1.
Landsat program
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The Landsat program is the longest-running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth. On July 23,1972 the Earth Resources Technology Satellite was launched and this was eventually renamed to Landsat. The most recent, Landsat 8, was launched on February 11,2013, the instruments on the Landsat satellites have acquired millions of images. Landsat 7 data has eight spectral bands with spatial resolutions ranging from 15 to 60 meters, Landsat images are usually divided into scenes for easy downloading. Each Landsat scene is about 115 miles long and 115 miles wide, Hughes Santa Barbara Research Center initiated, designed, and fabricated the first three Multispectral Scanners in 1969, the same year man landed on the moon. The first prototype MSS was completed nine months, in the fall of 1970. It was tested by scanning Half Dome at Yosemite National Park, the program was initially called the Earth Resources Technology Satellites Program, which was used from 1966 to 1975. In 1975, the name was changed to Landsat and this occurred in 1985 when the Earth Observation Satellite Company, a partnership of Hughes Aircraft and RCA, was selected by NOAA to operate the Landsat system with a ten-year contract. EOSAT operated Landsat 4 and Landsat 5, had rights to market Landsat data. In 1989, this transition had not been completed when NOAAs funding for the Landsat program was due to run out. The head of the newly formed National Space Council, Vice President Dan Quayle, noted the situation and arranged emergency funding that allowed the program to continue with the data archives intact. Again in 1990 and 1991, Congress provided only half of the funding to NOAA. In 1992, various efforts were made to procure funding for follow on Landsats and continued operations, Landsat 6 was finally launched on October 5,1993, but was lost in a launch failure. Processing of Landsat 4 and 5 data was resumed by EOSAT in 1994, NASA finally launched Landsat 7 on April 15,1999. Timeline Landsat missions 1 through 5 carried the Landsat Multispectral Scanner and this construct ensured the secondary mirror would simply oscillate about the primary optic axis to maintain focus despite vibration inherent from the 360 mm beryllium scan mirror. This engineering solution allowed the United States to develop LANDSAT at least five years ahead of the French SPOT and this was a direct result of the commercialization efforts begun under the Carter administration, though finally completed under the Reagan administration. This main plate was assembled on a frame, then attached to the magnesium housing with helicoil fasteners. Key to the success of the multi spectral scanner was the scan monitor mounted on the underbelly of the magnesium housing, the beam struck the beryllium scan mirror seven times as it reflected seven times off the flat mirrors
2.
Pacific Ocean
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The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan, trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Marshall Islands
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The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the International Date Line. Geographically, the country is part of the island group of Micronesia. The countrys population of 53,158 people is spread out over 29 coral atolls, comprising 1,156 individual islands and islets. The islands share maritime boundaries with the Federated States of Micronesia to the west, Wake Island to the north, Kiribati to the south-east, about 27,797 of the islanders live on Majuro, which contains the capital. Micronesian colonists gradually settled the Marshall Islands during the 2nd millennium BC, Islands in the archipelago were first explored by Europeans in the 1520s, with Spanish explorer Alonso de Salazar sighting an atoll in August 1526. Other expeditions by Spanish and English ships followed, the islands derive their name from British explorer John Marshall, who visited in 1788. The islands were known by the inhabitants as jolet jen Anij. The European powers recognized Spanish sovereignty over the islands in 1874 and they had been part of the Spanish East Indies formally since 1528. Later, Spain sold the islands to the German Empire in 1884, in World War I the Empire of Japan occupied the Marshall Islands, which in 1919 the League of Nations combined with other former German territories to form the South Pacific Mandate. In World War II, the United States conquered the islands in the Gilbert, along with other Pacific Islands, the Marshall Islands were then consolidated into the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands governed by the US. Self-government was achieved in 1979, and full sovereignty in 1986, Marshall Islands has been a United Nations member state since 1991. The country uses the United States dollar as its currency, the majority of the citizens of the Marshall Islands are of Marshallese descent, though there are small numbers of immigrants from the United States, China, Philippines, and other Pacific islands. The two official languages are Marshallese, which is a member of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, and English, micronesians settled the Marshall Islands in the 2nd millennium BC, but there are no historical or oral records of that period. Over time, the Marshall Island people learned to navigate over long distances by canoe using traditional stick charts. Spanish explorer Alonso de Salazar was the first European to see the islands in 1526, commanding the ship Santa Maria de la Victoria, on August 21, he sighted an island at 14°N that he named San Bartolome. On September 21,1529, Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón commanded the Spanish ship Florida and he stood off a group of islands from which local inhabitants hurled stones at his ship. These islands, which he named Los Pintados, may have been Ujelang, on October 1, he found another group of islands where he went ashore for eight days, exchanged gifts with the local inhabitants and took on water. These islands, which he named Los Jardines, may have been Enewetak or Bikini Atoll
5.
Coordinated Universal Time
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Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead
6.
Atoll
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An atoll, sometimes called a coral atoll, is a ring-shaped coral reef including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands/cays on the rim, the coral of the atoll often sits atop the rim of an extinct seamount or volcano which has eroded or subsided partially beneath the water. The lagoon forms over the crater or caldera while the higher rim remains above water or at shallow depths that permit the coral to grow. For the atoll to persist, continued erosion or subsidence must be at a slow enough to permit reef growth upwards and outwards to replace the lost height. The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu, meaning an administrative subdivision, the distribution of atolls around the globe is instructive, most of the worlds atolls are in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean has no large groups of atolls, other than eight atolls east of Nicaragua that belong to the Colombian department of San Andres and Providencia in the Caribbean. Reef-building corals will thrive only in tropical and subtropical waters of oceans and seas. The northernmost atoll of the world is Kure Atoll at 28°24 N, the southernmost atolls of the world are Elizabeth Reef at 29°58 S, and nearby Middleton Reef at 29°29 S, in the Tasman Sea, both of which are part of the Coral Sea Islands Territory. The next southerly atoll is Ducie Island in the Pitcairn Islands Group, at this latitude coral reefs would not develop without the warming waters of the Gulf Stream. However, Bermuda is termed a pseudo-atoll because its general form, while there is no atoll directly on the equator, the closest atoll to the Equator is Aranuka of Kiribati, with its southern tip just 12 km north of the equator. In most cases, the area of an atoll is very small in comparison to the total area. Atoll islands are low lying, with their elevations less than 5 meters, measured by total area, Lifou is the largest raised coral atoll of the world, followed by Rennell Island. More sources however list as the largest atoll in the world in terms of land area Kiritimati, the remains of an ancient atoll as a hill in a limestone area is called a reef knoll. The second largest atoll by dry land area is Aldabra with 155 km², the largest atoll in terms of island numbers is Huvadhu Atoll in the south of the Maldives with 255 islands. In 1842, Charles Darwin explained the creation of coral atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean based upon observations made during a voyage aboard the HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836. In time, subsidence carries the old volcano below the ocean surface, at this point, the island has become an atoll. Atolls are the product of the growth of marine organisms. Volcanic islands located beyond the water temperature requirements of hermatypic organisms become seamounts as they subside and are eroded away at the surface
7.
Honolulu
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Honolulu is the capital and largest city of the U. S. state of Hawaii. It is an part of and the county seat of the City and County of Honolulu on the island of Oahu. The city is the gateway to Hawaii and a major portal into the United States. The city is also a hub for international business, military defense, as well as famously being host to a diverse variety of east-west and Pacific culture, cuisine. Honolulu is the most remote city of its size in the world and is both the westernmost and the southernmost major U. S. city. For statistical purposes, the U. S. Census Bureau recognizes the area commonly referred to as City of Honolulu as a census county division. Honolulu is a financial center of the islands and of the Pacific Ocean. The population of the city of Honolulu was 337,256 as of the 2010 census, while the Honolulu CCD was 390,738, Honolulu means sheltered harbor or calm port. The old name is said to be Kou, a district encompassing the area from Nuuanu Avenue to Alakea Street. The city has been the capital of the Hawaiian Islands since 1845, as of 2015, Honolulu was ranked high on world livability rankings, and was also ranked as the 2nd safest city in the U. S. It is also the most populated Oceanian city outside Australasia and ranks second to Auckland as the most populous city in Polynesia, evidence of the first settlement of Honolulu by the original Polynesian migrants to the archipelago comes from oral histories and artifacts. These indicate that there was a settlement where Honolulu now stands in the 11th century, however, after Kamehameha I conquered Oʻahu in the Battle of Nuʻuanu at Nuʻuanu Pali, he moved his royal court from the Island of Hawaiʻi to Waikīkī in 1804. His court relocated in 1809 to what is now downtown Honolulu, the capital was moved back to Kailua-Kona in 1812. In 1794, Captain William Brown of Great Britain was the first foreigner to sail into what is now Honolulu Harbor, more foreign ships followed, making the port of Honolulu a focal point for merchant ships traveling between North America and Asia. In 1845, Kamehameha III moved the permanent capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom from Lahaina on Maui to Honolulu and he and the kings that followed him transformed Honolulu into a modern capital, erecting buildings such as St. Andrews Cathedral, ʻIolani Palace, and Aliʻiōlani Hale. At the same time, Honolulu became the center of commerce in the islands, an economic and tourism boom following statehood brought rapid economic growth to Honolulu and Hawaiʻi. Modern air travel brings, as of 2007,7.6 million visitors annually to the islands, today, Honolulu is a modern city with numerous high-rise buildings, and Waikīkī is the center of the tourism industry in Hawaiʻi, with thousands of hotel rooms. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has an area of 68.4 square miles
8.
Lagoon
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A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by barrier islands or reefs. Lagoons are commonly divided into coastal lagoons and atoll lagoons and they have also been identified as occurring on mixed-sand and gravel coastlines. There is an overlap between bodies of water classified as coastal lagoons and bodies of water classified as estuaries, lagoons are common coastal features around many parts of the world. Lagoons can also be man-made and used for treatment, as is the case for e. g. aerated lagoons. Lagoons are shallow, often elongated bodies of water separated from a body of water by a shallow or exposed shoal, coral reef. Some authorities include fresh water bodies in the definition of lagoon, the distinction between lagoon and estuary also varies between authorities. Richard A. Davis Jr. restricts lagoon to bodies of water with little or no fresh water inflow, and little or no tidal flow, Davis does state that the terms lagoon and estuary are often loosely applied, even in scientific literature. Timothy M. Kusky characterizes lagoons as normally being elongated parallel to the coast, while estuaries are usually drowned river valleys, coastal lagoons are classified as inland bodies of water. Many lagoons do not include lagoon in their common names, in England, The Fleet at Chesil Beach has also been described as a lagoon. In Latin America, the term laguna in Spanish, which translates to. However, sometimes it is used to describe a full-sized lake, such as Laguna Catemaco in Mexico. The brackish water lagoon may be explicitly identified as a coastal lagoon. In Portuguese the same usage is found, lagoa may be a body of sea water. Lagoon is derived from the Italian laguna, which refers to the waters around Venice, Laguna is attested in English by at least 1612, and had been Anglicized to lagune by 1673. In 1697 William Dampier referred to a Lagune or Lake of Salt water on the coast of Mexico, captain James Cook described an island of Oval form with a Lagoon in the middle in 1769. Atoll lagoons form as coral reefs grow upwards while the islands that the reefs surround subside, unlike the lagoons that form shoreward of fringing reefs, atoll lagoons often contain some deep portions. Coastal lagoons form along gently sloping coasts where barrier islands or reefs can develop off-shore, coastal lagoons do not form along steep or rocky coasts, or if the range of tides is more than 4 metres. Due to the slope of the coast, coastal lagoons are shallow
9.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
10.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
11.
United States Army
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
12.
Ebeye Island
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Ebeye is the most populous island of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, as well as the center for Marshallese culture in the Ralik Chain of the archipelago. Settled on 80 acres of land, it has a population of more than 15,000, over 50% of the population is estimated to be under the age of 18. When Christian missionaries first arrived in the Marshall Islands, they introduced Latin script writing, originally, Ebeye was written Ebeje by Europeans, which means making something out of nothing. However, the colonial German administration mispronounced the J as if it were German language, during the Japanese period, though, the islands pronunciation in katakana, Ebize, re-approximated Marshallese. After World War II, the Americans took possession of the mandate from Japan. This pronunciation has even adapted to Marshallese orthography, so that there are now two synonymous Marshallese names for the island — officially and historically Epjā, and locally Ibae. The Imperial Japanese Navy constructed a base on Ebeye in the early 1940s. Following the Battle of Kwajalein from 31 January to 3 February 1944, on 7 March the 107th Naval Construction Battalion was sent to Ebeye to redevelop the seaplane base. The Seabees repaired the existing 1, 600-by-30-foot pier, adding a 50-by-240-foot ell extension, the Seabees assembled a pontoon wharf and pontoon barges for transporting damaged carrier aircraft to repair units ashore. Before the early 1950s, a number of present-day residents of Ebeye lived on small islands throughout Kwajalein Atoll. These promises were not entirely upheld, nor were these families thoroughly compensated, not only were they removed from their land and access to abundant marine resources, but most Mid-Atoll people did not have land rights to Ebeye, leaving them without much of a say in their future. Subsequent population growth by migration from outlying rural atolls and islands throughout the Marshalls created a housing shortage, original Ebeye inhabitants with land rights were not compensated adequately for the tenants who came to live on their land. This created tensions that polarized migrants from other atolls and landowners or original Kwajalein people, Ebeye is the most populous island of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, as well as the center for Marshallese culture in the Ralik Chain of the archipelago. It is the fifth most densely populated island in the world, Ebeye has a population of more than 15,000. In 2008, the population was 12,000, in 1968, the population was 3,000. Some of the residents of Ebeye are refugees or descendants of refugees from the effects of the 15-megaton Castle Bravo nuclear test at Bikini Atoll on March 1,1954. The detonation unexpectedly rained nuclear fallout and two inches of snow on nearby Rongelap Atoll, which had not been evacuated as had Bikini. The 1954 American authorities then evacuated Rongelap and were returned in 1957 with extensive medical surveillance, in 1985, Greenpeace evacuated the inhabitants of Rongelap to Mejato
13.
Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site
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The Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, commonly referred to as the Reagan Test Site, is a missile test range in Marshall Islands. It covers about 750,000 square miles and includes rocket launch sites at the Kwajalein Atoll, Wake Island and it primarily functions as a test facility for U. S. missile defense and space research programs. The Reagan Test Site is under the command of the US Army Kwajalein Atoll, the facility is part of the Defense Major Range and Test Facility Base. They provide range instrumentation, missile facilities, mission control center, range safety, meteorological support. As of 2015, the budget was US$182 million. The site hosts a suite of instrumentation, located on eight islands throughout the Kwajalein Atoll. This instrumentation includes a suite of precision metric and signature radars, optical sensors, telemetry receiving stations. RTS provides both mobile and fixed ground and flight safety instrumentation, the Pentagon lease for the islands of the Kwajalein Atoll extends through 2066. The Reagan Test Site also serves as a station for manned space flight. Launch activities at the test site include ballistic missile tests, ABM interception tests, meteorological sounding rockets, there are about 2,500 permanent residents of Kwajalein, including 1,200 employees of Bechtel and Lockheed Martin’s Kwajalein Range Services and more than 800 dependents. The Bechtel employees are located on 11 sites spread across 7,000 miles, the civilian jobs on the facility are managed under contract by Bechtel. Depending on the job, some positions are unaccompanied, workers on the facility may qualify for tax-exempt status in the United States. The Americans are supported by about 900 Marshallese workers who take a ferry from Ebeye Island to the base, Bechtel provides a wide variety of support services to the Department of Defense and military personnel and their families. A Catholic and a Presbyterian chaplain are employed by Bechtel, there are also religious services available for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The mission control center, along with most of the personnel, eleven of the atolls islands are operated by the U. S. military under a long term lease with the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site Official Site U. S. Army Kwajalein Atoll The Roi Namur Dolphins Scuba Club website
14.
Roi-Namur
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Roi-Namur /ˌrɔɪ-nəˈmʊər/ is an island in the north part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Germany annexed the Marshalls in 1885 but did not put government officials on the islands until 1906, under the Treaty of Versailles, Japan took over in 1914. They colonised the Marshalls extensively, developing and fortifying large bases on many of the islands, Roi-Namur was the target of the U. S. 4th Marine Division in the Battle of Kwajalein, in February 1944. During the Japanese occupation, the two islands were connected by a neck of land and causeway. Roi-Namur was selected by DARPA as a host site for a series of experiments under the Project Defender umbrella. By building on Roi-Namur, they were able to use the test shots being used by the US Armys Nike-X program installed on Kwajalein Island, Roi-Namur is home to an about 120 American and Marshallese employees of the Reagan Test Site. The Roi side is the housing area, with the retail. Activities on Roi-Namur range from a golf course, saltwater swimming pool, scuba club, movie theater, volleyball. Roi hosts the Freeflight International Airport with one runway for planes that commute from Kwajalein bringing additional workers. Additional Marshallese daytime workers come via ferry from the island of Enniburr, the Namur side is home to the ALCOR, ALTAIR, MMW and TRADEX radar tracking stations. There is a launch facility on Roi-Namur. Rockets launched here are usually sounding rockets that ascend beyond the atmosphere but have short ranges, there are crumbling remnants of Japanese blockhouses and pillboxes around Roi-Namur
15.
Radar
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Radar is an object-detection system that uses radio waves to determine the range, angle, or velocity of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, Radio waves from the transmitter reflect off the object and return to the receiver, giving information about the objects location and speed. Radar was developed secretly for military use by several nations in the period before, the term RADAR was coined in 1940 by the United States Navy as an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging or RAdio Direction And Ranging. The term radar has since entered English and other languages as a common noun, high tech radar systems are associated with digital signal processing, machine learning and are capable of extracting useful information from very high noise levels. Other systems similar to make use of other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. One example is lidar, which uses ultraviolet, visible, or near infrared light from lasers rather than radio waves, as early as 1886, German physicist Heinrich Hertz showed that radio waves could be reflected from solid objects. In 1895, Alexander Popov, an instructor at the Imperial Russian Navy school in Kronstadt. The next year, he added a spark-gap transmitter, in 1897, while testing this equipment for communicating between two ships in the Baltic Sea, he took note of an interference beat caused by the passage of a third vessel. In his report, Popov wrote that this phenomenon might be used for detecting objects, the German inventor Christian Hülsmeyer was the first to use radio waves to detect the presence of distant metallic objects. In 1904, he demonstrated the feasibility of detecting a ship in dense fog and he obtained a patent for his detection device in April 1904 and later a patent for a related amendment for estimating the distance to the ship. He also got a British patent on September 23,1904 for a radar system. It operated on a 50 cm wavelength and the radar signal was created via a spark-gap. In 1915, Robert Watson-Watt used radio technology to advance warning to airmen. Watson-Watt became an expert on the use of direction finding as part of his lightning experiments. As part of ongoing experiments, he asked the new boy, Arnold Frederic Wilkins, Wilkins made an extensive study of available units before selecting a receiver model from the General Post Office. Its instruction manual noted that there was fading when aircraft flew by, in 1922, A. Hoyt Taylor and Leo C. Taylor submitted a report, suggesting that this might be used to detect the presence of ships in low visibility, eight years later, Lawrence A. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa followed prewar Great Britain, and Hungary had similar developments during the war. Hugon, began developing a radio apparatus, a part of which was installed on the liner Normandie in 1935
16.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
17.
German cruiser Prinz Eugen
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Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with Nazi Germanys Kriegsmarine during World War II, the ship was laid down in April 1936, launched in August 1938, and entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940. She was named after Prince Eugene of Savoy, an 18th-century Austrian general, Prinz Eugen saw action during Operation Rheinübung, an attempted breakout into the Atlantic Ocean with the battleship Bismarck in May 1941. The two ships destroyed the British battlecruiser Hood and moderately damaged the battleship Prince of Wales in the Battle of the Denmark Strait, Prinz Eugen was detached from Bismarck during the operation to raid Allied merchant shipping, but this was cut short due to engine troubles. After putting into occupied France and undergoing repairs, the participated in Operation Cerberus. In February 1942, Prinz Eugen was deployed to Norway, although her time stationed there was curtailed when she was torpedoed by the British submarine Trident days after arriving in Norwegian waters, the torpedo severely damaged the ships stern, which necessitated repairs in Germany. Upon returning to service, the ship spent several months training officer cadets in the Baltic before serving as artillery support for the retreating German Army on the Eastern Front. After the German collapse in May 1945, she was surrendered to the British Royal Navy before being transferred to the US Navy as a war prize. After examining the ship in the United States, the US Navy assigned the cruiser to the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll, having survived the atomic blasts, Prinz Eugen was towed to Kwajalein Atoll, where she ultimately capsized and sank in December 1946. The wreck remains partially visible above the approximately two miles northwest of Bucholz Army Airfield, on the edge of Enubuj. One of her propellers was salvaged and is on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial in Germany. Prinz Eugen was 207.7 meters long overall, and had a beam of 21.7 m, after launching, her straight bow was replaced with a clipper bow, increasing the length overall to 212.5 meters. The new bow kept her foredeck much drier in heavy weather, the ship had a design displacement of 16,970 t and a full-load displacement of 18,750 long tons. Prinz Eugen was powered by three sets of geared turbines, which were supplied with steam by twelve ultra-high pressure oil-fired boilers. The ships top speed was 32 knots, at 135,619 shaft horsepower, as designed, her standard complement consisted of 42 officers and 1,340 enlisted men. The ships primary armament was eight 20.3 cm SK L/60 guns mounted in four turrets, placed in superfiring pairs forward. Her anti-aircraft battery consisted of twelve 10.5 cm L/65 guns, twelve 3.7 cm guns, the ship also carried a pair of triple 53.3 cm torpedo launchers abreast of the rear superstructure. For aerial reconnaissance, she was equipped with three Arado Ar 196 seaplanes and one catapult, Prinz Eugens armored belt was 70 to 80 mm thick, her upper deck was 12 to 30 mm thick and her main armored deck was 20 to 50 mm thick
18.
Bikini Atoll
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Bikini Atoll is an atoll in the Marshall Islands which consists of 23 islands totaling 3.4 square miles surrounding a deep 229. 4-square-mile central lagoon. It is at the end of the Ralik Chain, approximately 87 kilometres northwest of Ailinginae Atoll and 850 kilometres northwest of Majuro. Within Bikini Atoll, Bikini, Eneu, Nam, and Enidrik islands comprise just over 70% of the land area, Bikini and Eneu are the only islands of the atoll that hosted a permanent population. Bikini Island is the northeastern most and largest islet, before World War II, the atoll was known by its German name, Eschscholtz Atoll. The islands English name is derived from the German colonial name Bikini given to the atoll when it was part of German New Guinea. The German name is transliterated from the Marshallese name for the island, Pikinni, Pik meaning surface and Ni meaning coconut, before the advent of Western influence, the Bikini islanders sustenance-based lifestyle was based on cultivating native plants and eating shellfish and fish. They were skilled builders and navigators, sailing the two-hulled proa to and from islets around the Bikini. The islanders were relatively isolated and had developed a society bound by close extended family association and tradition. Every lagoon was led by a king and queen and a following of chieftains, some of the leaders maintained Asian-style bungalows and maintained servants, including secretaries, maids, and valets. The islanders worked the plantations under the watchful eye of the Japanese. Chiefs could retain as much as $20,000 per year, the Marshall islanders were formerly aggressive, but the influence of the mission churches eliminated most conflict. They took pride in extending hospitality to one another, even distant relatives, the men wore a fringe skirt of native materials about 25 to 30 inches long. Women traditionally wore two mats about a square each, made by weaving pandanus and hibiscus leaves together. The Christian missionaries who began arriving in the late 19th century influenced the islanders notions of modesty, in 1919, a visitor reported that Marshall Islands women are perfect models of prudery. Not one would think of exposing her ankles, women in the Marshall Islands today are still very modest. They believe that a womans thighs and shoulders should be covered, women generally wear cotton muʻumuʻus or similar clothing that covers most of the body. Personal health is never discussed except within the family, and women are especially private about female-related health issues, Marshall island women swim in muʻumuʻus which are made of a fine polyester that quickly dries. In the capital of Majuro, revealing cocktail dresses are inappropriate for both islanders and guests, with the increasing influence of Western media, the younger generation may wear shorts, though the older generation equates shorts with loose morals
19.
Concrete
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Concrete is a composite material composed of coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement that hardens over time. Most concretes used are lime-based concretes such as Portland cement concrete or concretes made with other hydraulic cements, when aggregate is mixed together with dry Portland cement and water, the mixture forms a fluid slurry that is easily poured and molded into shape. The cement reacts chemically with the water and other ingredients to form a matrix that binds the materials together into a durable stone-like material that has many uses. Often, additives are included in the mixture to improve the properties of the wet mix or the finished material. Most concrete is poured with reinforcing materials embedded to provide tensile strength, famous concrete structures include the Hoover Dam, the Panama Canal, and the Roman Pantheon. The earliest large-scale users of technology were the ancient Romans. The Colosseum in Rome was built largely of concrete, and the dome of the Pantheon is the worlds largest unreinforced concrete dome. Today, large concrete structures are made with reinforced concrete. After the Roman Empire collapsed, use of concrete became rare until the technology was redeveloped in the mid-18th century, today, concrete is the most widely used man-made material. The word concrete comes from the Latin word concretus, the passive participle of concrescere, from con-. Perhaps the earliest known occurrence of cement was twelve years ago. A deposit of cement was formed after an occurrence of oil shale located adjacent to a bed of limestone burned due to natural causes and these ancient deposits were investigated in the 1960s and 1970s. On a human timescale, small usages of concrete go back for thousands of years and they discovered the advantages of hydraulic lime, with some self-cementing properties, by 700 BC. They built kilns to supply mortar for the construction of houses, concrete floors. The cisterns were kept secret and were one of the reasons the Nabataea were able to thrive in the desert, some of these structures survive to this day. In the Ancient Egyptian and later Roman eras, it was re-discovered that adding volcanic ash to the mix allowed it to set underwater, similarly, the Romans knew that adding horse hair made concrete less liable to crack while it hardened, and adding blood made it more frost-resistant. Crystallization of strätlingite and the introduction of pyroclastic clays creates further fracture resistance, german archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann found concrete floors, which were made of lime and pebbles, in the royal palace of Tiryns, Greece, which dates roughly to 1400–1200 BC. Lime mortars were used in Greece, Crete, and Cyprus in 800 BC, the Assyrian Jerwan Aqueduct made use of waterproof concrete
20.
Causeway
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In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway on top an embankment usually across a broad body of water or wetland. When first used, the word appeared in a such as causey way making clear its derivation from the earlier form causey. This word seems to have come from the source by two different routes. It derives ultimately, from the Latin for heel, calx, anciently, the construction was trodden down, one layer at a time, often by slaves or flocks of sheep. Today, this work is done by machines, the same technique would have been used for road embankments, raised river banks, sea banks and fortification earthworks. The second derivation route is simply the hard, trodden surface of a path, the name by this route came to be applied to a firmly-surfaced road. It is now little-used except in dialect and in the names of roads which were notable for their solidly-made surface. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica states causey, a mound or dam, which is derived, through the Norman-French caucie, from the late Latin via calciata, a road stamped firm with the feet. The word is comparable in both meanings with the French chaussée, from a form of which it reached English by way of Norman French. The French adjective, chaussée, carries the meaning of having given a hardened surface. As a noun chaussée is used on the one hand for a metalled carriageway, other languages have a noun with similar dual meaning. The Welsh is relevant here, as it also has a verb, sarnu, a transport corridor that is carried instead on a series of arches, perhaps approaching a bridge, is a viaduct. In the U. S. a short stretch of viaduct is called an overpass, some low causeways across shore waters become inaccessible when covered at high tide. The modern embankment may be constructed within a cofferdam, two parallel steel sheet pile or concrete retaining walls, anchored to each other with steel cables or rods. This construction may also serve as a dyke that keeps two bodies of water apart, such as bodies with a different water level on each side, or with water on one side. This may also be the purpose of a structure, the road providing a hardened crest for the dike. It also provides access for maintenance as well perhaps, as a public service, notable causeways include those that connect Singapore and Malaysia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and Venice to the mainland, all of which carry roadways and railways. In the Netherlands there are a number of prominent dykes which also double as causeways, including the Afsluitdijk, Brouwersdam, in Louisiana, two very long bridges, called the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, stretch across Lake Pontchartrain for almost 38 km, making them the worlds longest bridges
21.
Sprint (missile)
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The Sprint was a two-stage, solid-fuel anti-ballistic missile, armed with a W66 enhanced radiation thermonuclear warhead. As the RV would be travelling at about 5 miles per second, Sprint accelerated at 100 g, reaching a speed of Mach 10 in 5 seconds. Such a high velocity at low altitudes created skin temperatures up to 6200 °F. The high temperature caused a plasma to form around the missile, Sprint was the centerpiece of the Nike-X system, which concentrated on placing bases around large cities to intercept Soviet warheads. As the cost of such a system quickly became untenable as the Soviets added more ICBMs to their fleet, in its place came the Sentinel program which used Sprint as a last-ditch defense against RVs that evaded the much longer-ranged LIM-49 Spartan. Sentinel was itself changed to become the Safeguard program, which was only for a few months from October 1975 to early 1976. Congressional opposition and high costs linked to its economics and efficacy against the then emerging MIRV warheads of the Soviet Union. Some work on an improved Sprint II was carried out in the early 1970s, the conical Sprint was stored in and launched from a silo. To make the launch as quick as possible, the cover was blown off the silo by explosive charges, as the missile cleared the silo, the first stage fired and the missile was tilted toward its target. The first stage was exhausted after only 1.2 seconds, on separation of the spent first stage, it disintegrated due to aerodynamic forces. The second stage fired within 1 –2 seconds of launch, interception at an altitude of one to eighteen miles altitude took at most 15 seconds. The Sprint was controlled by ground-based radio command guidance, which tracked the incoming reentry vehicles with phased-array radar, the Sprint was armed with an enhanced radiation nuclear warhead with a yield reportedly of a few kilotons, though the exact number has not been declassified. The warhead was intended to destroy the incoming reentry vehicle primarily by neutron flux, the first test of the Sprint missile took place at White Sands Missile Range on 17 November 1965. Both were tested at the White Sands Launch Complex 38, the small Thunderbird rocket of 1947 produced an acceleration of 100 G with a polysulfide composite propellant, star-grained cross section solid rocket motor. The first test of the Sprint missile took place at White Sands Missile Range on 17 November 1965, the Air Defense Artillery museum at Fort Sill, Oklahoma has both Safeguard missiles, plus Nike Zeus and HIBEX on exhibit. The White Sands Missile Range Museum has a HIBEX on exhibit, 53T6 Anti-ballistic missile Surface-to-air missile LIM-49 Spartan Nike-Hercules missile Project Nike Safeguard Program Sprint Directory of U. S
22.
LIM-49 Spartan
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For actual deployment, a five-megaton thermonuclear warhead was planned to destroy the incoming ICBM warheads. It was part of the Safeguard Program, Spartan was initially developed as part of the Nike-X project, later becoming the Sentinel Program. This was eventually cancelled and replaced with the much smaller Safeguard Program, spartans were deployed as part of the Safeguard system from October 1975 to early 1976. The US Army started their first serious efforts in the anti-ballistic missile arena when they asked the Bell Labs missile team to prepare a report on the topic in February 1955. The Nike team had designed the Nike Ajax system that was in widespread use around the US. Work began on the resulting LIM-49 Nike Zeus system in January 1957, however, several developments that year, including the development of the first Soviet ICBMs and the launch of Sputnik I, caused the schedule to be pushed up several times. In January 1958 Zeus was given S-Priority, the highest national priority, to test the system fully, the Army took control of Kwajalein Island from the US Navy, and began building an entire Zeus site on the island. By 1962 the system was ready for testing, and after initial problems. Eventually fourteen all up tests were carried out over the two years, with ten of them bringing the missile within the lethal radius of its warhead. In spite of Zeus successful testing program and interceptions, it was becoming clear that the fully integrated system would not be effective in an actual operational scenario. The former problem was becoming increasingly apparent beginning in approximately 1957, Missiles designed to carry a specific warhead began having increasing levels of excess throw-weight as warhead physics improved missile design, resulting in smaller and lighter warheads. Adding more decoys was extremely inexpensive, requiring very expensive ABMs to be added in response. At the same time, both the US and USSR were in the midst of introducing their first truly mass-produced ICBMs, Zeus, like Hercules and Ajax before it, used mechanically directed radar dishes that could track only one target and one interceptor at a time. The solution to both of these problems was to speed of both the defending missiles, and the defensive system as a whole. Decoys are less dense than warheads, though with the same aerodynamics, therefore, they are subject to more deceleration when they begin their reentry of the upper atmosphere. The warhead, which is dense and streamlined, experiences less deceleration from air resistance, eventually passing by the decoys. The rate at which this happens depends on the types of decoys used, at this point the warhead is vulnerable to attack, but is only 5 to 10 seconds from impact. To address these issues, a high speed missile was required
23.
Meck Island
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Meck Island is part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Ralik Chain in the Republic of the Marshall Islands,2,100 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. Meck is part of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, and it was originally developed in support of the Sentinel program of the 1960s, and hosted a radar site and launchers for Sprint and Spartan missiles. It has been used for a variety of tests since then, exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, THAAD and others
24.
Anti-ballistic missile
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An anti-ballistic missile is a surface-to-air missile designed to counter ballistic missiles. Ballistic missiles are used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional warheads in a flight trajectory. There are only two systems in the world that can intercept ICBMs, besides them, many smaller systems exist, that generally cannot intercept intercontinental strategic missiles, even if within range—an incoming ICBM simply moves too fast for these systems. The Russian A-35 anti-ballistic missile system, used for the defense of Moscow, the currently active system is called A-135. The system uses Gorgon and Gazelle missiles with nuclear warheads to intercept incoming ICBMs, the U. S. Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system has reached initial operational capability. Instead of using a charge, it launches a kinetic projectile. The George W. Bush administration accelerated development and deployment of a proposed in 1998 by the Clinton administration. The system is a purpose test and interception facility in Alaska. President Bush referenced the September 11 attacks in 2001 and the proliferation of ballistic missiles as reasons for missile defense, the current GMD system has the more limited goal of shielding against a limited attack by a rogue state such as North Korea. Israels Arrow 3 system entered service in 2017. It is designed for interception of ballistic missiles during the spaceflight portion of their trajectory. It may also act as an anti-satellite weapon, during 1993, a symposium was held by western European nations to discuss potential future ballistic missile defence programs. In the end, the recommended deployment of early warning. During spring 2006 reports about negotiations between the United States and Poland as well as the Czech Republic were published, the plans propose the installation of a latest generation ABM system with a radar site in the Czech Republic and the launch site in Poland. The system was announced to be aimed against ICBMs from Iran and this caused harsh comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe security conference during spring 2007 in Munich. Other European ministers commented that any change of strategic weapons should be negotiated on NATO level, as of July 2007, a majority of Poles were opposed to hosting a component of the system in Poland. Project 640 had been the PRCs indigenous effort to develop ABM capability, the Academy of Anti-Ballistic Missile & Anti-Satellite was established from 1969 for the purpose of developing Project 640. The project was to involve at least three elements, including the sensors and guidance/command systems, the Fan Ji missile interceptor
25.
Nike-X
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The X in the name referred to its experimental basis and was supposed to be replaced by a more appropriate name when the system was put into production. This never came to pass, the Nike-X program was canceled and replaced by a much lighter defense system known as Sentinel, the Nike-X system was developed in response to limitations of the earlier Nike Zeus system. Zeus radars could only track single targets, and it was calculated that a salvo of only four ICBMs would have a 90% chance of hitting a Zeus base. Zeus would have been useful in the late 1950s when the Soviets had only a few dozen missiles, the attacker could also use radar reflectors or high-altitude nuclear explosions to obscure the warheads until they were too close to attack, making a single-warhead attack highly likely to succeed. The key concept that led to Nike-X was that the rapidly thickening atmosphere below 60 kilometres altitude disrupted the reflectors, Nike-X was intended to wait until the enemy warheads descended below this altitude and then attack them using a very fast missile known as Sprint. The entire engagement would last only a few seconds and could place as low as 25,000 feet. Many dozens of warheads would need to arrive at the time to overwhelm the system. Building a complete deployment would have been expensive, on the order of the total yearly budget of the Department of Defense. Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense, felt the cost could not be justified and worried it would lead to a nuclear arms race. He directed the teams to consider deployments where a number of interceptors might still be militarily useful. Among these, the I-67 concept suggested building a defense against very limited attacks. When the Peoples Republic of China exploded their first H-bomb in 1967, I-67 was promoted as a defense against a Chinese attack, Nike-X development, in its original form, ended. In 1955 the US Army began considering the possibility of upgrading their Nike B surface-to-air missile as an anti-ballistic missile to intercept ICBMs. Bell Labs, the contractor for Nike, was asked to study the issue. All of this appeared to be within the state of the art, considerable interservice rivalry between the Army and Air Force led to the Nike II being redefined and delayed several times. These barriers were swept aside in late 1957 after the launch of the R-7 Semyorka, the design was further upgraded, given the name Zeus, and assigned the highest development priority. Zeus was similar to the two Nike SAM designs that preceded it and it used a long range search radar to pick up targets, separate radars to track the target and interceptor missiles in flight, and a computer to calculate intercept points. The missile itself was much larger than earlier designs, with a range of up to 200 miles and it flew so fast it burned the outer layer of its skin off while climbing through the lower atmosphere
26.
Safeguard Program
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The Safeguard Program was a US Army anti-ballistic missile system designed to protect the US Air Forces Minuteman ICBM silos from attack, thus preserving the USs nuclear deterrent fleet. It was intended primarily to protect against the very small Chinese ICBM fleet, limited Soviet attacks, a full-scale attack by the Soviets would easily overwhelm it, a deliberate point to ensure the Soviets did not consider it a strategic threat. It was designed to allow upgrades to provide similar lightweight coverage over the entire United States over time. Safeguard was the development of an ever-changing series of designs produced by Bell Labs the started in the 1950s with the LIM-49 Nike Zeus. By 1960 it was clear that Zeus offered almost no protection against an attack using decoys. A new design emerged, Nike-X, with the ability to defend against attacks with hundreds of warheads and thousands of decoys, looking for alternatives, the Sentinel program offered a lightweight cover that would protect against limited attacks. Sentinel began construction in 1968 but ran into a firestorm of protest over its bases being placed in suburban areas, the Air Force was far more interested in building more of their own ICBMs than Army ABMs, and lobbied against the Army continually. In the public sphere, opinion by the late 1960s was anti-military in general, Safeguard had been developed to calm opposition, but found its new deployment just as heavily opposed. Nixon pressed ahead in spite of objections and complaints about limited performance, through the Safeguard era, talks between the US and Soviet Union originally started by Johnson were continuing. The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 limited the US and Soviet Union to two ABM sites each, Safeguard was scaled back to sites in North Dakota and Montana, abandoning initial work at a site in Missouri, and cancelling all other planned bases. Construction on the two remaining bases continued until 1974, when an additional agreement limited both countries to a single ABM site, the Montana site was abandoned with the main radar partially completed. The remaining base in North Dakota, the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, became active on 1 April 1975, by that time the House Appropriations Committee had already voted to deactivate it. The base was shut down on 10 February 1976, an anti-ICBM defensive ABM system was first considered by the US Army in 1955 under the name Nike II. Zeus had limited traffic handling capabilities, designed to deal with a number of attacking missiles arriving over a period of as long as an hour. However, in an era when ICBMs cost about the same as a strategic bomber and this meant that much smaller rockets could carry these new warheads to the same range, greatly reducing the cost of the missile, making them far lower than bombers or any other delivery system. The Army calculated that as many as twenty Zeus would have to be fired to ensure a single incoming missile was destroyed, faced with these problems, both the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations turned to the newly-created ARPA to suggest solutions. ARPA noted that because the decoys were lighter than the actual warhead and they proposed a system using a short range missile that could wait until the warhead was below 100,000 feet altitude, at which point the decoys would have been decluttered. This would demand extremely fast missiles, high-performance radars and advanced computers, in 1963, Robert McNamara cancelled the upcoming deployment of Zeus and announced that money would instead be provided for research into this new system, now known as Nike-X
27.
STOL
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A short takeoff and landing aircraft is an aircraft with short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on runways with harsh conditions, STOL aircraft, including those used in scheduled passenger airline operations, have also been operated from STOLport airfields which feature short runways. Autogyros also have STOL capability, needing a ground roll to get airborne. Runway length requirement is a function of the square of the flying speed. For takeoff, large power/weight ratios and low drag help the plane to accelerate for flight, the landing run is minimized by strong brakes, low landing speed, thrust reversers or spoilers. Overall STOL performance is set by the length of runway needed to land or take off, of equal importance to short ground run is the ability to clear obstacles, such as trees, on both take off and landing. For takeoff, large power/weight ratios and low drag result in a rate of climb required to clear obstacles. For landing, high drag allows the aeroplane to descend steeply to the runway without building excess speed resulting in a ground run. Drag is increased by use of flaps and by a forward slip, normally, a STOL aircraft will have a large wing for its weight. These wings often use aerodynamic devices like flaps, slots, slats, typically, designing an aircraft for excellent STOL performance reduces maximum speed, but does not reduce payload lifting ability. Most STOL aircraft can land either on- or off-airport, typical off-airport landing areas include snow or ice, fields or gravel riverbanks, and water, these areas are often extremely short and obstructed by tall trees or hills. Wheel skis and amphibious floats combine wheels with skis or floats, a number of aircraft modification companies offer STOL kits that can be installed on aircraft to improve their short field performance. Crosswinds STOL of Wasilla, Alaska sells STOL kits for aircraft, including leading edge cuffs, tip spill plates, inboard flap extensions. The company offers kits for Piper PA-12, PA-14, PA-18, PA-20 and 22, Bellanca Champion Model 7 series, the Horton modifications include a drooped leading edge cuff, conical cambered wingtips, control surface gap seals and wing fences. The company says, On an average you can expect to get a 4-7 knot reduction in stall speeds, flying at these lower stall speeds you can reduce the take-off and landing distances by 10%. Horton STOL kits are available for several Cessna and Piper PA-28 models, Micro AeroDynamics markets vortex generator modification kits for STOL benefits. The Micro kits are small vortex generators that are glued to the leading edge, as well as the underside of the elevator. Kits are available for a number of light aircraft types
28.
Strategic Defense Initiative
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The Strategic Defense Initiative was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. The system, which was to combine ground-based units and orbital deployment platforms, was first publicly announced by President Ronald Reagan on March 23,1983, the initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic offense doctrine of mutual assured destruction. The Strategic Defense Initiative Organization was set up in 1984 within the United States Department of Defense to oversee the Strategic Defense Initiative, Reagan was a vocal critic of MAD doctrine. The ambitious initiative was criticized for threatening to destabilize the MAD-approach. SDI was nicknamed largely in the media as Star Wars. Under the SDIOs Innovative Sciences and Technology Office, headed by physicist and it was never truly developed or deployed, though certain aspects of SDI research and technologies paved the way for some anti-ballistic missile systems of today. BMDO was renamed to the Missile Defense Agency in 2002 and this article covers defense efforts under the SDIO. Today, the United States holds a significant advantage in the field of advanced missile defense systems through years of extensive research. The US and the UK also have both laser weapons and 360 degree laser shields in development, which are expected to be ready for use as early as 2020. Many of the obtained technological insights were transferred to subsequent programs, George Shultz, Secretary of State under Reagan, suggests that a 1967 lecture by physicist Edward Teller was an important precursor to SDI. In the lecture Teller talked about the idea of defending against nuclear missiles by using nuclear weapons, held at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the lecture was attended by Reagan shortly after he became the governor of California. However, he was struck by their comments that while they could track the attack down to the individual targets, Shultz suggests that this feeling of helplessness, coupled with the defensive ideas proposed by Teller a decade earlier, combined to form the impetus of the SDI. It was designed to replace the doctrine of Mutual assured destruction, O Group was headed by physicist Lowell Wood, a protégé and friend of Edward Teller. Ronald Reagan was told of Hagelsteins breakthrough by Teller in 1983, the concept for the space-based portion was to use lasers to shoot down incoming Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads. Although Nazi Germany put considerable effort into the first surface-to-air missiles after 1943 and their research proved valuable to teams in the US and Soviet Union, where missile programs slowly developed in the immediate post-war era. As the Cold War started, the Soviets found themselves facing massive USAF, in response they dramatically increased their efforts in SAM development, deploying the S-25 Berkut system around Moscow as early as 1955. This was followed by the improved and semi-mobile S-75 Dvina. Similar US and UK weapons soon followed, by the late 1950s, as missiles developed both in quality and number, the ability for the US air fleet to penetrate Soviet airspace was increasingly at risk
29.
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense
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THAAD was developed to counter Iraqs Scud missile attacks during the Gulf War in 1991. The missile carries no warhead, but relies on the energy of impact to destroy the incoming missile. A kinetic energy hit minimizes the risk of exploding conventional warhead ballistic missiles, originally a US Army program, THAAD has come under the umbrella of the Missile Defense Agency. The Navy has a program, the sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. THAAD was originally scheduled for deployment in 2012, but initial deployment took place in May 2008, THAAD has been deployed in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and South Korea. The THAAD system is being designed, built, and integrated by Lockheed Martin Space Systems acting as prime contractor, key subcontractors include Raytheon, Boeing, Aerojet, Rocketdyne, Honeywell, BAE Systems, Oshkosh Defense, MiltonCAT and the Oliver Capital Consortium. The THAAD missile defense concept was proposed in 1987, with a formal request for proposals submitted to industry in 1991, in September 1992, the US Army selected Martin Marietta as prime contractor for THAAD development. Prior to development of a prototype, the Aero-Optical Effect software code was developed to validate the intended operational profile of Lockheeds proposed design. The first THAAD flight test occurred in April 1995, with all flight tests in the Demonstration-Validation program phase occurring at White Sands Missile Range, the first six intercept attempts missed the target. The first successful intercepts were conducted on 10 June 1999, and 2 August 1999, in June 2000, Lockheed won the Engineering and Manufacturing Development contract to turn the design into a mobile tactical army fire unit. Flight tests of this system resumed with missile characterization and full system tests in 2006 at White Sands Missile Range, the Interceptor was lead through development and initial production by Tory Bruno, who later became CEO of United Launch Alliance. The company performed static fire trials of a modified THAAD booster in 2006, although the kill vehicle would not need redesign, the ground-based launcher would have only five missiles instead of eight. As of early 2015 THAAD-ER is only a concept. If funding for the THAAD-ER begins in 2018, a system could be produced by 2022 to provide a capability against a rudimentary hypersonic threat. Sometimes called Kinetic Kill technology, the THAAD missile destroys missiles by colliding with them, using hit-to-kill technology and this is unlike the Patriot PAC-2 which carried only an explosive warhead detonated using a proximity fuse. Although the actual figures are classified, THAAD missiles have a range of 125 miles. The THAAD missile is manufactured at the Lockheed Martin facility near Troy, the facility performs final integration, assembly and testing of the THAAD missile. The THAAD Radar is an X Band active electronically scanned array Radar developed and built by Raytheon at its Andover and it is the worlds largest ground/air-transportable X-Band radar
30.
Nell Island
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Nell Island is part of Kwajalein Atoll in the Ralik Chain in the Republic of the Marshall Islands,2,100 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. It lies at a convergence of deep, narrow, protected channels and this area was the traditional seat of power for the Iroij at Kwajalein, prior to foreign occupation and population displacement. Nel is part of a group of four islands - including Enmaat, Pikon-Nōl, Marshallese consider these islands some of the most sacred or mo islands in Kwajalein Atoll. Enmaat was the residence of the high chiefs families, traditional Marshallese cultural leadership and land-ownership for these islands resides with the Kabua family. According to Ato Langio, a Marshallese elder, the area just inside Enmaat - protected by Enmaat, Anē-ruo, the Nel area was called mien wa, and protected by Limejwa, a Marshallese idol. With wistful sadness modern day Marshallese relate how children could cross the channel with immunity protected by Limejwa using coconuts for flotation, pacific cultures anthropologist Dr. Larry Carucci did extensive research on the cultural significance of sites in Kwajalein Atoll. He explains that the Nel area is significant because the Iroij and Leiroj lived there and also because the island of Anē-ruo was uliej. To this day, out of respect and a sense of mo many Marshallese transiting the area stop across the channel from Nōl - on Enmaat - and do not make landfall on Nōl. These islands fall within the corridor which was evacuated in 1965 to establish a safe area for ICBM testing when Kwajalein Atoll was part of the United Nations Trust Territories. The residents were moved to Ebeye where they remain up to this day under terms of a Compact of Free Association, theres confusion within the non-native population at Kwajalein regarding just which island here is Nel. Many refer to the group of four islands - Nel, Enmaat, Pikon-Nōl, Nel Island is the larger, longer island east of the chiefs island and Nel Pass, but recent residents of the Atoll have come to refer to the smaller Anē-Ruo island as Nel. This small island - the kings island - lies lagoon-side of Enmaat and this is the Nell that is destination for many current visitors to the area while Nel itself is the much larger island east of Nel pass
31.
Omelek Island
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Omelek Island is part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. It is controlled by the United States military under a lease and is part of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site. The Island is about 32,000 square metres in size, the last U. S. government rocket launch occurred in 1996. SpaceX began launching Falcon 1 rockets from Omelek in 2006, Omelek was planned to host launches for the upgraded Falcon 1e rocket, but as of 2012, SpaceX stopped development on the Falcon 1e launches while it focused on its large Falcon 9 launch manifest. SpaceX had tentatively planned to upgrade the site for use by the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. In the event, SpaceX did not make the necessary to support Falcon 9 launches from the atoll. The Reagan Test Site, which includes rocket launch sites on islands in the Kwajalein Atoll, on Wake Island. Environmental assessment and overview of SpaceXs launch facilities at Omelek
32.
SpaceX
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Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, better known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs, SpaceX has since developed the Falcon launch vehicle family and the Dragon spacecraft family, which both currently deliver payloads into Earth orbit. As of March 2017, SpaceX has since flown ten missions to the International Space Station under a cargo resupply contract, SpaceX announced in 2011 they were beginning a privately funded reusable launch system technology development program. In December 2015, a first stage was flown back to a landing pad near the launch site and this was the first such achievement by a rocket for orbital spaceflight. In April 2016, with the launch of CRS-8, SpaceX successfully vertically landed a first stage on an ocean drone-ship landing platform, in May 2016, in another first, SpaceX again landed a first stage, but during a significantly more energetic geostationary transfer orbit mission. In March 2017, SpaceX became the first to successfully re-launch and this is the main purpose this System was designed for. In February 2017, Elon Musk announced that the company had contracted by two private individuals to send them in a Dragon spacecraft on a free return trajectory around the Moon. Provisionally launching in 2018, this may become the first instance of lunar tourism. Musk tried to buy cheap rockets from Russia, but returned empty-handed after failing to find rockets for an affordable price, on the flight home, Musk realized that he could start a company that could build the affordable rockets he needed. According to early Tesla and SpaceX investor Steve Jurvetson, Musk calculated that the raw materials for building a rocket actually were only 3 percent of the price of a rocket at the time. SpaceX started with the smallest useful orbital rocket, instead of building a complex and riskier launch vehicle. In early 2002, Musk was seeking staff for his new space company, Musk approached renowned rocket engineer Tom Mueller and Mueller agreed to work for Musk, and thus SpaceX was born. SpaceX was first headquartered in a warehouse in El Segundo, California, the company has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2002, growing from 160 employees in 2005 to nearly 5,000 in late 2015 and February 2016. At year-end 2012, SpaceX had over 40 launches on its manifest representing about $4 billion in contract revenue, the contracts included both commercial and government customers. As of December 2013, SpaceX had a total of 50 future launches under contract, Musk has stated that one of his goals is to improve the cost and reliability of access to space, ultimately by a factor of ten. CEO Elon Musk said, I believe $500 per pound or less is very achievable, a major goal of SpaceX has been to develop a rapidly reusable launch system. Musk stated in a 2011 interview that he hopes to send humans to Mars surface within 10–20 years, in 2010, Musks calculations convinced him that the colonization of Mars was possible. After completing its primary burn, the first stage of the rocket detached from the second stage as usual
33.
Falcon 1
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The Falcon 1 was an expendable launch system privately developed and manufactured by SpaceX during 2006–2009. On 28 September 2008, Falcon 1 became the first privately-developed liquid-fuel launch vehicle to go into orbit around the Earth, the two-stage-to-orbit rocket used LOX/RP-1 for both stages, the first powered by a single Merlin engine and the second powered by a single Kestrel engine. It was designed by SpaceX from the ground up, the vehicle was launched a total of five times. Falcon 1 achieved orbit on its attempt, in September 2008 with a mass simulator as a payload. On 14 July 2009, Falcon 1 made its final flight, following its fifth launch, the Falcon 1 was retired and succeeded by Falcon 9. SpaceX had announced a variant, the Falcon 1e. The Falcon 1 rocket was developed with private funding, the only other orbital launch vehicles to be privately funded and developed were the Conestoga in 1982 and Pegasus, first launched in 1990, which uses a large aircraft as its first stage. The total development cost of Falcon 1 was approximately US$90 million, as part of a US$15 million contract, Falcon 1 was to carry the TacSat-1 in 2005. By late May 2005, SpaceX stated that Falcon 1 was ready to launch TacSat-1 from Vandenberg, but the Air Force did not want the launch of an untested rocket to occur until the final Titan IV flew from nearby SLC 4E. Subsequent and repeated delays due to Falcon 1 launch failures delayed TacSat-1s launch, after TacSat-2 was launched on an Orbital Sciences Minotaur I on December 16,2006, the Department of Defense re-evaluated the need for launching TacSat-1. In August 2007, the Department of Defense canceled the planned launch of TacSat-1 because all of the TacSat objectives had been met. An August 2005 update on SpaceXs website showed 6 launches planned for Falcon 1, with customers including MDA Corp, Swedish Space Corp and US Air Force. According to SpaceX, the Falcon 1 was designed to minimize price per launch for low-Earth-orbit satellites, increase reliability and it also was used to verify components and structural design concepts that would be reused in the Falcon 9. SpaceX started with the smallest useful orbital rocket, instead of building something larger and more complicated, the first stage was made from friction-stir-welded 2219 aluminum alloy. It employs a common bulkhead between the LOX and RP-1 tanks, as well as pressure stabilization. It can be transported safely without pressurization but gains additional strength when pressurized for flight, the parachute system, built by Irvin Parachute Corporation, uses a high-speed drogue chute and a main chute. For the first two launches, the Falcon 1 used a Merlin 1A engine, the Falcon 1 first stage was powered by a single pump-fed Merlin 1C engine burning RP-1 and liquid oxygen providing 410 kilonewtons of sea-level thrust and a specific impulse of 245 s. The first stage burns to depletion, taking around 169 seconds to do so, the second stage Falcon 1 tanks were built with a cryogenic-compatible 2014 aluminum alloy, with the plan to move to aluminum-lithium alloy on the Falcon 1e
34.
Battle of Kwajalein
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The Battle of Kwajalein was fought as part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It took place from 31 January-3 February 1944, on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, employing the hard-learned lessons of the battle of Tarawa, the United States launched a successful twin assault on the main islands of Kwajalein in the south and Roi-Namur in the north. The Japanese defenders put up resistance, although outnumbered and under-prepared. The determined defense of Roi-Namur left only 51 survivors of a garrison of 3,500. For the Japanese, the battle represented the failure of the beach-line defense, Japanese defenses became prepared in depth, and the battles of Peleliu, Guam, and the Marianas proved far more costly to the US. Kwajalein Atoll is in the heart of the Marshall Islands and it lies in the Ralik Chain,2,100 nmi southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii at 8°43′N 167°44′E. Kwajalein is the worlds largest coral atoll and comprises 93 islands and islets, it has an area of 1,560 acres. The two most significant land masses are Kwajalein Island in the south, and the islands of Roi-Namur in the north. By the start of World War II, the Marshalls were already a part of the Japanese perimeter of defense. Its facilities were being utilized as outlying bases for submarines and surface warships, as well as for air staging for future advances being planned against Ellice, the Fiji Islands, and Samoa. After the capture of Makin and Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands and these islands had been Imperial German colonies, after their purchase from Spain in 1899. At the end of World War I, however, they were assigned to Japan in the settlement as the Eastern Mandates. The islands then became a mystery because the Japanese closed them to the outside world and it was presumed the Japanese had built illegal fortifications throughout the islands, but the precise extent of such fortifications was unknown. Japan regarded them as part of the ring of their territory. The strategic importance of the Marshalls had been recognized as early as 1921 in Plan Orange, the Marshalls were a key step in the island-hopping march to the Japanese mainland. After losing the Solomon Islands and New Guinea to the Allies in 1943 and they preferred fighting a decisive battle closer to home. Nevertheless, the Marshalls were reinforced at the end of 1943 to make their capture more costly for the Americans, by January 1944, the regional commander in Truk, Admiral Masashi Kobayashi, had 28,000 troops to defend the Marshalls, although he had very few aircraft. The 6th Base Force, under the command of Rear Admiral Monzo Akiyama, Akiyama, however, had his men spread out over a very wide area, with IJN air bases located on Roi-Namur, Mille, Maloelap, Eniwetok, and Wotje
35.
Operation Crossroads
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Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear tests since Trinity in July 1945. The purpose of the tests was to investigate the effect of weapons on warships. They were conducted by Joint Army/Navy Task Force One, headed by Vice Admiral William H. P. Blandy rather than by the Manhattan Project, which had developed nuclear weapons during World War II. The bomb was named Gilda after Rita Hayworths character in the 1946 film Gilda and it detonated 520 feet above the target fleet and caused less than the expected amount of ship damage because it missed its aim point by 2,130 feet. The bomb was known as Helen of Bikini and was detonated 90 feet underwater on July 25,1946, radioactive sea spray caused extensive contamination. A third deep-water test named Charlie was planned for 1947 but was canceled primarily because of the United States Navys inability to decontaminate the target ships after the Baker test, ultimately, only nine target ships were able to be scrapped rather than scuttled. Charlie was rescheduled as Operation Wigwam, a deep-water shot conducted in 1955 off the California coast, bikinis native residents agreed to evacuate the island, and were evacuated on board the LST-861, with most moving to the Rongerik Atoll. In the 1950s, a series of large thermonuclear tests rendered Bikini unfit for farming and fishing because of radioactive contamination. Bikini remains uninhabited as of 2015, though it is visited by sport divers. The Baker tests radioactive contamination of all the ships was the first case of immediate. Chemist Glenn T. Seaborg, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. The first proposal to test nuclear weapons against naval warships was made on August 16,1945, by Lewis Strauss, with very few bombs available, he suggested a large number of targets widely dispersed over a large area. The Strauss test would be designed to demonstrate ship survivability and he proposed dropping an atomic bomb on captured Japanese ships and suggested, The resulting explosion should prove to us just how effective the atomic bomb is when used against the giant naval ships. Meanwhile, the Navy proceeded with its own plan, which was revealed at a conference on October 27 by the Commander in Chief. It involved between 80 and 100 target ships, most of them surplus U. S. ships. As the Army and the Navy maneuvered for control of the tests, Assistant Secretary of War Howard C. Peterson observed, To the public, If the Navy withstands better than the public imagines it will, in the public mind the Navy will have won. The Armys candidate to direct the tests, Major General Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project which built the bombs, the Joint Chiefs of Staff decided that because the Navy was contributing the most men and materiel, the test should be headed by a naval officer
36.
USS Harrison (DD-573)
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USS Harrison was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She was second Navy ship of that name, and the first named in honor of Captain Napoleon Harrison, Harrison was launched by Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Tex.4 May 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Harry B. Hird, and commissioned 25 January 1943, Commander C. M. Dalton in command, following shakedown training in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, Harrison escorted a merchant ship to the Panama Canal Zone, and sailed for New York. The ship arrived New York 6 April and Charleston 2 days later and she then joined a convoy out of New York for Casablanca, and after touching at several points in the Mediterranean returned 1 June to Charleston. Harrison was then assigned to anti-submarine exercises in Caribbean waters with carrier USS Yorktown, Harrison was assigned in mid-1943 to the Pacific Fleet, where the crescendo of amphibious war was beginning. With these vital preliminary operations complete, Harrison departed 21 October for duty in the Solomons and she arrived Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides,4 November and 3 days later steamed to Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, to screen transports carrying reinforcements. As she patrolled off the bay, where Marines had landed 1 November, harrisons gunners accounted for at least one plane during the battle. The destroyer departed 14 November for the Gilberts operation and again screened transports as they put initial assault troops ashore 20 November, Harrison remained off bloody Tarawa until 29 November, when she took up patrol off Makin. The ship then sailed to Funafuti 7 December and engaged in training exercises before anchoring at Pearl Harbor 1 January 1944 and she remained in Hawaiian waters for most of January taking part in fire support exercises for impending invasion of the Marshall Islands. Harrison sailed with the Southern Attack Force 22 January, and arrived off Kwajalein 31 January, as the Marines landed on Kwajalein and advanced over the numerous islands in the atoll, Harrison entered the lagoon 4 February and rendered close fire support. She spent the next 4 weeks patrolling offshore and anchored in the lagoon, departing 1 March for Efate, the destroyer arrived Efate 7 March and after a short rest screened a task group during the strike on Kavieng, New Ireland,20 March. Returning to Efate 25 March, she joined some 200 ships for the largest operation yet attempted in the southwest Pacific, Harrison arrived New Guinea 1 April, engaged in patrol and escort operations until 19 April, and then sailed to Humboldt Bay for the assault. Next on the timetable of conquest in Micronesia were the Marianas, arriving Kwajalein 8 June, she engaged in patrolling and readiness operations until 17 June, when she sailed for Guam. Harrison arrived 21 June and lent fire support to Marines ashore in addition to patrolling the transport areas and this operation not only constituted a break in Japans inner ring of defenses, but dealt a death blow to the Empires naval air arm at the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Harrison sailed back to Espiritu Santo via Eniwetok 16 August, Harrison departed 22 August for New Guinea, where she supported with gunfire Rear Admiral Barbeys landing on Morotai Island 15 September. Harrison arrived off Leyte 20 October and delivered accurate shore fire for the forces during the initial stages. She then assumed duties in already crowded Leyte Gulf until returning to Humboldt Bay 23 October. After her many long months in the Pacific forward areas, Harrison departed for the United States 1 November and arrived Mare Island Naval Shipyard and she remained there until departing again for Pearl Harbor 20 January 1945
37.
Martin PBM Mariner
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The Martin PBM Mariner was an American patrol bomber flying boat of World War II and the early Cold War period. It was designed to complement the Consolidated PBY Catalina in service, a total of 1,366 were built, with the first example flying on 18 February 1939 and the type entering service in September 1940. In 1937 the Glenn L. Martin Company designed a new twin-engined flying boat and it received an order for a single prototype XPBM-1 on 30 June 1937. This was followed by a production order for 21 PBM-1 aircraft on 28 December 1937. To test the PBMs layout, Martin built a ⅜ scale flying model, the Martin 162A Tadpole Clipper with a crew of one and powered by a single 120 hp Chevrolet engine, the first genuine PBM, the XPBM-1, flew on 18 February 1939. The aircraft was fitted with five gun turrets, and bomb bays that were in the engine nacelles, the gull wing was of cantilever design, and featured clean aerodynamics with an unbraced twin tail. The PBM-3 had fixed floats, and the fuselage was three feet longer than that of the PBM-1, the first PBM-1s entered service with Patrol Squadron Fifty-Five of the United States Navy on 1 September 1940. Prior to the USAs entry into World War II, PBMs were used to carry out Neutrality Patrols in the Atlantic, following Japans attack on Pearl Harbor, PBMs were used on anti-submarine patrols, sinking their first German U-boat, U-158 on 30 June 1942. PBMs were responsible, wholly or in part, for sinking a total of ten U-boats during World War II, PBMs were also heavily used in the Pacific War, operating from bases at Saipan, Okinawa, Iwo Jima and the South West Pacific. The United States Coast Guard acquired 27 Martin PBM-3 aircraft during the first half of 1943, in late 1944, the service acquired 41 PBM-5 models and more were delivered in the latter half of 1945. Ten were still in service in 1955, although all were gone from the active Coast Guard inventory by 1958, PBMs continued in service with the U. S. Navy following the end of World War II, flying long patrol missions during the Korean War. It continued in front line use until replaced by its successor, the British Royal Air Force acquired 32 Mariners, but they were not used operationally, with some returned to the United States Navy. A further 12 PBM-3Rs were transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force for transporting troops, the Royal Netherlands Navy acquired 17 PBM-5A Mariners at the end of 1955 for service in Netherlands New Guinea. The PBM-5A was an amphibian with retractable landing gear, the engines were 2,100 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-34. After a series of crashes, the Dutch withdrew their remaining aircraft from use in December 1959, powered by two 1,600 hp R-2600-6 engines. XPBM-2 Conversion of one PBM-1 as experimental catapult-launched long-range strategic bomber,1,700 hp R-2600-12 engines,32 built. PBM-3R Unarmed transport version of PBM-3,18 new build plus 31 converted from PBM-3. PBM-3C Improved patrol version with twin.50 in machine guns in nose and dorsal turrets, aN/APS-15 radar in radome behind cockpit,274 built
38.
North American B-25 Mitchell
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The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American twin-engine, medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was named in honor of Major General William Billy Mitchell, used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in every theater of World War II and after the war ended many remained in service, operating across four decades. Produced in numerous variants, nearly 10,000 Mitchells rolled from NAA factories and these included a few limited models, such as the United States Marine Corps PBJ-1 patrol bomber and the United States Army Air Forces F-10 reconnaissance aircraft and AT-24 trainers. The Air Corps issued a circular in March 1938 describing the performance they required from the next bombers — a payload of 1,200 lb with a range of 1,200 mi at more than 200 mph and those performance specifications led NAA to submit their NA-40 design. However, the experience from the XB-21 contributed to the design. The single NA-40 built flew first at the end of January 1939 and it went through several modifications to correct problems. These improvements included fitting 1,600 hp Wright R-2600 Twin Cyclone radial engines, in March 1939, in March 1939, North American delivered the substantially redesigned and improved NA-40 to the United States Army Air Corps for evaluation. It was in competition with other manufacturers designs but failed to win orders, however, the French had already opted for a revised Douglas 7B. Unfortunately, the NA-40B was destroyed in a crash on 11 April 1939 while undergoing testing, although the crash was not considered due to a fault with the aircraft design, the Army ordered the DB-7 as the A-20. There was no YB-25 for prototype service tests, in September 1939, the Air Corps ordered the NA-62 into production as the B-25, along with the other new Air Corps medium bomber, the Martin B-26 Marauder off the drawing board. The NA-40 lost out to the Douglas A-20 in the competition, but NAA developed a more advanced design, the NA-40B. Early into B-25 production, NAA incorporated a significant redesign to the wing dihedral, the first nine aircraft had a constant-dihedral, meaning the wing had a consistent, upward angle from the fuselage to the wingtip. Flattening the outer wing panels by giving them a slight anhedral angle just outboard of the engine nacelles nullified the problem, less noticeable changes during this period included an increase in the size of the tail fins and a decrease in their inward tilt at their tops. NAA continued design and development in 1940 and 1941, both the B-25A and B-25B series entered AAF service. The B-25B was operational in 1942, combat requirements lead to further developments. Before the year was over, NAA was producing the B-25C, also in 1942, the manufacturer began design work on the cannon-armed B-25G series. The NA-100 of 1943 and 1944 was an interim armament development at the Kansas City complex known as the B-25D2, Similar armament upgrades by U. S-based commercial modification centers involved about half of the B-25G series. Further development led to the B-25H, B-25J, and B-25J2, the gunship design concept dates to late 1942 and NAA sent a field technical representative to the SWPA
39.
Grumman TBF Avenger
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The Grumman TBF Avenger is an American torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air and naval aviation services around the world. The Avenger entered U. S. service in 1942, despite the loss of five of the six Avengers on its combat debut, it survived in service to become one of the outstanding torpedo bombers of World War II. Greatly modified after the war, it remained in use until the 1960s, the Douglas TBD Devastator, the U. S. Navys main torpedo bomber introduced in 1935, was obsolete by 1939. Bids were accepted from several companies, but Grummans TBF design was selected as the replacement for the TBD, designed by Leroy Grumman, the first prototype was called the XTBF-1. It was first flown on 7 August 1941, although one of the first two prototypes crashed near Brentwood, New York, rapid production continued. The engine used was the Wright R-2600-20 Cyclone 14 twin-row radial engine, the aircraft took 25 gallons of oil and used one gallon per minute at start-up. There were three members, pilot, turret gunner and radioman/bombardier/ventral gunner. Later models of the TBF/TBM dispensed with the gun for one.50 caliber gun in each wing per pilots requests for better forward firepower. There was only one set of controls on the aircraft, the radio equipment was massive, especially by todays standards, and filled the length of the well-framed greenhouse canopy to the rear of the pilot. The radios were accessible for repair through a tunnel along the right hand side, any Avengers that are still flying today usually have an additional rear-mounted seat in place of the radios, allowing for a fourth passenger. The Avenger had a bomb bay, allowing for one Bliss-Leavitt Mark 13 torpedo. The aircraft had overall ruggedness and stability, and pilots say it flew like a truck, with its good radio facilities, docile handling, and long range, the Grumman Avenger also made an ideal command aircraft for Commanders, Air Group. With a 30,000 ft ceiling and a fully loaded range of 1,000 mi, it was better than any previous American torpedo bomber, and better than its Japanese counterpart, later Avenger models carried radar equipment for the ASW and AEW roles. Escort carrier sailors referred to the TBF as the turkey because of its size, on the afternoon of 7 December 1941, Grumman held a ceremony to open a new manufacturing plant and display the new TBF to the public. Coincidentally, on that day, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, after the ceremony was over, the plant was quickly sealed off to guard against possible sabotage. Six TBF-1s were present on Midway Island — as part of VT-8 — while the rest of the squadron flew Devastators from the Hornet, both types of torpedo bombers suffered heavy casualties. Out of the six Avengers, five were shot down and the other returned heavily damaged one of its gunners killed, and the other gunner. Nonetheless, the US torpedo bombers were credited with drawing away the Japanese combat air patrols so the American dive bombers could successfully hit the Japanese carriers, author Gordon Prange posited in Miracle at Midway that the outdated Devastators contributed somewhat to the lack of a complete victory at Midway
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Vought F4U Corsair
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The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. The Corsair thus came to and retained prominence in its area of greatest deployment, the Corsair served to a lesser degree in the U. S. Navy. In addition to its use by the U. S. and British, the Corsair was also used by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, the French Navy Aéronavale and other, smaller, air forces until the 1960s. Some Japanese pilots regarded it as the most formidable American fighter of World War II, after the carrier landing issues had been tackled, it quickly became the most capable carrier-based fighter-bomber of World War II. The Corsair served almost exclusively as a fighter-bomber throughout the Korean War and during the French colonial wars in Indochina, in February 1938 the U. S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics published two requests for proposal for twin-engined and single-engined fighters. For the single-engined fighter the Navy requested the maximum speed. A range of 1,000 miles was specified, the fighter had to carry four guns, or three with increased ammunition. Provision had to be made for anti-aircraft bombs to be carried in the wing and these small bombs would, according to thinking in the 1930s, be dropped on enemy aircraft formations. In June 1938, the U. S. Navy signed a contract with Vought for a prototype bearing the factory designation V-166B, the Corsair design team was headed up by Rex Beisel. When the prototype was completed it had the biggest and most powerful engine, largest propeller, the first flight of the XF4U-1 was made on 29 May 1940, with Lyman A. Bullard, Jr. at the controls. The maiden flight proceeded normally until a landing was made when the elevator trim tabs failed because of flutter. The USAACs twin-engine Lockheed P-38 Lightning had flown over 400 mph in January–February 1939, the XF4U-1 also had an excellent rate of climb but testing revealed that some requirements would have to be rewritten. In full-power dive tests, speeds of up to 550 miles per hour were achieved but not without damage to the surfaces and access panels and, in one case. The spin recovery standards also had to be relaxed as recovery from the required two-turn spin proved impossible without resorting to an anti-spin chute, the problems clearly meant delays in getting the design into production. Reports coming back from the war in Europe indicated that an armament of two.30 in synchronized engine cowling-mount machine guns, and two.50 in machine guns was insufficient, the U. S. Navys November 1940 production proposals specified heavier armament. The increased armament consisted of three.50 caliber machine guns mounted in each wing panel and this improvement greatly increased the ability of the Corsair to effectively shoot down enemy aircraft. Formal U. S. Navy acceptance trials for the XF4U-1 began in February 1941, the first production F4U-1 performed its initial flight a year later, on 24 June 1942. It was an achievement for Vought, compared to land-based counterparts, carrier aircraft are overbuilt and heavier
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Douglas SBD Dauntless
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The Douglas SBD Dauntless was a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD was the United States Navys main carrier-borne scout plane, the SBD was also flown by the United States Marine Corps, both from land air bases and aircraft carriers. The SBD is best remembered as the bomber that delivered the blows to the Japanese carriers at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. During its combat service, the SBD was an excellent naval scout plane and it possessed long range, good handling characteristics, maneuverability, potent bomb load, great diving characteristics, good defensive armament and ruggedness. One land-based variant of the SBD — in omitting the arrestor hook — was purpose-built for the U. S. Army Air Forces, design work on the Northrop BT-1 began in 1935. In 1937, the Northrop Corporation was taken over by Douglas, the Northrop BT-2 was developed from the BT-1 by modifications ordered in November 1937, and provided the basis of the SBD, which first entered service in mid-1939. Ed Heinemann led a team of designers who considered a development with a 1,000 hp Wright Cyclone engine. The plane was developed at the Douglas El Segundo, CA plant, one year earlier, both the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps had placed orders for the new dive bomber, designated the SBD-1 and SBD-2. The SBD-1 went to the Marine Corps in late 1940, the distinctive perforated split flaps or dive-brakes had been incorporated into the BT-1 to eliminate tail buffeting during diving maneuvers. The next version was the SBD-3, which began manufacture in early 1941 and it had increased armor, self-sealing fuel tanks, and four machine guns. The SBD-4 provided a 12-volt electrical system, and a few were converted into SBD-4P reconnaissance aircraft, the next version, the SBD-5, was produced mostly in the Douglas plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This version was equipped with a 1,200 hp engine, over 2,400 of these were built. A few of them were shipped to the Royal Navy for evaluation, some SBDs were also flown by the Free French Air Force against the Nazi German Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. SBDs were also sold to Mexico, the final version, the SBD-6, had more improvements, but its production ended during the summer of 1944. The U. S. Army Air Force had its own version of the SBD and it lacked the tail hook used for carrier landings, and a pneumatic tire replaced the solid tail wheel. First assigned to the 27th Bombardment Group at Hunter Field, Georgia, there were three versions of the Banshee flown by the Army to a very minor degree in the early stages of the war. The USAAF used 948 of the 5,937 Dauntlesses built. U. S. Navy and Marine Corps SBDs saw their first action at Pearl Harbor, most U. S. Navy SBDs were operating with their aircraft carriers, which did not operate in close cooperation with the rest of the fleet
