ROCKET LAUNCHERS
November 5, 2008
The main component necessary for an impromptu rocket launcher is an open ended tube about 5 feet long and as wide as need be for the planned projectiles. In a educational/auditorium setting. Some older planetarium projectors do have pipe components that could be used (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:ZeissPlanetariumProjector_MontrealPlanetarium.jpg, http://www.pictorialism.com/scrap.html) Newer digitial models are more self contained and don’t have the kind of tube structure needed. Other items that might be found in an educational auditorium might include a telescopic ceiling mount for a projector, hollow table legs or the casing for a pull-down projector screen, all which might be easier to unscrew than a planetarium projector.
It doesn’t take particular expertise to fashion one, merely a basic understanding of the concept. Terrorists and guerillas throughout the world have become adept at making their own rocket launchers. Found Chechen rocket launchers were mistaken for old pieces of scaffolding. Homemade rocket launchers have been used in Iraq and have been confiscated in Somalia. One of the most famous is the Qassam rockets favored by Hamas and frequently used in attacks against Isreal. They are fueled by mixture of sugar and potassium nitrate, which is a widely available fertilizer. An article about a recent visit to a Hamas rocket making facility describes the process in the following way. “The warhead is filled with TNT and urea nitrate. Qassams are primitive missiles lacking any guidance system. Building one is "child's play," Abdul says: One of the team welds the rocket casings together from metal pipes, while another fills the warhead with up to three kilograms of TNT. Abdul's specialty is the last step: the rocket propulsion. He and his mates brew up the fuel out of a mixture of glucose, fertilizer and a few other chemicals, which is used to fire the rockets at distances of up to nine kilometers. Right at the end, he inserts the detonator cap, which makes the missile explode on impact. They hide the finished rockets in depots, which the launch commandos can then freely avail themselves of….A With a hiss, the gas cooker comes to life. A cauldron full of fuel is set on it, and one of the men stirs in a lump of golden syrup, while the others weigh the fertilizer, which contains nitrate. They explain that the nitrate has to be mixed very slowly with the sugar solution. "The thing is highly explosive." Abdul admits that many of his friends have suffered severe burns or lost fingers.”
Amature rocket makers have also made homemade, shoulder mounted rocket launchers from metal and PVC piping.
THE REAL THING: SHOULDER-LAUNCHED MISSILE WEAPON
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoulder-launched_missile_weapon
A shoulder-launched missile weapon is a weapon that fires a projectile at a target, yet is small enough to be carried by a single person, and fired while held on one's shoulder. "Missile" is used here in the original broad sense: today the word has a strong connotation with the concept of a guided rocket. There are two kinds of shoulder launched weapons. The first is the recoilless gun, which is essentially an open tube. When fired the reaction gases (with a momentum equal to the projectile) expelled out of the back of the weapon compensate the force exerted on the projectile. The other type uses rocket propelled projectiles; these typically also use a small recoilless charge to get the projectile out of the barrel and to a distance where the operator will not be hurt by the rocket's backblast; when the rocket ignites at a safe distance, it further accelerates the projectile or at least keeps it from decelerating in its trajectory. The smallest shoulder-launched rocket weapons are rocket-propelled grenades (RPG). There are also larger "dumb" shoulder-launched missiles, used in a similar way to an RPG, but with far greater destructive power. A number of specialised "smart" missiles are available in shoulder-launched forms, including (anti-tank guided missile) and man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADs), surface-to-air missiles used as anti-aircraft, typically using infrared homing and used to target helicopters and other low-flying aircraft.
Rocket-based weapons have a long history, from the black powder fire arrows used by the ancient Chinese to the Congreve rocket referenced in the "The Star-Spangled Banner," the national anthem of the United States. They have always been prized for the portability of their launch systems.
Shoulder-launched rockets have a launch tube. In order to prevent the user from being burned by the exhaust, the rocket (or at least its first stage) must burn out before it leaves the tube, and if present the second stage must fire once the rocket is well clear of the launcher. Even if the operator is safe, there is a sizeable blast effect to their rear.
Also, the rocket must have a reliable ignition system. In modern systems, this is almost always a percussion cap. This system was not fully developed until the German Panzerfaust of World War II, an early one-shot design that however also was the first practical recoilless antitank-gun and thus used no rocket. The bazooka and Panzerschreck were later rocket-propelled developments which could be reloaded.
1. Photos of real shoulder launched missile weapons:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/smaw.htm
http://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.asp?smallarms_id=119
2. Helicopter mounted rocket launchers:
http://www.aircav.com/cobra/m260.html
3. Rocket propelled grenades: how they work
http://science.howstuffworks.com/rpg.htm/printable
HOMADE ROCKET LAUNCHERS
1. http://hackedgadgets.com/2006/07/16/home-made-rocket-launcher/
A good description and diagram of a homemade rocket launcher.
2. http://www.englishrussia.com/?p=965
3. Images of homemade Chechen weapons.
4. http://zioneocon.blogspot.com/pals%20w%20rocket%20launcher.jpg
Hamas homemade rocket launcher.
5. http://thetension.blogspot.com/2008/01/forces-detain-extremist-following.html
Homemade rocket launcher found by coalition forces in Iraq. Appears to use L-shaped metal bar instead of a tube.
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qassam_rocket
The Palastinian Qassam rocket.
7. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,531578,00.html
8. A description of a visit to a Hamas rocket factory.
9. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/858692/home_made_rocket_fuel/
video of how to make homemade rocket fuel with sugar and potassium nitrate in a skillet.
HOMEMADE ROCKET LAUNCHER VIDEOS
1. http://outhouserag.typepad.com/gizmos/2006/07/home_made_rocke.html
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUFYwTY4DBk&feature=related
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1TzxWgLzDQ
PLANETARIUM PROJECTORS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetarium_projector
A planetarium projector is a device used to project images of celestial objects onto the dome in a planetarium.
The first modern planetarium projectors were designed and built by the Carl Zeiss Jena company in Germany between 1923 and 1925, and have since grown more complex. Smaller projectors include a set of fixed stars, Sun, Moon, and planets, and various nebulae. Larger machines also include comets and a far greater selection of stars. Additional projectors can be added to show twilight around the outside of the screen (complete with city or country scenes) as well as the Milky Way. Still others add coordinate lines and constellations, photographic slides, laser displays, and other images. The OMNIMAX movie system (now known as IMAX Dome) was originally designed to operate on planetarium screens.
A good example of a "typical" planetarium projector of the 1960s was the Universal Projection Planetarium type 23/6, made by VEB Carl Zeiss Jena in what was then East Germany.[1] The planetarium projector was a 13-foot (4.0 m)-long dumbbell-shaped object, with 29-inch (740 mm)-diameter spheres attached at each end representing the night sky for the northern and southern hemispheres. Connecting the two spheres was a framework that held nearly 150 individual projectors, including those dedicated to the planets, the Sun, and specific stars.
Each globe held representations of almost 4,500 stars per hemisphere. The "stars" were created by tiny holes that were punched into copper foil, ranging from 0.023 to 0.452 mm in size, the larger holes letting more light get through and thereby creating brighter star images. Two glass plates held this foil between them to create what was called a "star field plate". Each globe was illuminated using a 1,500-watt lamp that was located in its center. A number of aspherical condenser lenses were placed within each globe to focus the light onto the plates. Twenty-three of the most prominent stars had their own projectors, designed to project a small disk instead of pinpoint of light, and were also colored: Betelgeuse and Antares would appear reddish, Rigel and Spica would each have a blue tinge. An image of the Milky Way was created by using drum-type projectors that were studded with unfocused pinprick-sized holes based on photographic images of our galaxy. Specific projectors could imitate the light changes of such variable stars as Algol or Omicron Ceti, and other projectors could produce images of the constellations, of specific historical comets, compass points and other astronomical phenomena. When a particular star or planet dipped below the artificial horizon, a gravity-based mercury-filled shutter would be activated, blocking out the light.
1. Image of Ziess planetarium projector Montreal planetarium 2006:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:ZeissPlanetariumProjector_MontrealPlanetarium.jpg
2, Smallest Ziess planetarium projector ever made:
Planetarium Projector, smallest ever built by Zeiss, Jena. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Planetarium_awi_hg.jpg
3. Planaterium Museum
A variety of images of planetarium projectors
http://www.pictorialism.com/scrap.html
DIGITAL PLANATARIUM PROJECTORS
1. Digistar 1 and 2
http://www.es.com/products/digital_theater/digistar2.asp
“Digistar® I and II introduced the world to the digital planetarium. For the first time, audiences were able not only to see the stars, but also to fly through the stars in three dimensions. Today, Digistar II continues to enchant and educate audiences of all ages in planetariums around the world. And Digistar II offers much more than digital 3D stars: it provides a complete range of planetarium effects. Through a standard SMPTE interface, Digistar II can also be integrated with other projection, automation, and sound system equipment. Digistar II can project images onto conventional or tilted domes as small as 20 feet or as large as 80 feet in diameter. Its three primary components, the operator workstation, the graphics processor, and the calligraphic projector, fit easily into existing theaters. You do not need a special computer room. Digistar II gives you the power to make your presentations soar to new heights in imagery and realism.”
The Digistar II system offers several unique features:
Adaptable: Digistar II can be installed in new or existing planetariums
Superior 3D Graphics Capability: leading edge technology calculates what the images should look like
Unmatched Special Effects: dynamic proper motion - travel through 3D space
Storage: store several shows at a time
Compact: no special computer room
Easy to Update: upward and downward compatibility of Digistar II models and shows
Imagery/Special Effects Library: Digistar Users Group for sharing and exchange of models and imagery
3. Digistar 3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digistar_3
Digistar 3 is a dome-based projection technology created by Evans & Sutherland - to offer audiences immersive entertainment and education experiences that integrate fulldome video, real time 3D computer graphics, and a digital planetarium facility. Digistar 3 is fully scalable to meet up to >4k by >4k resolution video across a dome.
Digistar 3 is installed in a range of configurations from single lens projection systems for domes up to 9 m in diameter, such as the Argus Planetarium, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, through to multi-projector installations such as the giant 24 m diameter dome at Nehru Centre, Mumbai, India.
Digistar 3 incorporates the Direct3D real-time rendering standard to allow variation of shows based on audience interaction and presenter controls. The console comes equipped with a dialbox, a joystick and a palm pilot to making tailoring the show to the audience intuitive. The video is also distorted in real time to allow for multiple projector configurations without having to re-encode the video for each graphics processor.
Digistar 3 comes bundled with software to aid any planetarium in developing their own programs, though fulldome video, being a new medium, requires a new skill set to keep all the dome active. The Digistar Users Group focuses on creating content specifically for this system. Because of the new technical hurdles in creating 3D video content for the dome many planetariums opt to lease programs from institutions that have already gained ground in the fulldome field such as the Hayden Planetarium of New York or the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City, or from vendors such as Starlight Productions and Loch Ness Productions.
3. Description of Adler Planetarium with Digistar 2 Digital projector:
4. Evans & Sutherland: Makers of Digistar 3.
http://www.es.com/support/digistar3.asp
Digistar 3 represents Evans & Sutherland’s most popular digital planetarium system to date. Digistar 3 has been embraced by more fixed planetarium theaters, museums and science centers than any other digital plantearium system on the market. Digistar 3 is a powerful hardware/software combination capable of generating immersive fulldome images consiting of real time 3D computer graphics, astronomical simulations and fulldome video.
Introduced in 2002, Digistar 3 represented a paradigm shift toward a more flexible, powerful digital planetarium instrument. Today, Digistar 3 offers a fully integrated system, alleviating the need for separate slide projectors, special effects projectors, slewable video projectors, etc. Digistar 3 has an easy-to-use console with manual controls and a wireless remote control. A wide variety of projection options are also supported.
Image of Digistar 3
http://planetarium.lbcc.cc.ca.us/
Ceiling Mount Projectors:
http://www.lme.ltd.uk/corporate/projectors.php
PROJECTOR SCREENS
1. Projector screen that pulls down from a tube.
http://focusedtechnology.com/elscreen.html
PROJECTOR CEILING MOUNTS
1. http://www.mdmusicalaccessories.com/eng/supportilcdplasmavideoproiettori.htm
2. http://www.thefind.com/office/info-omnimount-pmd-2-universal-projector
