Russian Rocket Spiral

BSPhysics · Post by **BSPhysics** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:21 pm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldne ... orway.html

Here is quite possibly the best UFO evah. Any rocket scientists in the house that can analyze this one?

BS

Luzr · Post by **Luzr** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:39 pm

BSPhysics wrote:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldne ... orway.html

Here is quite possibly the best UFO evah. Any rocket scientists in the house that can analyze this one?

BS

IMO, looks like failed missile.

Betruger · Post by **Betruger** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:43 pm

It is - RSM-56 Bulava ICBM launched from a Typhoon-class submarine.
http://www.frisnit.com/cgi-bin/navtex/v ... 9&type=24H

Oops.. link doesn't seem to work anymore. It used to say
ZCZC FA79
031230 UTC DEC 09
COASTAL WARNING ARKHANGELSK 94
SOUTHERN PART WHITE SEA
1.ROCKET LAUNCHING 2300 07 DEC TO 0600 08 DEC
09 DC 0200 TO 0900 10 DEC 0100 TO 0900
NAVIGATION PROHIBITED IN AREA
65-12.6N 036-37.0E 65-37.2N 036-26.0E
66-12.3N 037-19.0E 66-04.0N 037-47.0E
66-03.0N 038-38.0E 66-06.5N 038-55.0E
65-11.0N 037-28.0E 65-12.1N 036-49.5E
THEN COASTAL LINE 65-12.2N 036-47.6E
2. CANCEL THIS MESSAGE 101000 DEC=
NNNN

Skipjack · Post by **Skipjack** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:44 pm

Thats what Phil Plait also guessed.
His guess sure is better than mine (some weird variation of an aurora, or something), so I would say it sounds plausible.

DeltaV · Post by **DeltaV** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 10:02 pm

The blue corkscrew looks like the trail of a coning (precessing) rocket, launched from the far side of the mountain, travelling generally away from the camera, perhaps spewing out smoke/fog for use as a projection screen. The whitish spiral looks just like the news article says, a computer generated image. I'd guess the extent of the anomaly is a few kilometers at most. Advanced hobbyists having fun with the locals?

[Edit] Could be a failed missile too, but why (1) does it look like it launched from just over the top of the hill, (2) why does the big spiral look so uniform, and (3) why does a cone of white light seem to originate from the launch point? Is the Russian test site that close?

DeltaV · Post by **DeltaV** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 10:29 pm

Enhancing the big spiral with photoshop suggests the spiral arms lie on a cone or spindle surface instead of a plane. Maybe two species of rocket exhaust molecules, one that travels farther/faster that the other (the slower one being the blue corkscrew)?

Tom Ligon · Post by **Tom Ligon** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 11:15 pm

That's pretty spectacular.

Near my area is Wallops Island, a NASA sounding rocket launch site. Since I was a kid they have periodically launched rockets that deployed flourescent or phosphorescent compounds for various atmospheric studies. I've yet to have decent visibility when one of these launches was announced, but they're supposed to be very noticable.

Possibly this is some similar experiment, and they controlled the rocket to deliberately disperse the compound?

Betruger · Post by **Betruger** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 11:36 pm

http://rofl.wheresthebeef.co.uk/Corkscrew%20Missile.jpg

DeltaV - Russian confirmation that it's a sea-launched Bulava missile.

D Tibbets · Post by **D Tibbets** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 12:05 am

A few speculations. I have seen a video of a US launch of an intercept missle (THAAD?) that spiraled upward for several revolutions before streaking off for it's target. I don't know if this was for calibration purposes, sensing purposes, or used to disguise the launch point. In the Russion missle, perhaps a similar purpose for the spiral. Or, it may have been a test to disperse gas/plasma to interfere with a boost phase intercept effort of a potential enemy, either with a rocket or laser. Or perhaps a spinup of the warhead bus in order to disperse MIRVs over a wide area. Or, perhaps...

Dan Tibbets

Diogenes · Post by **Diogenes** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 12:07 am

BSPhysics wrote:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldne ... orway.html

Here is quite possibly the best UFO evah. Any rocket scientists in the house that can analyze this one?

BS

I think I know exactly what it was. Some Leftwing Green wackos with a blue laser light show attempting to generate interest in the Copenhagen conference.

Betruger · Post by **Betruger** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 12:36 am

Failed. Missile.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV08q4SCaBQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixLE3iuszbU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9em4purRjc

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1 ... nsref=tech

DeltaV · Post by **DeltaV** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 9:06 am

Wow, that last youtube video really shows how much the plume expands once you get out of the lower atmosphere. Failed missile it is, then.

Aero · Post by **Aero** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:01 pm

Why do you think it failed? Maybe it is spin stablized.

Tom Ligon · Post by **Tom Ligon** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:16 pm

Why do I think it failed?

Supposedly Buzz Aldrin was present at a public test of a low-budget civilian rocket one day, when one of the hold-down bolts failed and the rocket fell on its side and blew up. He turned to the press and said ...

"Welcome to the rocket business."

Why did it fail? It was a rocket.

Control system screwup. Stuck actuator. Broken wire. Busted nozzle. For starters. Or maybe it was intentional, to increase the feeling of adventure for people paying for trips to the ISS?

Aero · Post by **Aero** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:52 pm

Tom good answer but not to the point of the question. Maybe that is what it is supposed to look like from that angle. Let me restate the question, "Why do you think it failed?" as follows.

"By what logic do you conclude the the observation was of a failure mode, as opposed to observation along the z-axis of normal operation of a spin stabilized rocket under power?"

Talk-Polywell.org

Russian Rocket Spiral

Russian Rocket Spiral

Re: Russian Rocket Spiral

Re: Russian Rocket Spiral