This report discusses the two-stage light-gas gun which was developed by the Super-High-Altitude Research Project (SHARP) is a step toward realizing a launcher that can do this at a fraction of the cost of rockets. The SHARP gun is different from other two-stage designs because it is larger and its launch and pump tube are joined at right angles. This configuration allows the launch tube to point at any angle toward the sky while the pump tube remains horizontal. We have demonstrated that this gun can fire projectiles when the launch tube is in the horizontal position. Dr. Michael M. …
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Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
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California
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This report discusses the two-stage light-gas gun which was developed by the Super-High-Altitude Research Project (SHARP) is a step toward realizing a launcher that can do this at a fraction of the cost of rockets. The SHARP gun is different from other two-stage designs because it is larger and its launch and pump tube are joined at right angles. This configuration allows the launch tube to point at any angle toward the sky while the pump tube remains horizontal. We have demonstrated that this gun can fire projectiles when the launch tube is in the horizontal position. Dr. Michael M. May who was the Laboratory`s fifth Director (1965--71) and is now a Director Emeritus. Under his directorship, the groundwork was laid for the Laboratory`s Energy Program, environmental science programs, and Laser Program. May remains active in research on arms control, nonproliferation, and cooperative security, and he is doing research and teaching at UC San Diego and at Stanford University. As part of the Laboratory`s 40th anniversary celebration, May was invited to lecture on his views of the changing world and the role of LLNL. In 1992, he participated in an influential National Academy of Sciences study on the reduction of nuclear weapons. This study recommended that the US cut strategic weapons to one-third the present number, withdraw most tactical weapons, and dismantle the retired nuclear weapons. May is convinced that the relative stability now present among the major nations is a precondition for keeping the demand for nuclear weapons low among the nuclear ``have-not`` nations. In the coming years, May believes that the Laboratory will remain most useful at major government-funded R&D projects in the areas of defense, energy, and the environment. May is now working on a new report on the disposition of surplus plutonium from nuclear weapons.
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21 p.
Notes
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