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Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.columbia
Subject: Re: Range safety system
Message-ID: <6378@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 8-Feb-86 20:31:31 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6378
Posted: Sat Feb  8 20:31:31 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 8-Feb-86 20:31:31 EST
References: <313@tellab3.UUCP>, <780@kitty.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 14

> ...  Within the first 60 seconds of launch, the shuttle
> not only provides an immense infrared signature which even the most
> unsophisticated heat-seeking surface-to-air missle could not miss, but
> is within range of several varieties of such a man-packed missile.

Don't forget that the missile not only has to see the shuttle, it has
to *catch* it -- from a standing start, heading almost straight up to
catch a rapidly-accelerating target.  These are very unfavorable
conditions for a man-packed missile, which will typically have a modest
maximum speed (under Mach 2) and a low maximum altitude and range (a
few kilometers at most).
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry