Missile Launch Signature Generation

"This proposal is aimed at providing information and methods to make the problem of missile detection at launch tractable. SBIR Solicitation: "Kinetic Boost Phase intercept is a challenge because the threat missile must be detected and confirmed withinseconds of launch." At present there is a dearth of knowledge about the spectral/temporal emission/electromagnetic properties associated with a missile launch. Therefore, it is not possible to rationally specify requirements for a launch detection sensorsystem. Details of the missile launch phenomenology must be understood so as to discriminate launch signals from other events. The approach of this proposal is to embody the currently understood launch physics in a computer code which is the product wewill develop. The "Missile Launch Signature Code" would then be available to contractors. The output of the code would be the optical emission (UV/VIS/IR) and the electromagnetic properties of the ionized gases in the launch cloud. The philosophy behindthe code would be to employ simple building block solutions to fluid mechanics and chemistry associated with the missile launch cloud. The methodology is aimed at rapid evaluation techniques that would have wider application in missile plume technology andpossibly for environmental evaluations. The anticipated benefits are a capability to rationally specify a sensor system for the detection of missile launches. One output of the code would be