Project Highwater was an experiment carried out as part of two of the test flights of

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launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

(using

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upper stages), successfully launched into a

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trajectory from

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. The Highwater experiment sought to determine the effect of a large volume of water suddenly released into the

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. The project answered questions about the effect of the diffusion of propellants in the event that a rocket was destroyed at high altitude. The first flight,

SA-2 The S-75 (Russian: С-75; NATO reporting name SA-2 Guideline) is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defence system, built around a surface-to-air missile with command guidance. Following its first deployment in 1957 it became one of the most w ...

, took place on April 25, 1962. After the flight test of the rocket was complete and first stage shutdown occurred, explosive charges on the dummy upper stages destroyed the rocket and released of ballast water weighing into the upper atmosphere at an altitude of , eventually reaching an apex of . The second flight,

SA-3 The S-125 ''Neva/Pechora'' (russian: С-125 "Нева"/"Печора", NATO reporting name SA-3 ''Goa'') is a Soviet surface-to-air missile system that was designed by Aleksei Isaev to complement the S-25 and S-75. It has a shorter effective ra ...

, launched on November 16, 1962, and involved the same payload. The ballast water was explosively released at the flight's peak altitude of . For both of these experiments, the resulting ice clouds expanded to several miles in diameter and lightning-like radio disturbances were recorded.

See also

References

Further reading