Cold War Strangeness
Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: General History
Forum Name: Modern Warfare
Forum Discription: Military history and miltary science from the ''Cold War'' era onward.
URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=32497
Printed Date: 25-Apr-2024 at 07:57
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.56a - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Cold War Strangeness
Posted By: red clay
Subject: Cold War Strangeness
Date Posted: 09-Oct-2012 at 12:21
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During the peak of the Cold War, 50's- 60's, Dad was involved in some really weird projects. Most he still can't talk about. The one he is most proud of however, is no longer "classified".
In 1958, Dad became "Project Co-ordinator" for the BMEWS project, Ballistic Missle Early Warning System.
The main location for project research and developement was Moorestown NJ, at the then, RCA complex, now Martin Marrietta.
Most folks here knew it as "The Giant Golf Ball".
 I have a link to a site that provides more info, mostly accurate. One of the things mentioned however isn't quite accurate. The site mentions that Willingboro residents blamed the project for interference on their radios and TV's, true. But it doesn't mention that the problem was from one of many of the Cold War weirdys that were being worked on there.
Another is the cost. The installation in Moorestown alone cost 30 Mill. However the entire project was in the 8 Billion range, an unspeakable sum for that time.
http://jsf1.homestead.com/MoorestownGolfBall.html - http://jsf1.homestead.com/MoorestownGolfBall.html
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Replies:
Posted By: medenaywe
Date Posted: 09-Oct-2012 at 12:47
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Now they put early warning anti ballistic systems in Space.Russians have full network of satellites that can detect infrared signal of lighter&detect his initial positions.Conclusion:Do not use lighters if you have not!  Your Father have had a very interesting project on table those days indeed.I post some new Russians projects(NASA's are not on site):ESA&JAXA also!China has a blackout about military projects online. http://www.russianspaceweb.com/oko.html - http://www.russianspaceweb.com/oko.html |
Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 09-Oct-2012 at 13:10
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Med. the Soviet system became operational 1965-66. By that time Dad was in his theoretical glory, working on the Fusion Reactor in Princeton. He never went back to pure "Defense Projects", although he did do some work related to it when they got into trouble with certain systems. |
Posted By: medenaywe
Date Posted: 09-Oct-2012 at 13:27
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Is this Fusion reactor project predecessor of project they give on Discovery&National?Small amount of particles ignited by lot of lasers in Fusion reaction?Or it was a Tokamak Fusion Test reactor from 80's,days of my youth? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokamak_Fusion_Test_Reactor - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokamak_Fusion_Test_Reactor |
Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 09-Oct-2012 at 16:12
Med, the project Dad worked on was a forerunner of the Tokamak [1980] called the "Stellarator". He worked on it twice. First time was in 1965, they took it as far as the technology at the time would allow. [Keep in mind they were doing this without the aid of computers, slide rules ruled. ]
They had to shut it down until certain breakthroughs allowed them to continue. The last time they called him back, was in the early 90's, when interest in it was renewed, but it was discovered that he was the only one of his team left alive. He was in his 70's and basically told them to take a hike.
 The problem then is still the problem, you have to put more energy in then you get out. |
Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 09-Oct-2012 at 16:18
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You might find this interesting, the 2nd time, all of the calculations for stress analysis on the containment vessel and the penetrations for it were done on a "Texas Inst. handheld programmable calculator". I think my son still has it.
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Posted By: Centrix Vigilis
Date Posted: 15-Oct-2012 at 23:56
From that program sprang Cheyene Mtn. And NORAD. So once again Red Sr. gets the nod. ------------- "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" S. T. Friedman Pilger's law: 'If it's been officially denied, then it's probably true' |
Posted By: Centrix Vigilis
Date Posted: 15-Oct-2012 at 23:59
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I personally liked the LUNEX Project and Project Horizon. ------------- "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" S. T. Friedman Pilger's law: 'If it's been officially denied, then it's probably true' |
Posted By: medenaywe
Date Posted: 16-Oct-2012 at 00:09
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Yes I see it.Fusion as Sun power plant concept is possible.Therefore Creator uses it also separates it from us. What happens beneath our foots?Is it inside similar reactor?Fission or Fusion?I support the idea of energy efficiency of gadgets&devices&homes...There is no other solution still. |
Posted By: Mountain Man
Date Posted: 16-Oct-2012 at 12:02
Nope...copnstruction on Cheyenne Mountain was already well underway in 1961 when I was stationed at Fort Carson, and NORAD was housed in a building in downtown Colorado Springs. ------------- Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? |
Posted By: Centrix Vigilis
Date Posted: 16-Oct-2012 at 14:12
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Oh....thought it was. My mistake. Maybe I was thinking Omaha SAC. But he still gets the nod as a fellow Vet instruementally involved in strat national defense projects.... Even though I find it difficult to remember major commands history's nowadays, as successsfully as I once did. ------------- "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" S. T. Friedman Pilger's law: 'If it's been officially denied, then it's probably true' |
Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 16-Oct-2012 at 14:16
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I think what CV meant, was that now they had something to look at, instead of looking at the horizon and geussing. BMEWS was on the drawing board from approx. 1957, they didn't construct the Radome until about 60-61. [Which, by the way, was made of hexagonal shaped blocks of compressed paper.]
BMEWS was built specifically for Norad.
------------- "Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces". Unknown. |
Posted By: medenaywe
Date Posted: 16-Oct-2012 at 14:36
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Yes this is tree dimensional radar with 270 angle coverage in all directions!My technical knowledge about antennas tells me that they need precise coordination about sending direction and receiving signal detection If they use stratosphere reflecting waves precision decreases a lot but...From this distance it was awesome idea.NORAD protection was fully armed with it. |