Missile engineering handbook (Principles of guided missile design)
By C. W Besserer
Publisher: Van Nostrand
Number Of Pages: 600
Publication Date: 1958
ISBN-10 / ASIN: B0007DWUNU
ISBN-13 / EAN:
Binding: Unknown Binding
Summary: First rate source of the math behind modern systems.
Rating: 5
First, I see nothing unsafe in this book.
Intellectually, returning to the basics, the questions that had to be answered without technology, (whereas a technology is taken for granted in our time), is always a rewarding endeavor.
Math of 50 years ago looks crude. It was. But it was good math.
This is what it took to build the great successes of Falcon, Sparrow, Sidewinder, Phoenix, and others. Early attempts at doing the impossible: guiding a missile from one aircraft to intercept another aircraft at supersonic speeds.
Real golf would require opponents to hit each others ball in mid flight, and call it an intercept or block, worth a game, perhaps (if the stakes were high enough). That’s impossible you may say.
Guided missile design is far worse, and long ago. We do it all the time now. Why cannot sports keep up with science?
It was done by hand and primitive computers. It is fascinating to see the original critical nodes of guided missile design, and the communications problems, electronics problems, system prioritization, and command and control priorities. This is a visit to a math museum.
And right along side are the non-classified formulae, (advanced calculus and physics required), to show what is behind a process we now do on a single chip.
I fear however that we are losing the ability to actually do the math. (I am a Professor, what can I say.)
Do not come to this book for pictures of fancy rockets. No, this is the real gritty stuff that makes guided missiles work.
The second half of the book is a useful glossary for those unfamiliar with the language, a mixture of military acronyms and jargon of the profession.
You will not be able to build a guided missile after reading this book; but if you are a clever math student you can see what it takes to solve all the critical equations. I’m not referring to ‘rocket science’ as in propulsion system design.
This text is not about propulsion, one of the first, and most essential functions to be addressed before any thought can be given to using it.
I have seen the other volumes in the series, and this appears to be the most enlightening one, on System Design.
I’m talking about the incredible feat of talking to a missile, listenting to a missile, and tracking the target, and all three sources of information at once: you first, then the missile, then the target. And of course, two objects approaching each other at supersonic speeds means the density of infomation increases exponentially, but the processing capacity is fixed, finite, and can be overloaded. How to omptimise this is not in the book. But how to study it is. Now we use this method every day, setting up microwave relays for everyday phones.
Good reading for a young, mathematically inclined person fascinated with the math of missles, not the technology. The technology did not exist when this book was assembled. But it was in the works, and this book was meant to assist those in the industry, and enlighten those who might want to be in the industry.
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