A rocket sled is a test platform that slides along a track (e.g. set of rails), propelled by rockets.
A rocket sled differs from a rocket car in not using wheels; at high speeds wheels would spin to pieces due to the extreme centrifugal forces. Apart from rare examples running on snow or ice (such as Max Valier's RAK BOBs of the late 1920s and Harry Bull's BR-1 in 1931), most rocket sleds run on a track. Although some rocket sleds ride on single beams or rails, most use a pair of rails. Standard gauge (1.435 m / 56.5 in) is common but sled tracks of narrower or wider gauge also exist. The rail cross-section profile is usually that of a Vignoles rail, commonly used for railroads. Sliding pads, called "slippers", are curved around the head of the rails to prevent the sled from flying off the track. Air cushions and magnetic levitation have also been used as alternatives, with potential benefits including reduced sled vibration.
A rocket sled holds the land-based speed record for a vehicle, at Mach 8.5.
Usage
Rocket sleds were used extensively early in the Cold War to accelerate equipment considered too experimental (hazardous) for testing directly in piloted aircraft. The equipment to be tested under high acceleration or high airspeed conditions was installed along with appropriate instrumentation, data recording and telemetry equipment on the sled. The sled was then accelerated according to the experiment's design requirements for data collection along a length of isolated, precisely level and straight test track. Testing ejection seat systems and technology prior to their use in experimental or operational aircraft was a common application of the rocket sled at Holloman Air Force Base. Perhaps the most famous, the tracks at Edwards Air Force Base were used to test missiles, supersonic ejection seats, aircraft shapes and the effects of acceleration and deceleration on humans. The rocket sled track at Edwards Air Force Base was dismantled and used to extend the track at Holloman Air Force Base, taking it to almost 10 miles (16 km) in length.
Unmanned rocket sleds continue to be used to test missile components without requiring costly live missile launches. A world speed record of Mach 8.5 (6,416 mph / 10,325 km/h) was achieved by a four-stage rocket sled at Holloman Air Force Base on April 30, 2003, the highest speed ever attained by a land vehicle.
Murphy's law first received public attention during a press conference about rocket sled testing.
Rocket sled tracks Name Location Co-ordinates Country Length Gauge Rail Type Welded/Segmented Opened Renovated Closed Notes Holloman High Speed Test Track (HHSTT) Rails 1&2 Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, NM USA 171 Welded 1950 1956, 1957, 1974, 2000, 2002 Runs North-South Supersonic Naval Ordnance Research Track (SNORT) NAWC-WD Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, CA USA 171 Welded 1953 2006 North-South Holloman High Speed Test Track (HHSTT) Rail 3 Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, NM USA 171 Welded 1974 North-South Extended High-Speed Rocket Sled Track Edwards AFB, Edwards, CA USA 171 Welded 1949 1959 1963 Also known as South Base Sled Track (SBST). Rails used to lengthen HHSTT Rail Track Rocket Sled Test Facility Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory Range, Ramgarh, Haryana India 1988 2014 5 railsNorth/South Supersonic Military Air Research Track (SMART) Aircraft Interior Products Propulsion Systems, Hurricane Mesa, UT USA 105 Welded 1955 1961* *Now Privately Owned & Operational.North-South Sandia 2 Technical Area III, Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, NM USA 1966 1985 North-South Rocket rail track 3500, FKP GkNIPAS Beloozyorsky Russia Segmented 2014 Formerly RD-2500. Used by Zvezda for ejection seat testing RT-2650, FKP NII Geodeziya Krasnoarmeysk Russia R-75 1956 1984 TsKP MIK of RFNC-VNIIEF Sarov Russia B-4 Transonic Test Track NAWC-WD Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, CA USA 75 Welded 1940 Martin-Baker Langford Lodge Langford Lodge, Northern Ireland UK 80 1971 Privately Owned & Operated by Martin-Baker Pendine Long Test Track (LTT) QinetiQ, Pendine, Wales UK 103 1956 Centre D'essais Des Landes Single Rail R1 Biscarrosse France Monorail Square Beam Segmented 1968 1974, ? (Foundation for 2nd rail in place) G-4 Exterior and Terminal Ballistics Test Track NAWC-WD Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, CA USA 171 Welded 1954 ETTC KEMTF sled track Test Area C-74, Eglin AFB, Ft. Walton Beach, FL USA 171 Welded 1956 Sandia 1 Technical Area III, Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, NM USA 1951 North-South Edwards North Base Track "G-Whiz" Edwards AFB, Edwards, CA USA Welded 1944 1953 Also known as North Base Sled Track (NBST).East-West Redstone Test Center Sled Track 1 Test Area 1, Redstone Arsenal, AL USA Monorail 1956 Formerly Redstone Technical Test Center Pendine Impact Test Track QinetiQ, Pendine, Wales UK Centre D'essais Des Landes Single Rail R2 Biscarrosse France Square Beam Segmented 1967 Former HB3 track, moved from CIEES Colomb-Béchar, Algeria Redstone Test Center Sled Track 2 Test Area 1, Redstone Arsenal, AL USA Monorail Formerly Redstone Technical Test Center New Mexico Tech/EMRTC Sled Track Socorro, NM USA Monorail 171 Privately owned & operated.North-South Pendine Short Test Track (STT) QinetiQ, Pendine, Wales UK General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Rock Hill, FL USA I-Beam Privately Owned & Operated Alkantpan Rocket Sled Range Alkantpan Test Range, Copperton, Northern Cape South Africa Single or Double I-beam Segmented 1985 1999 Runs East to West Subsonic and supersonic testing Holloman Maglev Track Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, NM USA North-South Germany Germany I-Beam Bundeswehr WTD 91 rocket sled track Meppen Germany AVIC ALI track Xiangyang China Welded 1993 2006 Also known as XB High Accuracy Rocket Sled Test Track. Muroran Institute of Technology APReC HSTT Shiraoi Japan 2009 Muroran Institute of Technology APReC SSTT Shiraoi Japan 2008 TÜBİTAK SAGE HABRAS Karapınar Turkey 2017 Other former rocket sled tracks include those at the following locations: Peenemünde, Germany (V-1 launch ramp) Base B1, Colomb-Béchar, Algeria (HB3 track (330 m) of CIEES, built by Hotchkiss-Brandt) PISQ, Salto di Quirra, Sardinia, Italy (660-ft supersonic sled track with 8° inclination) Satory, France Istres-Le Tubé Air Base, France (used by René Leduc for the SE 1910) Cazaux Air Base, France (HB1 (200 m) and HB2 (600 m) tracks of the DGA Centre d'essais en vol, built by Hotchkiss-Brandt) Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, USA Institute of Aviation Medicine, Farnborough, UK
See also Index of aviation articles Land speed record for railed vehicles Land speed record List of vehicle speed records Rocket sled launch
References
External links
Holloman High Speed Test Track Sandia Sled Tracks Redstone Technical Test Center Test Area 1 Langford Lodge Martin Baker Track New Mexico Tech EMRTC Sled Track Improbable Research Airmen "Crash" on Rocket Sled, March 1950, Popular Science large article QinetiQ, MoD Pendine TÜBİTAK SAGE HABRAS