What is the highest reaching sounding rocket?
Black Brant XII can reack 1,500 km, is there any other sounding rocket that can reach even higher?
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
5
-
$\begingroup$ Perhaps you could reword your question to be "has reached even higher". There's plenty of rockets that could probably escape Earth entirely even with the gravity losses associated with burning straight up... $\endgroup$– Anton HengstAug 7, 2020 at 17:25
-
1$\begingroup$ True but OTOH its not sure how high BB12 actually reached, comparing to how high it can reach. Its interesting to know though both things: if any rocket is more powerful and if any rocket actually reached higher than BB12 $\endgroup$– Joe JobsAug 7, 2020 at 18:16
-
$\begingroup$ Just to clarify what I'm getting at, current Voyager 2 holds the "altitude" record... so Titan IV? $\endgroup$– Anton HengstAug 7, 2020 at 22:33
-
$\begingroup$ But Titan IV is not a sounding rocket. And the launch was not suborbital. I dont get your point $\endgroup$– Joe JobsAug 7, 2020 at 23:22
-
$\begingroup$ This is why I pointed out you might not want to discuss hypothetical. Fly a Titan IV straight up on some suborbital trajectory and it's a sounding rocket... $\endgroup$– Anton HengstAug 7, 2020 at 23:28
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
1
I noticed in the most recent NASA sounding rocket annual report that the Oriole IV has slightly better performance than the Black Brant XII. However, based on astronautix I don't think any mission has actually reached 1500 km.
-
$\begingroup$ Meanwhile I found this - China reported the launch of a suborbital high altitude sounding rocket [more properly, a vertical probe] on May 13 to an altitude of more than (but of order?) 10000 km, and possibly of order 30,000 km - WOW - globalsecurity.org/space/world/china/kunpeng-7.htm $\endgroup$– Joe JobsJan 13, 2021 at 1:30