Nike-Asp
Encyclopedia
Sounding rocket
A sounding rocket, sometimes called a research rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The origin of the term comes from nautical vocabulary, where to sound is to throw a weighted line from a ship into...
. The Nike Asp has a ceiling of 220 km, a takeoff thrust of 217 kN, a takeoff weight of 700 kg, a diameter of 0.42 m and a length of 7.90 m.
The Nike-Asp is an Asp rocket with a Nike booster system. It was at times ship-launched. After NASA took control of the project, the rocket fell into disuse.
USS Point Defiance (LSD-31)
USS Point Defiance (LSD-31)USS Point Defiance (LSD-31)
USS Point Defiance was a of the United States Navy. She was named for a location in Pierce County, Washington, the site of a military reservation established by the U.S. Government in 1866...
became one of the first rocket-launching surface ships to support the 1958 IGY Solar Eclipse Expedition to the Danger Island
Danger Island
Danger Island is the westernmost and the southernmost island of the Great Chagos Bank, which is the world's largest coral atoll structure, located in the Chagos Archipelago.-Description:...
region of the South Pacific. Launchers on deck fired eight Nike-Asp model LV sounding rockets to collect scientific data during the eclipse. Each USN solar XUV and X-ray detection launch (5 as a salvo) was from 40.0° N 150.0° W on Oct 12 1958 - at 08:32, 08:42, 08:43, 08:52, and 09:10 GMT, with configuration designations: NN8.59F - NN8.62F and successive apogee achievements of 222, 236, 242, 240, and 88 km.