It is fired out of a tower or from a rail, both of which can be tilted to compensate for wind conditions so the rocket flies fairly straight and stays on the missile range.
Missiles are usually divided into four large categories: the surface to-air missile; the surface-to-surface missile; the air-to-air missile; and the air-to-surface missile.
All four types are tested at White Sands. A surface-to-surface missile is one fired at ground targets. The old German V-2 rocket was one of the original surface-to-surface missiles and could carry a 2,pound explosive to a target 80 miles away.
An air-to-air missile is fired by one aircraft against another. Some air-to-air missiles tested at the range are the Sidewinder, Genie and Falcon. Like the air-to-air missiles, the air-to-ground missiles are typically developed and tested by the Air Force and Navy. In addition there are other weapons and vehicles on display which were once tested at White Sands. For instance, the Copperhead is a cannon launched projectile which guides itself to the target by homing in on reflected laser light.
Highway The TOW Tube launched, Optically tracked, Wire guided missile is an interesting example of a weapon being deployed on many platforms. It has been man-packed, mounted on jeeps and other ground vehicles, and placed on helicopters.
Nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles need to be understood if the risks and challenges they entail are to be grasped. This understanding starts with two processes discovered in the last century — nuclear fission and nuclear fusion — that have the ability to release a significant quantity of energy from a very limited amount of matter.
On the one hand, these reactions can be used to produce energy. Controlled nuclear fission is the process on which nuclear power plants are based. Nuclear fusion, meanwhile, requires the ability to control a reaction that occurs at temperatures of millions of degrees.
The control of nuclear fusion for energy production is the objective of the ITER project. On the other hand, uncontrolled nuclear fission and fusion reactions can be used to design nuclear weapons whose destructive power is far greater than traditional weapons. The first atomic bombs were produced and used during World War Two and based on nuclear fission.
Since then, the design of nuclear weapons has been modified to include nuclear fusion reactions, leading to a sharp increase in the yield of nuclear bombs. The development of nuclear weapons requires mastery of technologies for the production of nuclear fuels enriched uranium and plutonium , making access to these weapons limited.
Advances in the production and design of nuclear weapons have made them smaller and suitable for mounting in the warheads of ballistic missiles.
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