'U' Again Succeeds With Rocket Shot
‘U’ Again Succeeds With Rocket Shot
COPPER HARBOR—The second high altitude rocket fired from Michigan soil was successfully launched from the University of Michigan’s new rocket station near here at 5:25 p.m. yesterday.
The eight-foot-long ARCAS rocket reached a height of more than 48 miles in about two minutes. Its payload of meteorological instruments drifted down by parachute and landed at about 7:30 p.m. in Lake Superior near Marquette, about 50 miles by air from the launch site.
Harold F. Allen of the U-M High Altitude Laboratory, who directed the firing, said the launching to obtain information on temperature, humidity, and winds near the edges of space was a "success." He was assisted by other U-M engineers and technicians from Michigan Technological University.
The same group successfully fired the first high altitude rocket from Michigan on Aug. 5. The payload from that rocket came down on land near Munising, about 75 miles by air from the Keweenaw launch site and was recovered by a motorist. The rocket itself reached a height of 41 miles.
Yesterday's successful firing came after a series of delays resulting from unfavorable weather conditions, Air Force activity in the area, and the presence of a ship in the launch area.
Members of the Michigan Legislature led by Rep. Gilbert E. Bursley , R-Ann Arbor, arrived at the site for the first scheduled firing of the rocket at 11 a.m. Wednesday. They and some other spectators went away disappointed, however, after the firing was postponed three times that day because of the weather and Air Force activity.
The firing was then put off until 11 a.m. yesterday, but an unscheduled Air Force exercise prevented the launching at that hour, and it was postponed until 2 p.m. When the early afternoon firing time arrived, a reconnaissance by airplane revealed a tug boat in the area resulting in still another postponement.
Forest rangers stood by with a fire truck during the launching of the ARCAS yesterday into a clear blue sky that permitted observers to see the rocket’s vapor trail for a considerable length of time. The rocket blast was heard for about 20 seconds in the launch area.
Radar equipment about four miles from the launch site tracked the payload for nearly two hours until it fell into Lake Superior. A device about the size of the head of a pin called a “thermester” detects upper atmosphere temperatures as the payload descends.
Three more ARCAS weather rockets are scheduled for launchings from the U-M Keweenaw Peninsula rocket site this year, with the next one tentatively planned for Wednesday.
Funds to support the initial rocket firings from the site under sponsorship of the Michigan Economic Expansion Department were appropriated by the Legislature. The rockets have been provided by the U. S. Weather Bureau and ground equipment by other federal agencies.
Prepare Launcher ____
Rocket experts from the University’s High Altitude Laboratory prepare a rocket launcher at the U-M's Keweenaw Peninsula launch site prior to yesterday's firing of an ARCAS rocket some 48 miles high. The eight-foot-long rocket is placed in the launcher tube which merely serves to get the rocket started in the desired direction—much the same as the barrel of a gun determines the direction of a bullet. The propelling force, however, comes from the rocket motor itself, and not from a detonation in the launcher as might be supposed.
Article
Subjects
University of Michigan - Keweenaw Peninsula Rocket Range
University of Michigan - Space Physics Research Laboratory
University of Michigan - Research
University of Michigan - High Altitude Laboratory
University of Michigan - Aeronautical & Astronomical Engineering Department
U. S. Weather Bureau Service
Scientific Research
Sawyer Air Force Base
Rocketry
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Michigan Technological University
Michigan Economic Expansion Department
House Committee on Economic Development
Calumet & Hecla Inc
Old News
Ann Arbor News
Harold F. Allen
Gilbert E. Bursley
Keweenaw Peninsula