttle. InNASA originally planned to have the Gemini spacecraft land on a runway [18] with a Rogallo wing airfoilrather than an ocean landing under parachutes. Namespaces Article Talk. The spaceplane was also intended to carry cargo, with both upmass and downmass capacity. Search icon An illustration of a magnifying glass. Orbital spaceplanes are more like spacecraft, while sub-orbital spaceplanes are more like fixed-wing aircraft. Our configurations are tall Bodies and genotypes on which to See your new nationality. Space Policy. Details of how anomalous events were dealt with on individual missions are also provided, as are the recollections of those who built and flew the Shuttle.
    [Show full text]
  • Making-Space-For-Security-En-346.Pdf
    TABLE OF CONTENTS Editor's Note Kerstin VIGNARD ............................................................................................................. 1 Special Comment Colonel Chris A. HADFIELD .............................................................................................. 3 Making Space for Security? ‘Peaceful uses’ of outer space has permitted its militarization— does it also mean its weaponization? Johannes M. WOLFF......................................................................................................... 5 Monsters and shadows: left unchecked, American fears regarding threats to space assets will drive weaponization Theresa HITCHENS ........................................................................................................... 15 The world’s space systems Laurence NARDON .......................................................................................................... 33 Is a space weapons ban feasible? Thoughts on technology and verification of arms control in space Regina HAGEN and Jürgen SCHEFFRAN............................................................................ 41 Security without weapons in space: challenges and options Rebecca JOHNSON .......................................................................................................... 53 Resources on Outer Space Security compiled by Jon PARIS, with assistance of Melissa MOTT and Rachel WILLIAMS ............ 67 UNIDIR Focus .......................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Planetary Penetrators: Their Origins, History and Future
    Author's personal copy Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Advances in Space Research 48 (2011) 403–431 www.elsevier.com/locate/asr Planetary penetrators: Their origins, history and future Ralph D. Lorenz ⇑ Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA Received 6 January 2011; received in revised form 19 March 2011; accepted 24 March 2011 Available online 30 March 2011 Abstract Penetrators, which emplace scientific instrumentation by high-speed impact into a planetary surface, have been advocated as an alter- native to soft-landers for some four decades. However, such vehicles have yet to fly successfully. This paper reviews in detail, the origins of penetrators in the military arena, and the various planetary penetrator mission concepts that have been proposed, built and flown. From the very limited data available, penetrator developments alone (without delivery to the planet) have required $30M: extensive analytical instrumentation may easily double this. Because the success of emplacement and operation depends inevitably on uncontrol- lable aspects of the target environment, unattractive failure probabilities for individual vehicles must be tolerated that are higher than the typical ‘3-sigma’ (99.5%) values typical for spacecraft. The two pathways to programmatic success, neither of which are likely in an aus- tere financial environment, are a lucky flight as a ‘piggyback’ mission or technology demonstration, or with a substantial and unprec- edented investment to launch a scientific (e.g. seismic) network mission with a large number of vehicles such that a number of terrain- induced failures can be tolerated. Ó 2011 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]