Strypi is a family of US re-entry vehicle test boosters, anti-missile targets and sounding rockets. They use a Castor first stage with two Recruit strap-on boosters, plus a range of upper stages. [1] It is 31 inches (79 centimeters) in diameter, and has a maximum flight height of 124 miles (200 kilometers).
It was originally designed and built in 1962 by teams from the Sandia National Laboratories in an around-the-clock program that was a part of a larger nuclear weapons testing program, undertaken prior to the imposition of the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) in October, 1963. It was designed to take a nuclear warhead into space for extra-atmospheric testing. Though it performed this function only once, in Test Checkmate of Operation Fishbowl, it became the "workhorse" of Sandia's rocket research program. [2] The rocket's name came from the efforts of the Sandia teams, which had "taken the tiger by the tail". [2]
In 1968, a modified Strypi was used in Material Test Vehicle (MTV) booster tests. Although atmospheric nuclear testing was now banned, as a part of the Test Readiness Program the U.S. Air Force continued to develop the means of testing, should the ban be lifted. [2]
Several versions of Strypi were developed, maintaining the original Recruit and Castor first and second stages or adding a third stage. [3] [1]
| Version | First Launch | Last Launch | Flights | Booster | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strypi Antares | 1962-07-09 | 1962-10-20 | 7 | 2 × Recruit | Castor-1 | - | - |
| Strypi-2 | 1979-11-13 | 1 | 2 × Recruit | Castor-1 | - | - | |
| Strypi-2R | 1974-11-03 | 1 | 2 × Recruit | Castor-1 | - | - | |
| Strypi-2AR | 1974-02-07 | 1 | 2 × Recruit | Castor-2 | - | - | |
| Strypi-4 | 1966-09-01 | 1 | 2 × Recruit | Castor-1 | Star-26 | - | |
| Strypi-4A | 1974-03-23 | 1 | 2 × Recruit | Castor-1 | Star-26 | - | |
| Strypi-4R | 1976-06-07 | 1 | 2 × Recruit | Castor-1 | Star-26 | - | |
| Strypi-6 | 1968-11-01 | 1970-06-01 | 3 | 2 × Recruit | Castor-1 | ? | ? |
| Strypi-7R | 1975-03-11 | 1975-09-18 | 2 | 2 × Recruit | Castor-1 | Alcor-1B | Alcyone IA BE-3 |
| Strypi-7AR | 1972-10-15 | 1974-10-01 | 2 | 2 × Recruit | Castor-2 | Alcor | Alcyone IA BE-3 |
| Strypi-9 | 1995-06-26 | 1995-06-29 | 2 | 2 × Recruit | Castor-1 | Antares-2A | - |
| Strypi-11 | 1987-01-01 | 1991-02-18 | 4 | 2 × Recruit | Castor-1 | Antares-2A | Star-27 |
| Strypi-12R | 1997-02-10 | 1997-10-04 | 2 | 2 × Recruit | Castor-1 | Orbus-1 | - |
| Strypi Tomahawk | 2 × Recruit | Castor-1 | ? | Tomahawk | |||
The SPARK, also known as the Super Strypi, is a three-stage derivative of the Strypi powerful enough to place a 250 kg payload into Sun-synchronous orbit. The Super Strypi was first launched on 3 November 2015, although on that test the first stage failed soon after lift-off. [4]
Energia was a 1980s super-heavy lift launch vehicle. It was designed by NPO Energia of the Soviet Union as part of the Buran program for a variety of payloads including the Buran spacecraft. Control system main developer enterprise was the Khartron NPO "Electropribor". The Energia used four strap-on boosters each powered by a four-chamber RD-170 engine burning kerosene/LOX, and a central core stage with four single-chamber RD-0120 (11D122) engines fueled by liquid hydrogen/LOX.
Titan was a family of United States expendable rockets used between 1959 and 2005. The Titan I and Titan II were part of the US Air Force's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fleet until 1987. The space launch vehicle versions contributed the majority of the 368 Titan launches, including all the Project Gemini crewed flights of the mid-1960s. Titan vehicles were also used to lift US military payloads as well as civilian agency reconnaissance satellites and to send interplanetary scientific probes throughout the Solar System.
A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to launch instruments from 48 to 145 km above the surface of the Earth, the altitude generally between weather balloons and satellites; the maximum altitude for balloons is about 40 km and the minimum for satellites is approximately 121 km. Certain sounding rockets have an apogee between 1,000 and 1,500 km, such as the Black Brant X and XII, which is the maximum apogee of their class. For certain purposes Sounding Rockets may be flown to altitudes as high as 3,000 kilometers to allow observing times of around 40 minutes to provide geophysical observations of the magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere and mesosphere. Sounding rockets have been used for the examination of atmospheric nuclear tests by revealing the passage of the shock wave through the atmosphere. In more recent times Sounding Rockets have been used for other nuclear weapons research. Sounding rockets often use military surplus rocket motors. NASA routinely flies the Terrier Mk 70 boosted Improved Orion, lifting 270–450-kg (600–1,000-pound) payloads into the exoatmospheric region between 97 and 201 km.
The Black Brant is a family of Canadian-designed sounding rockets originally built by Bristol Aerospace, since absorbed by Magellan Aerospace in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Over 800 Black Brants of various versions have been launched since they were first produced in 1961, and the type remains one of the most popular sounding rockets. They have been repeatedly used by the Canadian Space Agency and NASA.
The Saturn I was a rocket designed as the United States' first medium lift launch vehicle for up to 20,000-pound (9,100 kg) low Earth orbit payloads. Its development was taken over from the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in 1958 by the newly formed civilian NASA. Its design proved sound and flexible. It was successful in initiating the development of liquid hydrogen-fueled rocket propulsion, launching the Pegasus satellites, and flight verification of the Apollo command and service module launch phase aerodynamics. Ten Saturn I rockets were flown before it was replaced by the heavy lift derivative Saturn IB, which used a larger, higher total impulse second stage and an improved guidance and control system. It also led the way to development of the super-heavy lift Saturn V which carried the first men to landings on the Moon in the Apollo program.
Titan IV was a family of heavy-lift space launch vehicles developed by Martin Marietta and operated by the United States Air Force from 1989 to 2005. Launches were conducted from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
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A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage rocket, but the term is more general and also encompasses vehicles like the Space Shuttle. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, supported by a launch control center and systems such as vehicle assembly and fueling. Launch vehicles are engineered with advanced aerodynamics and technologies, which contribute to high operating costs.
The Scout family of rockets were American launch vehicles designed to place small satellites into orbit around the Earth. The Scout multistage rocket was the first orbital launch vehicle to be entirely composed of solid fuel stages. It was also the only vehicle of that type until the successful launch of the Japanese Lambda 4S in 1970.
Shuttle-derived vehicles (SDV) are space launch vehicles and spacecraft that use components, technology, and infrastructure originally developed for the Space Shuttle program.
Castor is a family of solid-fuel rocket stages and boosters built by Thiokol and used on a variety of launch vehicles. They were initially developed as the second-stage motor of the Scout rocket. The design was based on the MGM-29 Sergeant, a surface-to-surface missile developed for the United States Army at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Atlas is a family of US missiles and space launch vehicles that originated with the SM-65 Atlas. The Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program was initiated in the late 1950s under the Convair Division of General Dynamics. Atlas was a liquid propellant rocket burning RP-1 kerosene fuel with liquid oxygen in three engines configured in an unusual "stage-and-a-half" or "parallel staging" design: two outboard booster engines were jettisoned along with supporting structures during ascent, while the center sustainer engine, propellant tanks and other structural elements remained connected through propellant depletion and engine shutdown.
Thorad-Agena was an American expendable launch system, derived from the Thor and Delta rockets.
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Rohini is a series of sounding rockets developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for meteorological and atmospheric study. These sounding rockets are capable of carrying payloads of 2 to 200 kilograms between altitudes of 100 to 500 kilometres. The ISRO currently uses RH-200, RH-300,Mk-II, RH-560 Mk-II and RH-560 Mk-III rockets, which are launched from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in Thumba and the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
SPARK, or Spaceborne Payload Assist Rocket - Kauai, also known as Super Strypi, is an American expendable launch system developed by the University of Hawaii, Sandia and Aerojet Rocketdyne. Designed to place miniaturized satellites into low Earth and Sun-synchronous orbits, it is a derivative of the Strypi rocket which was developed in the 1960s in support of nuclear weapons testing. SPARK is being developed under the Low Earth Orbiting Nanosatellite Integrated Defense Autonomous System (LEONIDAS) program, funded by the Operationally Responsive Space Office of the United States Department of Defense.
A medium-lift launch vehicle (MLV) is a rocket launch vehicle that is capable of lifting between 2,000 to 20,000 kg by NASA classification or between 5,000 to 20,000 kilograms by Russian classification of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). An MLV is between a small-lift launch vehicle and a heavy-lift launch vehicle. Medium-lift vehicles comprise the majority of orbital launches as of 2024, with both the Soyuz and Falcon 9 having launched several hundred times.
A super heavy-lift launch vehicle is a rocket that can lift to low Earth orbit a "super heavy payload", which is defined as more than 50 metric tons (110,000 lb) by the United States and as more than 100 metric tons (220,000 lb) by Russia. It is the most capable launch vehicle classification by mass to orbit, exceeding that of the heavy-lift launch vehicle classification.
The Comet HLLV was a proposed super heavy-lift launch vehicle designed for NASA's First Lunar Outpost program, which was in the design phase from 1992 to 1993 under the Space Exploration Initiative. It was a Saturn V-derived launch vehicle with modernized engines, stretched fuel tanks, and strap-on boosters. Its main goal was to support the First Lunar Outpost program and future human mission to Mars. It was designed to be inexpensive and simple while relying on existing technology to lower development costs.
The AthenaRTV was a research missile, developed by Atlantic Research Co., designed to simulate the re-entry conditions of intercontinental ballistic missiles. It was primarily launched from Green River, targeting White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, covering a range of 760 km. Later flights from Wallops Island impacted into the sea.
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