Fascinating! Space programs post ~1970 are one thing, but they reached orbit by 1963! That would make them third in the world after USSR and US. I'm surprised I haven't heard of this before - I'll definitely be watching the documentary mentioned here, "The Lebanese Rocket Society".
I don't care for the writing of this article though, a bit fluffy and scant on information. And does anyone know what this is referring to?
> The Lebanese Army and what remained of the Rocket Society would go on to launch another rocket, the Cedar-10, and western powers decisively stepped in to end Lebanon’s experiment once and for all.
rbanffy · 5h ago
> and western powers decisively stepped in to end Lebanon’s experiment
Western powers always stop countries before they get the ability to make reliable ICBMs. Brazil was making some good progress on their satellite launcher, but I believe there US wasn't too happy the rocket used solid fuels, and solid fuel rockets, as we all know, are excellent for ICBMs because they can be launched as soon as they are pointing up-ish.
So, the lesson is to not make something with obvious military applications, because only big kids can have these toys, and your factories tend to explode (as if rockets themselves weren't already dangerous by themselves) if you continue.
shayway · 5h ago
I understand the reasoning, what I'm curious about is what 'decisively stepping in' means in this case.
> The Lebanese Army and what remained of the Rocket Society would go on to launch another rocket, the Cedar-10, and western powers decisively stepped in to end Lebanon’s experiment once and for all. The Rocket Society was disbanded and the program shut down.
I did some searching around but I can't find any information on what it might be referring to.
sidewndr46 · 4h ago
Oh in that case it is even simpler. Instead of "western powers" just say "Mossad". They hunt and kill anyone who attempts to help nations which could potentially be hostile to Israel gain more advanced weapons. Territorial boundaries don't apply in that circumstance. Participating in a rocket program like this is the equivalent of signing your own death certificate.
shayway · 4h ago
Whoa! Who was killed? The article focuses mostly on Manougian, and I got the impression they were the key person behind the Rocket Society, a la Korolev or Braun. What role did the person who died play that caused the whole program to just be scrapped?
rbanffy · 5h ago
I'm not sure I want to know that.
mncharity · 3h ago
> they reached orbit
No, the text is misleading, confusing altitude with orbiting. This was a sounding rocket.[1] Upon jumping 145 km high, it might wave as something orbital zoomed by it at 8 km/s, but it very wasn't one itself. A similar sounding rocket[2] is like half the mass of the world's smallest orbital rocket[3].
OP> The Cedar-4 was a three-stage rocket capable of reaching an altitude of 145 kilometres, thus entering the low Earth orbit (LEO) zone, and blasting past their record of two kilometres in 1961. LEO is where most satellite and human space flight activities take place. In every sense then, the Cedar-4 was a modern rocket; it rose over the Kármán line, considered the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space, and the ability to reach LEO opened up possibilities previously unimagined.
"[A]bility to reach LEO"? Well, in the unusual sense that a 5-year old cutting across the campus has "reached Harvard".
shayway · 3h ago
Ah, thank you for the correction. Still impressive of course, but that makes much more sense.
IG_Semmelweiss · 4h ago
>>> The Cedar-8 rocket had nearly hit a British naval cruiser in the Mediterranean.
It seems they had no way to know where these things would land, or if they did, had no way to communicate to state actors of hazard zones ?
I'd love to know more.
>>> "By 1965, I realised that the Lebanese military’s interest had changed from scientific research for peaceful exploration of space, to rockets as an instrument of war.”
Due dilligence applies to all endeavors. Accepting VC money, or accepting government money, it still requires some work.
sidewndr46 · 4h ago
You generally send out a NOTAM to inform pilots about this sort of thing. I'm unsure if there exists an equivalent mechanism in the international maritime communities to inform ships in the area.
IG_Semmelweiss · 4h ago
That's if you are an-FAA like entity. But what about a ragtag group of scientists putting objects in the sky, with no access to airport operations or govt sanction ?
sidewndr46 · 4h ago
No? You can call in as a pilot and issue a NOTAM if you want to. You can phone up the relevant air traffic control center and issue a NOTAM as well. You might do this if you saw something unusual like a plane in controlled air space that was flying in a dangerous manner. Or if you were doing something in uncontrolled airspace that could still be a hazard, so you report it so other's can adjust for it.
I don't care for the writing of this article though, a bit fluffy and scant on information. And does anyone know what this is referring to?
> The Lebanese Army and what remained of the Rocket Society would go on to launch another rocket, the Cedar-10, and western powers decisively stepped in to end Lebanon’s experiment once and for all.
Western powers always stop countries before they get the ability to make reliable ICBMs. Brazil was making some good progress on their satellite launcher, but I believe there US wasn't too happy the rocket used solid fuels, and solid fuel rockets, as we all know, are excellent for ICBMs because they can be launched as soon as they are pointing up-ish.
So, the lesson is to not make something with obvious military applications, because only big kids can have these toys, and your factories tend to explode (as if rockets themselves weren't already dangerous by themselves) if you continue.
one of the deadliest space related disasters
> The Lebanese Army and what remained of the Rocket Society would go on to launch another rocket, the Cedar-10, and western powers decisively stepped in to end Lebanon’s experiment once and for all. The Rocket Society was disbanded and the program shut down.
I did some searching around but I can't find any information on what it might be referring to.
No, the text is misleading, confusing altitude with orbiting. This was a sounding rocket.[1] Upon jumping 145 km high, it might wave as something orbital zoomed by it at 8 km/s, but it very wasn't one itself. A similar sounding rocket[2] is like half the mass of the world's smallest orbital rocket[3].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sounding_rocket [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrier_Orion [3] https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2018/04/20180427_guinness.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBUFNgLrykc (Scott Manley)
OP> The Cedar-4 was a three-stage rocket capable of reaching an altitude of 145 kilometres, thus entering the low Earth orbit (LEO) zone, and blasting past their record of two kilometres in 1961. LEO is where most satellite and human space flight activities take place. In every sense then, the Cedar-4 was a modern rocket; it rose over the Kármán line, considered the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space, and the ability to reach LEO opened up possibilities previously unimagined.
"[A]bility to reach LEO"? Well, in the unusual sense that a 5-year old cutting across the campus has "reached Harvard".
It seems they had no way to know where these things would land, or if they did, had no way to communicate to state actors of hazard zones ?
I'd love to know more.
>>> "By 1965, I realised that the Lebanese military’s interest had changed from scientific research for peaceful exploration of space, to rockets as an instrument of war.”
Due dilligence applies to all endeavors. Accepting VC money, or accepting government money, it still requires some work.