§.3-2
a
Instrmentation
Measurement of winds at desired altitudes required design of a completely
pew system, since reliable icstr=mentation for this purpose was imavailadle.
Becamse of low fall rate, good radar reflecting qualities, and an excellese
bistory as an ataospberic tracer, chaff or window was considered the bese
available target, altsough, for precision measurements, its hizh dispersive
qualities are a disadvantage.
A Deacon booster and Arrow II sustainer proved
the most suitable delivery vehicle in teras of low cost, availability, aod
reliability.
Experiments were conducted with the Viper as a substitute for
the Deacon and with the Loki-Dart as a complete unit.
Results of such ex-
perimentation were inconclusive within the limited dewelopment tine.
The assembled unit on the Launcher is shown in Fig. 5.13.
close-ups of the nose scction are shown.
In Fig. 5.14,
System specifications are prowided
in Fig. 5.15, while a more detailed description of the entire system is furnished by Force. ¢
The vose consisted of four sections:
a forward pose cone, a cylinder
housing chaff, a battery-timer cylinder, and a nose adapter.
wided the link between the nose section and the Arrow.
chaff comprised a customary load.
The last pro-~
Three bundles of
Each bundle contained approximately 2 x 510
individual alumimm-costed plastic strips, 2 inches in length, corresponding
to one-balf wavelength of the S-band frequency radar.
Average width and
thickness per dipole vere 15 and 0.73 mils, respectively; total weight per
load was 0.9 pound.
The three bundles provide a cross-sectional area upon
initial dispersion of approximately 6000 square feet.
Fall rate with altitude of these particles is depicted in Fig. 5.16.
Here a best fit to a parabola was made by the method of least squares.
Toral
data points used were 760, observed at altitudes between 100,000 and 300,000
feet.
(These were predominantly between 150,000 and 160,000 and 210,000 and
250,000 feec.)
Observations froa Tonopah, Nevada, White Sands Missile Range,
and the Marshall Islands, made during the sucmer months from May through
August, were ucilized.
Vertical lines represent mean and standard deviations
o£ distriburions over 10,000-foot layers.
are shown.
Number of data points per layer