> > Unfortunately, the round object is a poor reentry vehicle. It slows
>
> You don't have to be spherical at/during reentry, you only have to be
> spherical during the ballistic arc outside of the atmosphere.
Mike Lorrey wrote:
SO what if you put a round envelope around a conical IRV? It's the mass
that counts.
### I seem to remember from physics 101 that mass doesn't count in vacuum.
Trajectory of an object in free fall in vacuum does not depend on shape, or
size, either. Am I wrong?
---> So we package the warhead into identical aluminized baloon as the
decoys.
> Radar signature 100% the same.
No. A conical shape will deflect a much greater amount of radar energy
when it is coming from head on than from the side, while a balloon will
have the exact same radar signature during the entire trajectory. Thus,
the sig of the warhead will increase in strength as its angle of
incidence to the radar signal increases, and decoys will be filtered out
### The warhead in a balloon will have the same signal characteristics as an
empty balloon. No "side" or "head", just a round surface. No filtering out.
-----
No, the ephemerides of a heavy warhead versus a light decoy will show
themselves by midcourse. A Missile doesn't follow a circular orbit, it
is elliptical, and thus mass differences will show the greatest effect
at the apogee point in the trajectory, long before it hits air.
Can you quote some specific calculations? How much does the warhead deviate
from a free-fall trajectory and why?
Rafal Smigrodzki MD-PhD
Dept Neurology University of Pittsburgh
smigrodzkir@msx.upmc.edu
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