shadeT - 8-9-2003 at 10:14
i found a anti hail missle ( used , just found the tube ) in some bushes near my house . there is a place where rockets like this are launched to melt
the ice in the clouds . it is about 1,5 m long . it says " don't touch , very dangerous explosive charge , contact the police " and
some other numbers and wierd words ... what is used as a engine in theese rockets , and what is the explosive head ???? some guy says that AgI is used
. thanks for any info .
vulture - 8-9-2003 at 13:49
What do you mean by weird words?
These numbers, are they UN numbers by any chance.
Rhadon - 8-9-2003 at 14:46
Do you have a digital camera? You might finally want to call the police because you won't know what you can safely do with that rocket, but I
would take a few pictures at first and post them here.
shadeT - 8-9-2003 at 21:02
i will make some photos later today and post them . well it isn't dangeraus , nothing more is in the tube ... but on one end is blasted , so i
think that there was the explosive . the tube is from some special plastic ( ?? ) material ... i never didn't see anystuff made from that.
shadeT - 9-9-2003 at 09:21
i don't know about the numbers , but im sure that it isn't a war missle , it says " meteorolo..." and on that place is the tube
blasted . it has some smell ... i realy don't have a idea what it is ( was ) ... i heard theese missle are expensive , about 300-400 dolars one
missle . here is a pic
NERV - 9-9-2003 at 17:20
Interesting find there Shade. Looks like the thing is made out of fiberglass, and it defiantly doesn’t look like any type of military missile.
Iv4 - 15-9-2003 at 20:43
Looks like a weaved tube.Kinda rminds me of an indian style chair(ancient).prety smart it seems.The warhead probably was an FAE or some sort of
thermite.
oh dear
Polverone - 15-9-2003 at 20:54
Just how much ice do you think one rocket's worth of thermite could melt? And why would you use a composition that would shower incandescent
metal on the terrain below? FAE doesn't seem much better. Check the energy content of a FAE fuel and then how much heat it takes to melt ice.
Or, in fewer words, it certainly didn't have a FAE charge or thermite.
DDTea - 15-9-2003 at 22:38
Well, let's look at it for a second. There aren't any scorch marks, thus ruling out any "low" explosives. The tears on the woven
fibers look pretty clean and even, so I'm thinking that the charge was quick and powerful- thus pointing to a high explosive. That's just
what I would infer, but it is by no means correct!
Here is an interesting article regarding rocket barrages against hail storms:
http://www.weathersage.com/texts/boesen2/chapter7.htm
Apparently, the active ingredient used against hail is Silver Iodide...that could explain the high cost.
Iv4 - 17-9-2003 at 06:49
Well I guess the themite was a crazy idea.The FAE though might be possible.Since it wouldnt have to actually melt the ice but rather blast it to small
bits.Could be just conventional explosives like the article says.
Just a thought but the rocket miht be delivered like a sabot.High explosive charge propels it out of the barrel a rocket engine fires of for a while
then lets the dart fly.
Well without the tank and tungsten dart but you get what I mean,right?
DDTea - 17-9-2003 at 15:02
I don't think the rocket works by melting the ice with heat so much as it simply lowers water's freezing point... similar to pouring salt
over ice on roads.
Iv4 - 18-9-2003 at 07:22
Thats how the silver iodide worked work?(am I totally steathy about not being a chemist or what?).
If a conventional charge were used and it blasted it to water and small pieces it might just fall as rain or maybe snow.
shadeT - 18-9-2003 at 10:04
im sure it was silver iodide . it was in the head , but i don't know what was used to blast it . and i don't know what was used for the
propellant . i was in the anti hail station and they have about 20 liters of silver iodide . and before a storm they put some on a some kind of metal
bowl and light it . a man in the station also told me about silver iodide is used in the rocket also but he didn't want to say about the
explosive and the engine( i didn't say that i found the rocket )... i will make some photos of the station and the ignition ramps - for 12
missles ( could this be illegal ? ). the man says that they fire ussualy 6 or 9 rockets at one time , and he said that i can come when somekind of
storm is forming, i hope i will see a new rocket and some more stuff .where are then other missles ???? if there are all fired at the same coordinates
, i could find some more around my place , they never fire only one rocket ,ill look around for them , i don't have no use of them , but its cool
to have them . if i get some more info i will post. thanks , guys !
Iv4 - 19-9-2003 at 08:04
I'm quite sure the delivery mechanism has no effect on it.Say idoes ths siver iodide have to be burned or can it be dispersed trough aerosol?
BCF - 6-10-2003 at 00:05
I think that silver iodide is thrown out of these rockets as a particulate cloud, the idea being to condense water from the atmosphere around the
crystals. Interestingly, shortly after the British MOD tried experiments with Silver iodide in southern England, 1952, a flash flood destroyed two
villages. Powerful chemistry.
Question
Proikas - 18-11-2004 at 16:05
Have any of you links to pages where technical information about anti-hail rockets is given? I´m trying to make a data base.
Thanks.
Juan Ignacio
Travellar - 9-1-2005 at 09:54
could we get a picture of the other end of the tube? Could be that a low explosive charge is used to spread the Silver Iodide as widely as possible.
(Think fruit bombs, the firecracker goes in the middle) In that case, the charge was probrably at least 3-4 inches beyond the frayed remains of that
end of the tube. It's also likely that the entire tube was intended to be destroyed in the process. After all, preventing hail is pointless if
you bombard the nearby countryside with rocket parts in the process.