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A Minuteman III missile soars after a test launch.An intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, is a long-range ballistic missile using a ballistic trajectory involving a significant ascent and descent, including sub-orbital flight. The FOBS had a partial orbital trajectory. An ICBM differs little technically from other ballistic missiles such as intermediate-range ballistic missiles, short-range ballistic missiles, or the newly named theater ballistic missiles; these are differentiated only by maximum range. The maximum range of ICBMs is addressed by arms control agreements, which prohibit orbital or fractional-orbital weapons. Only three nations currently have operational ICBM systems: the United States, Russia, and China. However, other nations have ICBMs but not an organized ICBM system, such as Israel, India, Iran, North Korea, and PakistanIslami Jamhuria Pakistan ( In Detail) ( In Detail) National motto: Iman, Ittehad, Nazm( Urdu: "Faith, Unity, Discipline" Official Language(s) Urdu, English Capital Islamabad Largest City Karachi President General Pervez Musharraf Prime Minister Shaukat Az.
In 20022002 is a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). 2002 was the first palindromic year since 1991 and the last until 2112. 2002 was also designated: International Year of Ecotourism and Mountains National Science Year in the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia agreed in the SORTThe Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions SORT is a 2002 treaty between Russia and the United States limiting their nuclear arsenal to 2200 warheads each. It is the latest in a long line of treaties and negotiations on mutual nuclear disarmament betwee treaty to reduce their deployed stockpiles to not more than 2,200 warheads each.
1 Flight phases
The following flight phases can be distinguished:
- boost phase - 3 to 4 minutes (for a solid rocketSolid rockets are rockets with a motor that uses solid propellants ( fuel/ oxidizer). The Chinese invented solid rockets and were using them in warfare by the 13th century. All rockets used some form of solid or powdered propellant up until the 20th centu shorter than for a liquid-propellant rocketThe highest specific impulse chemical rockets use liquid propellants. The first rockets used liquid oxygen and gasoline as propellants. Both are readily available, cheap, high energy, and dense. Oxygen is a moderate cryogen air will not liquify against a); altitude at the end of this phase is 150 -200 km, typical burn-out speed is 7 km/s
- midcourse phase - ca. 25 minutes - suborbital flight in an elliptic orbitIn astrodynamics or celestial mechanics a elliptic orbit is an orbit with the eccentricity greater than 0 and less than 1. Specific energy of an elliptical orbit is negative. Velocity Under standard assumptions the orbital velocity of a body traveling alo, i.e. the orbit is part of an ellipseThe Ellipse is also an elliptical street immediately in front of the White House. In mathematics, an ellipse is a figure corresponding to a circle which has been stretched in one direction. This is an example of a conic section and can be defined as the l with vertical major axis; the apogee (halfway the midcourse phase) is at an altitude of typically ca. 1200 km; the semi-major axis is between one half of the radius of the Earth and the radius; the projection of the orbit on the Earth's surface is a great circle - the missile may release a few independent warheads, a large number of decoys, and chaff
- reentry phase (starting at an altitude of 100 km) - 2 minutes
See also Missile Defense Agency.
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