The History of Telemetry at White Sands Missile Range, NM

Abstract

This paper presents a history of telemetry at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. White Sands Missile Range is located in the Tularosa Basin between the San Andres and the Organ Mountains on the west and the Sacramento Mountains on the east. Designation of more than one million acres of New Mexico range land as a testing areas established White Sands Proving Ground on July 9, 1945 as the Birthplace of Americas Missile and Space activity. On July 16, 1945 the first Atomic Bomb was exploded at Trinity Site. Project Hermes began in November of 1944 with a contract to General Electric by the Ordnance Department to develop a long range guided missile for the Army. Missile testing began in September of 1945 with the firing of Tiny Tim missiles. The capture of German V2 rockets led to testing and firing V2s concurrently with the Hermes. The first two-stage rocket consisted of a WAC Corporal mounted on the nose of a V2. Bumper # 5 set flight records of 5,150 miles an hour and an altitude of 244 miles on February 24, 1949. The paper includes: *Chronological highlights of telemetering events. *Discussion of telemetry systems and events that occurred at WSPG/WSMR from 1944 through 1990. *Telemetry systems and events from 1990 to the present. *Planned future telemetry systems and probable future systems.