About 3 hours after midnight on July 16, 1945, a thunderstorm struck the town of Alamogordo in New Mexico, knocking down the summer night stuffiness and clearing the air of dust. By morning the weather had improved, and in the pre-dawn twilight, among the thinning clouds, one could observe dimming stars. Suddenly, the sky north of the city was illuminated by a bright flash, and after a while there was a crash that was heard within a radius of 320 km. Soon, alarmed local residents were told that an ammunition depot had exploded as a result of a lightning strike at a landfill located 90 km from the city. This explanation satisfied everyone, powerful explosions thundered in the vicinity before. Even before the US entered the war, the military had settled in this area. Here artillery fire was conducted and high-power engineering and aviation ammunition was tested. Shortly before the mysterious explosion, rumors circulated among the population that large quantities of explosives and various construction equipment were being delivered to the area known as White Sands from a nearby train station.
And in fact, in preparation for the first nuclear test in the history of mankind, a fair amount of powerful explosives, building materials were delivered to the White Sands test site, and various structures and metal structures were erected. On May 7, 1945, a "major rehearsal" took place here - 110 tons of powerful blasting explosives with the addition of a small amount of radioactive isotopes were detonated on a 6-meter-high wooden platform. A powerful test non-nuclear explosion made it possible to identify a number of weak points in the testing process and made it possible to work out the methodology for obtaining test results, to test instrumentation and communication lines.
For a real test, a 30-meter metal tower was built near the site of the first explosion. Predicting the damaging factors of a nuclear bomb, its creators proceeded from the fact that the maximum destructive effect would be obtained from an explosion in the air. The test site on an isolated and well-guarded test site was chosen so that a flat desert area with a diameter of 30 km was isolated on both sides by mountain ranges.
Tower built for the first nuclear test
After a massive explosive device with an implosive plutonium charge was lifted to the top platform of the tower, a truck loaded with mattresses was installed under it in case of a bomb falling from a height.
Lifting a nuclear charge to a test tower
Due to the thunderstorm, the tests had to be postponed for an hour and a half, a nuclear explosion with a yield of 21 kt in TNT equivalent at 5:30 in the morning incinerated the desert within a radius of more than 300 meters. At the same time, under the influence of radiation, the sand was caked into a greenish crust, forming the mineral "trinitite" - named after the first nuclear test - "Trinity".
Soon after the explosion, a group of testers went to the place where the evaporated steel tower in the Sherman tank, additionally protected by lead plates, stood. Scientists took soil samples and made measurements on the ground. Even taking into account the lead shielding, they all received large doses of radiation.
In general, the test at the White Sands test site confirmed the calculations of American physicists and proved the possibility of using the energy of nuclear fission for military purposes. But no more nuclear tests were carried out in this area. In 1953, the radioactive background at the site of the first nuclear test dropped to a level that allowed it to be here for several hours without harm to health. And in late 1965, the test area was declared a National Historic Landmark and entered the American Register of Historic Places. At the moment, a memorial obelisk has been erected at the point where the test tower once stood, and excursion groups are regularly brought here.
Memorial obelisk at the site of the first nuclear test in New Mexico
In the future, nuclear explosions were no longer carried out at the White Sands test site, transferring the entire test site at the disposal of the creators of rocket technology. For rockets of that time, the area of the range of 2.400 km² was quite enough. In July 1945, the construction of the first test bench for jet engines was completed here. The stand was a concrete well with a channel in the lower part for the release of a gas jet in the horizontal direction. During the tests, the rocket or a separate engine with fuel tanks was placed on top of the well, and was fixed using a solid steel structure equipped with a device for measuring the thrust force. In parallel with the stand, the construction of launching complexes, hangars for assembly and prelaunch preparation, radar posts and control and measuring points for trajectory measurements of missile flight was carried out. Shortly before the start of the tests, German specialists headed by Werner von Braun moved to the residential town built at the test site. They were initially given the task of bringing them to flight condition for testing samples of rocketry exported from Germany, and later on creating and improving new types of missile weapons.
The plane-projectile Fi-103, which took place at the end of the 40s tests at White Sands
In the second half of the 40s, the German V-2 (A-4) liquid-propellant ballistic missile and structures created on its basis were in the lead in the number of launches in the United States. After the end of World War II, about a hundred German ballistic missiles were delivered from the American zone of occupation, which were in varying degrees of technical readiness. The first V-2 launch at White Sands took place on May 10, 1946. From 1946 to 1952, 63 test launches were carried out in the United States, including one launch from the deck of an American aircraft carrier. Until 1953, based on the design of the A-4 within the framework of the Hermes program, several samples of American missiles for various purposes were created, but none of them reached serial production.
Preparing to launch a V-2 rocket
Tests of captured German missiles and missiles structurally similar to them made it possible for American designers and ground crews to accumulate invaluable practical experience and determine further ways to improve and use rocket technology.
In October 1946, another trophy V-2 was launched from the launch pad in White Sands. But this time, the missile carried not a warhead, but a specially prepared automatic high-altitude camera housed in a high-strength shock-resistant box. The captured film was in a special steel cassette that survived after the missile fell. As a result, for the first time, it was possible to obtain high-quality images of the test site, taken from an altitude of 104 km, which confirmed the fundamental possibility of using rocket technology for conducting photographic reconnaissance.
Google Earth Satellite Image: White Sands Target Field
The first purely American design tested at White Sands was the Convair RTV-A-2 Hiroc ballistic missile. Tests of this liquid-fueled ballistic missile were carried out in July-December 1948, but they were not accepted into service. The developments obtained during the creation and testing of the RTV-A-2 Hiroc were later used in the SM-65E Atlas ballistic missile.
In the 50-70s, new artillery pieces, ammunition for them, unmanned aerial vehicles, short-range cruise and ballistic missiles, liquid engines and solid-propellant stages of medium-range missiles, including Pershing II MRBM engines, were tested at the test site. After the adoption of OTP PGM-11 Redstone, from 1959 to 1964, exercises of missile divisions with real launches were held here annually.
However, the main focus of work at White Sands in the late 40s and early 50s was testing and bringing the MIM-3 Nike Ajax and MIM-14 Nike-Hercules anti-aircraft missiles to an acceptable level of combat effectiveness. For this, several bunded launch pads were erected at the landfill, some of which are still in use. In total, 37 launch complexes have been built since the creation of the test site.
After the American military realized that the main threat to the United States was not bombers, but Soviet ICBMs, the LIM-49 Nike Zeus and Sprint anti-missile missiles were tested at the test site. For this, the area of the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) missile range was increased to 8300 km 2.
The first American anti-missile Nike-II was a Nike-Hercules anti-aircraft missile system adapted for ABM missions. As you know, the MIM-14 Nike-Hercules air defense system with missiles equipped with nuclear warheads also had a limited anti-missile potential. According to American data, the probability of hitting an ICBM warhead that does not carry a missile defense breakthrough means, under favorable conditions, was 0, 1. In other words, theoretically, 100 anti-aircraft missiles could shoot down 10 warheads in a limited area. But to fully protect American cities from Soviet ICBMs, the capabilities of the 145 Nike-Hercules batteries deployed in the United States were not enough. In addition to the low probability of defeat, a limited protected area and a ceiling not exceeding 30 km, after a nuclear explosion of a missile warhead, a zone not visible to guidance radars was formed, through which all attacking ICBM warheads could pass unhindered.
The first test launch of the two-stage anti-missile "Nike-Zeus-A", which had developed aerodynamic surfaces and was designed for atmospheric interception, took place in August 1959. However, the military was not satisfied with the capabilities of the anti-missile - the range and height of interception. Therefore, in May 1961, trials began with a three-stage modification - the Nike-Zeus B.
Test launch of the Nike-Zeus-V anti-missile
In December 1961, the first success was achieved. An anti-missile missile with an inert warhead passed 30 meters from the Nike-Hercules anti-missile guided missile system. If the missile was carrying a real nuclear warhead, the target would be unambiguously hit. However, despite the increased characteristics compared to the first version, "Nike-Zeus" had limited capabilities. Calculations showed that in the best scenario, the system was physically unable to intercept more than six warheads aimed at the protected object. Given the rapid increase in the number of ICBMs in the USSR, it was predicted that a situation could arise when the missile defense system would simply be oversaturated with a large number of warheads. With the help of the Nike-Zeus missile defense system, it was possible to cover a very limited area from ICBM attacks, and the complex itself required very serious investment. In addition, the problem of the selection of false targets remained unresolved, and in 1963, despite the encouraging results achieved, the program was eventually closed.
Instead of Nike-Zeus, it was decided from scratch to create the Sentinel system ("Sentinel") with anti-missiles for long-range atmospheric interception and short-range atmospheric interception. It was assumed that the interceptor missiles would not protect cities, but the positional areas of the American Minuteman ICBMs from a disarming Soviet nuclear strike. But testing of the atmospheric interceptors LIM-49A "Spartan" had to be moved to the Pacific atoll of Kwajelein. At the New Mexico test site, only Sprint's near-field missiles were tested.
Preparation for loading into silos of atmospheric intercept missiles "Sprint"
This was due to the fact that the geographical location of the White Sands test site did not provide optimal conditions for testing long-range missile defense systems. In New Mexico, despite the large area of the test site, it was impossible to accurately simulate the trajectories of ICBM warheads entering the atmosphere, launched from launch sites in the continental United States, when they were intercepted by antimissiles. In addition, debris falling from great heights along an unpredictable trajectory could pose a threat to the population living in the area.
A fairly compact anti-missile "Sprint" 8, 2 meters long had a streamlined conical shape and thanks to a very powerful engine of the first stage, with a mass of 3.5 tons in the first 5 seconds of flight, accelerated to a speed of 10M. The launch of the missile from the silo was carried out using a "mortar launch". In this case, the overload was about 100g. To protect the rocket from overheating, its skin was covered with a layer of evaporating ablative material. Rocket guidance to the target was carried out using radio commands. The launch range was 30-40 km.
Test launch of the Sprint anti-missile
The fate of the "Spartan" and "Sprint" interceptor missiles, which successfully passed the tests, turned out to be unenviable. Despite the official adoption and deployment on combat duty, their age was short-lived. After the United States and the USSR signed the "Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems" in May 1972, in 1976 the ABM elements were first mothballed and then removed from service.
The Sprint interceptor missile was the last interceptor of the global missile defense system to be tested in New Mexico. Subsequently, SAMs, anti-missile missiles, multiple launch rocket systems and short-range ballistic missiles were tested at the White Sands test site. It was here that the MIM-104 "Patriot" and the new ERINT interceptor missile were tested, in which, together with an inertial guidance system, an active millimeter-wave seeker is used.
Interception of OTR by the ERINT anti-missile during tests
According to the views of American strategists, the ERINT anti-missile missiles included in the Patriot PAC-3 air defense system must finish off the missile defense missile systems missile defense missile systems and OTR missiles missed by other means. Associated with this is a relatively short launch range - 25 km and a ceiling - 20 km. The small dimensions of ERINT - 5010 mm long and 254 mm in diameter - allow four anti-missiles to be placed in the dimensions of a standard transport and launch container. The presence in the ammunition of interceptor missiles with a kinetic warhead can significantly increase the capabilities of the Patriot PAC-3 air defense system. But this does not make the Patriot an effective anti-missile system, but only increases the ability to intercept ballistic targets in the near zone.
Simultaneously with the improvement of the anti-missile capabilities of the Patriot air defense system, even before the United States left the ABM Treaty, White Sands began testing elements of the THAAD anti-missile system (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense). ).
At the initial stage, the THAAD antimissile is controlled by an inertial radio command system, at the final stage the target is captured by an uncooled IR seeker. As in other American interceptor missiles, the concept of destroying a target with a direct kinetic strike is adopted. The THAAD anti-missile missile with a length of 6, 17 m weighs 900 kg. The single-stage engine accelerates it to a speed of 2.8 km / s. But the main tests, for reasons of secrecy and security, took place at the Barking Sands Pacific Missile Range.
Over the desert in New Mexico, Lockheed Martin tested the latest modifications of anti-aircraft missiles for the Patriot PAC-3 air defense system on QF-4 Phantom II radio-controlled targets. At the same time, despite its venerable age, "Phantoms" were not easy targets. Thanks to the automatic threat recognition system developed by BAE Systems, which includes equipment with optoelectronic and radar sensors, upon detecting an approaching missile or radar radiation, it automatically selects the optimal countermeasures from those available on board the aircraft and develops an evasion maneuver from anti-aircraft or aircraft missile. Thanks to the BAE Systems Common Missile system, radio-controlled targets managed to evade missiles with a radar guidance system in 10-20% of launches, and from the AIM-9X Sidewinder with the massive use of heat traps in 25-30% of cases.
Tests of the MEADS air defense system at the White Sands test site
In 2013, tests of the American-European air defense system MEADS (Medium Extended Air Defense System) took place at the test site, during which the QF-4 and OTR Lance, flying at supersonic speed from different directions, were almost simultaneously destroyed.
Major exercises of ground units, air force and naval aviation have been and are being held in this area on a regular basis. Here, in addition to testing samples of rocket-artillery and aircraft weapons, tests of rocket fuel components and jet engines for spacecraft are carried out. In 2009, the first test of the Orion Abort Test Booster (ATB) rescue system, created under a contract with the US Air Force and NASA by Orbital ATK Corporation, took place on a specially built stand. The ATB system should ensure the ejection of astronauts within the atmosphere in the event of emergencies during the launch of manned spacecraft.
In 1976, NASA selected a site 50 km west of Alamogordo to test space Shuttle analogs in the atmosphere. These tests were needed for training the crews, testing the equipment and the procedure for landing the Shuttles on the landing strips.
Columbia space shuttle landing in New Mexico
In 1979, in a place called Northrup Strip, adjacent to the landfill on the surface of a dried salt lake, two intersecting airstrips with a length of 4572 and 3048 meters were built. Since the start of manned space shuttle flights, this landing site, known as the White Sands Space Harbor (WSSH), has also become a backup for bad weather conditions at Edwards AFB. In the entire history of the Space Shuttle program, the reusable Columbia spacecraft landed here for the only time on March 30, 1982 due to heavy rain near the Edwards airbase.
Currently, the runway in the Northrup Strip area is used to test the descent vehicles being developed as part of the Martian program. The ideally flat surface of a dried-up lake with an area of several tens of square kilometers and the absence of outsiders in the protected area come in handy.
Takeoff DC-XA
In the period from August 1993 to July 1996, tests of vertically taking off and landing vehicles DC-X and DC-XA took place here. developed under the Delta Clipper program. These prototypes with engines running on liquid hydrogen and oxygen were never intended to achieve high speeds and altitudes, but served as a kind of test benches and demonstrators of technology.
In the western part of the test site, at the top of the North Oskura mountain range, is the Air Force Research Laboratory. In the past, there was a highly secure tracking center for ballistic missiles launched from the range. The underground premises of the center are buried several meters into the rocks and are protected by a layer of reinforced concrete 1, 2 meters thick. In 1997, the US Army handed over this facility to the Air Force.
Satellite image of Google earth: Air Force laboratory at the summit of North Oskura
Apart from the cost of equipment, the US Air Force has invested more than $ 1 million in the restoration and arrangement of the facility. At the top of the ridge, where a good view opens in all directions and the level of dustiness in the air for this area is minimal, powerful telescopes, radars, optoelectronic devices and lasers are installed. A computer-controlled sensor system collects and evaluates information related to laser weapons testing. There are not many details regarding the activities of this facility. It is known that recently a telescope with a 1 meter refractor has been operated here. The telescope is mounted on a movable base that allows it to follow moving objects at high speed. Based on satellite images, it can be seen that the object received its current completed form after 2010. According to data published in American sources, every year the North Oskura laboratory participates in 4-5 experiments, where rockets or radio-controlled target aircraft are used as targets for lasers.
The spacecraft control center is located at the White Sands test site near the town of La Cruzes, at the foot of Mount San Andres. Initially, it was a data receiving and relaying center, which has grown over time into a full-fledged control center.
The unpopulated area leased by NASA was originally intended for testing jet engines. In 1963, near the White Sands Test Facility with several test benches and closed fortified bunkers, where research is still being carried out as part of ensuring the safety of space flights, a complex for receiving, processing data and controlling spacecraft, known as the White Sands Complex, was built. This place, based on its geographic location and weather conditions, is very well suited for the placement of observation stations with large parabolic antennas. In addition to military satellites, from here they operate and maintain communication with the ISS and the Hubble orbiting telescope.
Part of the missile range is open to civilians. In the part accessible to excursion groups, there is the White Sands Rocket Range Park-Museum, which includes more than 60 samples of missiles, aircraft and artillery systems that were once used in the testing process.
In the museum you can get acquainted with the American nuclear program, get information about the first flights into space and the development of various types of rockets. A number of samples are unique, preserved in a single copy. At the same time, there is a constant replenishment of the collection of the park-museum at the expense of missiles, guns and aircraft being removed from service or experimental prototypes, the testing of which at the test site has been completed. Most of the exhibit is open-air, aided by the dry climate of New Mexico.
