A rocket sled is a test platform that slides along a track (e.g. set of rails), propelled by rockets. A rocket sled differs from a rocket car in not using wheels; at high speeds wheels would spin to pieces due to the extreme centrifugal forces. Apart from rare examples running on snow or ice (such as Max Valier's RAK BOBs of the late 1920s[1]), most rocket sleds run on a track. Although some rocket sled tracks use single beams or magnetic levitation, most use railway track. Sliding pads, called "slippers", are curved around the head of the rails to prevent the sled from flying off the track.[2] The rail cross-section profile is generally that of a Vignoles rail, commonly used for railroads.
A rocket sled holds the land-based speed record for a vehicle, at Mach 8.5.
A rocket sled is reported to have been used in the closing days of World War II by the Germans to launch a winged A4b strategic rocket from a tunnel on March 16, 1945. Rocket sleds were used extensively early in the Cold War to accelerate equipment considered too experimental (hazardous) for testing directly in piloted aircraft. The equipment to be tested under high acceleration or high airspeed conditions was installed along with appropriate instrumentation, data recording and telemetry equipment on the sled. The sled was then accelerated according to the experiment's design requirements for data collection along a length of isolated, precisely level and straight test track.Testing ejection seat systems and technology prior to their use in experimental or operational aircraft was a common application of the rocket sled at Holloman Air Force Base. Perhaps the most famous, the tracks at Edwards Air Force Base were used to test missiles, supersonic ejection seats, aircraft shapes and the effects of acceleration and deceleration on humans. The rocket sled track at Edwards Air Force Base was dismantled and used to extend the track at Holloman Air Force Base, taking it to almost 10 miles (16 km) in length.
Unmanned rocket sleds continue to be used to test missile components without requiring costly live missile launches. A world speed record of Mach 8.5 (6,416 mph / 10,325 km/h) was achieved by a four-stage rocket sled at Holloman Air Force Base on April 30, 2003, the highest speed ever attained by a land vehicle.[3]
Murphy's law first received public attention during a press conference about rocket sled testing.[4]
| Name | Location | Co-ordinates | Country | Length | Gauge | Rail Type | Welded/ Segmented | Opened | Renovated | Closed | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holloman High Speed Test Track (HHSTT) Rails 1&2 | Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, NM | 32.8881°N -106.1502°W | USA | 171 | Welded | 1950[5] | 1956, 1957, 1974, 2000, 2002 | Runs North-South | ||||
| Supersonic Naval Ordnance Research Track (SNORT) | NAWC-WD Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, CA | 35.7047°N -117.7408°W | USA | 171 | Welded | 1953 | 2006 | North-South | ||||
| Holloman High Speed Test Track (HHSTT) Rail 3 | Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, NM | 32.9687°N -106.1569°W | USA | 171 | Welded | 1974 | North-South | |||||
| Extended High-Speed Rocket Sled Track | Edwards AFB, Edwards, CA | 34.8149°N -117.9084°W | USA | 171 | Welded | 1949 | 1959 | 1963 | Also known as South Base Sled Track (SBST). Rails used to lengthen HHSTT | |||
| Rail Track Rocket Sled Test Facility[6] [7] | Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory Range, Ramgarh, Haryana | India | 1988 | 2014 | 5 rails North/South | |||||||
| Supersonic Military Air Research Track (SMART) | Aircraft Interior Products Propulsion Systems, Hurricane Mesa, UT | 37.2384°N -113.2204°W | USA | 105 | Welded | 1955 | 1961* |
| ||||
| Sandia 2 | Technical Area III, Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, NM | 34.9992°N -106.5565°W | USA | 1966 | 1985 | North-South | ||||||
| Rocket rail track 3500, FKP GkNIPAS | Beloozyorsky | 55.4868°N 38.4984°W | Russia | Segmented | 2014 | Formerly RD-2500. Used by Zvezda for ejection seat testing | ||||||
| RT-2650, FKP NII Geodeziya | Krasnoarmeysk | 56.119°N 38.2035°W | Russia | R-75 | 1956 | 1984 | ||||||
| TsKP MIK of RFNC-VNIIEF | Sarov | 54.8212°N 43.253°W | Russia | |||||||||
| B-4 Transonic Test Track | NAWC-WD Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, CA | 35.7063°N -117.8052°W | USA | 75 | Welded | 1940 | ||||||
| Martin-Baker Langford Lodge | Langford Lodge, Northern Ireland | 54.6258°N -6.299°W | UK | 80 | 1971 | Privately Owned & Operated by Martin-Baker | ||||||
| Pendine Long Test Track (LTT) | QinetiQ, Pendine, Wales | 51.738°N -4.4968°W | UK | 103 | 1956 | |||||||
| Centre D'essais Des Landes Single Rail R1[8] | Biscarrosse | 44.3464°N -1.2364°W | France | Monorail | Square Beam | Segmented | 1968 | 1974, ? | (Foundation for 2nd rail in place) | |||
| G-4 Exterior and Terminal Ballistics Test Track | NAWC-WD Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, CA | 35.8679°N -117.7307°W | USA | 171 | Welded | 1954 | ||||||
| ETTC KEMTF sled track | Test Area C-74, Eglin AFB, Ft. Walton Beach, FL | 30.685°N -86.3271°W | USA | 171 | Welded | 1956 | ||||||
| Sandia 1 | Technical Area III, Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, NM | 34.9896°N -106.5441°W | USA | 1951 | North-South | |||||||
| Edwards North Base Track "G-Whiz" | Edwards AFB, Edwards, CA | 34.9964°N -117.858°W | USA | Welded | 1944 | 1953 | Also known as North Base Sled Track (NBST). East-West | |||||
| Redstone Test Center Sled Track 1 | Test Area 1, Redstone Arsenal, AL | 34.6038°N -86.645°W | USA | Monorail | 1956 | Formerly Redstone Technical Test Center | ||||||
| Pendine Impact Test Track | QinetiQ, Pendine, Wales | 51.7413°N -4.5073°W | UK | |||||||||
| Centre D'essais Des Landes Single Rail R2 | Biscarrosse | 44.3531°N -1.2304°W | France | Square Beam | Segmented | 1967 | Former HB3 track, moved from CIEES Colomb-Béchar, Algeria | |||||
| Redstone Test Center Sled Track 2 | Test Area 1, Redstone Arsenal, AL | 34.6017°N -86.6394°W | USA | Monorail | Formerly Redstone Technical Test Center | |||||||
| New Mexico Tech/EMRTC Sled Track | Socorro, NM | 34.0235°N -106.9782°W | USA | Monorail | 171 | Privately owned & operated. North-South | ||||||
| Pendine Short Test Track (STT) | QinetiQ, Pendine, Wales | 51.7438°N -4.5091°W | UK | |||||||||
| General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems | Rock Hill, FL | 30.6149°N -86.0964°W | USA | I-Beam | Privately Owned & Operated | |||||||
| Alkantpan Rocket Sled Range | Alkantpan Test Range, Copperton, Northern Cape | -29.9472°N 22.2267°W | South Africa | Single or Double I-beam | Segmented | 1985 | 1999 | Runs East to West Subsonic and supersonic testing | ||||
| Holloman Maglev Track | Holloman AFB, Alamogordo, NM | 33.0198°N -106.1609°W | USA | North-South | ||||||||
| Germany | Germany | I-Beam | ||||||||||
| Bundeswehr WTD 91 rocket sled track | Meppen | 52.8631°N 7.4084°W | Germany | |||||||||
| AVIC ALI track | Xiangyang | 32.3939°N 112.1386°W | China | 1993 | 2006 | |||||||
| Muroran Institute of Technology APReC HSTT[9] | Shiraoi | 42.5358°N 141.2558°W | Japan | 2009 | ||||||||
| Muroran Institute of Technology APReC SSTT | Shiraoi | 42.5357°N 141.2552°W | Japan | 2008 | ||||||||
| TÜBİTAK SAGE HABRAS | Karapınar | 37.6212°N 33.4634°W | Turkey | 2017 |