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>The missile is likely to have reached an altitude of about 770km (478 miles) For reference, the International space station is about 220 miles above earth. Th

>The missile is likely to have reached an altitude of about 770km (478 miles) For reference, the International space station is about 220 miles above earth. This missile went twice as high. Why does a missile need to go so damn high? Do all of them do that or only this because it was a test?

ashark 9y ago
Wild guess from the highly relevant experience of having played Kerbal Space Program: if you don't actually intend to achieve orbit (which is mostly about going sideways really fast, not up) it may be more fuel-efficient to reach your target by going relatively high, to lengthen the amount of time you spend in little/no atmosphere before coming back down. Or maybe you want to be going really fast on the way down for some reason. Or (relatedly) it's harder to shoot down a missile on that kind of trajectory than a flatter one.
- nine_k 9y ago
  Going down really fast has an excellent reason: the faster you go down, the less time a counter-missile has to intercept you, and the harder it is (speed and acceleration requirements become insane).
hkmurakami 9y ago
It's a test. You can extrapolate the actual range when you change the launch angle to one that is optimal for distance.
AndrewKemendo 9y ago
Higher = Shorter Range while allowing for the significant burn of a longer range capability [1] So you can test or show off something really powerful, that you don't want to actually hit anything important by shooting it straight up. That's why many of these are considered "Space Launches." Otherwise if you shoot low altitude you only get a single or possibly second stage tested. [1]http://www.mpoweruk.com/figs/ballistics.htm http://www.mpoweruk.com/figs/ballistics.htm
danielvf 9y ago
I'm guessing one reason is that going high rather then far keeps the rocket in line of site for telemetry.
NamTaf 9y ago
Getting that high has a couple of advantages: 1) You conserve fuel by following a specfiic flight path and it has the added benefit of also getting out of the atmosphere. The ballistic trajectory that they follow is the minimum-energy trajectory. Putting this another way, you maximise payload for a given amount of fuel, and so can deliver a bigger warhead for a given rocket. Additionally, why plough through half a sphere of air when you can get up and out? The advantage of their extreme range is that they escape the atmosphere and so don't deal with atmospheric drag the whole way. 2) Intercepting something coming down from above is far harder than intercepting something coming at you from down low, so it has that added benefit. I'm sure there's other advantages, but they're the ones that spring to mind immediately.

ashark 9y ago

Wild guess from the highly relevant experience of having played Kerbal Space Program: if you don't actually intend to achieve orbit (which is mostly about going sideways really fast, not up) it may be more fuel-efficient to reach your target by going relatively high, to lengthen the amount of time you spend in little/no atmosphere before coming back down. Or maybe you want to be going really fast on the way down for some reason. Or (relatedly) it's harder to shoot down a missile on that kind of trajectory than a flatter one.

nine_k 9y ago
Going down really fast has an excellent reason: the faster you go down, the less time a counter-missile has to intercept you, and the harder it is (speed and acceleration requirements become insane).

hkmurakami 9y ago

It's a test. You can extrapolate the actual range when you change the launch angle to one that is optimal for distance.

AndrewKemendo 9y ago

Higher = Shorter Range while allowing for the significant burn of a longer range capability [1] So you can test or show off something really powerful, that you don't want to actually hit anything important by shooting it straight up. That's why many of these are considered "Space Launches." Otherwise if you shoot low altitude you only get a single or possibly second stage tested. [1]http://www.mpoweruk.com/figs/ballistics.htm http://www.mpoweruk.com/figs/ballistics.htm

danielvf 9y ago

I'm guessing one reason is that going high rather then far keeps the rocket in line of site for telemetry.

NamTaf 9y ago

Getting that high has a couple of advantages: 1) You conserve fuel by following a specfiic flight path and it has the added benefit of also getting out of the atmosphere. The ballistic trajectory that they follow is the minimum-energy trajectory. Putting this another way, you maximise payload for a given amount of fuel, and so can deliver a bigger warhead for a given rocket. Additionally, why plough through half a sphere of air when you can get up and out? The advantage of their extreme range is that they escape the atmosphere and so don't deal with atmospheric drag the whole way. 2) Intercepting something coming down from above is far harder than intercepting something coming at you from down low, so it has that added benefit. I'm sure there's other advantages, but they're the ones that spring to mind immediately.