A New Technique for Achieving Impact Velocities Greater Than 10km/sec

This contractor Report describes and presents the results of work that was done in an attempt to develop an augmented acceleration technique that would launch small projectiles of known shape, mass, and state to velocities of 10 km/sec and higher. The higher velocities were to be achieved by adding a third stage to a conventional two-stage, light-gas gun and using a modified firing cycle for the third stage. The technique did not achieve the desired results and was modified for use during the development program. Since the design of the components used for the augmented-acceleration, three-stage launcher could be readily adapted for use as a three-stage launcher that used a single-stage acceleration cycle; the remainder of the contract period was spent performing test firings using the modified three-state launcher. Work with the modified three-stage launcher, although not complete, did produce test firings in which an 0.11-g cylindrical nylon projectile was launched to a velocity of 8.65 km/sec