Utah Test and Training Range

The Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) is a military testing and training area located in Utah's West Desert, approximately 80 miles (130 km) west of Salt Lake City, Utah. UTTR is currently the largest contiguous block of over-land supersonic-authorized restricted airspace in the contiguous United States. The range, which has a footprint of 2,675 square miles (6,930 km2) of ground space and over 19,000 square miles (49,000 km2) of air space, is divided into North and South ranges. Interstate 80 divides the two sections of the range. The site is administered and maintained by the US Air Force's HQ UTTR, formerly known as the 388th Range Squadron (388RANS) stationed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.[1]

History

The Wendover Army Air Field was created in 1942 for research and training, with testing of Republic-Ford JB-2 (U.S. copy of the V-1 flying bomb) in 1945-1946, the Matador in the 1950s, and Minuteman motor testing and development in the 1960s. Wendover property was split and transferred to the nearby city, but land for the test range was kept, becoming the Utah Test and Training Range in 1979 under the Air Force Systems Command.[2]

Activities

Military

The Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) is host to a variety of training and testing missions for the United States Air Force, United States Army, and United States Marine Corps. The site is frequently used for the disposal of explosive ordnance, testing of experimental military equipment, as well as ground and air military training exercises. The Utah Test and Training Range works in close conjunction with Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) for military training exercises.[3]

Space

The site has also been used as a landing site for sample return in NASA's planetary science missions, including comet material in the Stardust mission and the upcoming OSIRIS-REx mission to return material from an asteroid.[4][5]

UTTR was also used as the landing site for the Genesis sample return mission. Although the sample return capsule's parachute failed to open and the capsule made a hard landing in the soft sandy soil, most of the collected scientific materials were salvaged. The solar wind particle collectors were made of wafers of aluminum, sapphire, silicon, germanium, gold and diamond-like amorphous carbon. When the capsule hit the desert floor, these wafers shattered into over 10,000 pieces of material. The Genesis team, along with the efforts of the Air Force's Photographic and Engineering Technician team, set up a clean room at Dugway Proving Ground. NASA scientists spent months filtering through bent metal and shards of razor sharp material, each of the salvageable pieces of material going into its own small container where they were stored for a short time. Some weeks later, one of the lead scientists and the supervisor of the engineering technicians came upon what turned out to be the solar wind concentrator. Protected by a couple of aluminum braces and brackets, the concentrator had survived almost completely intact with only one small crack in one of its quadrants.[6][7][8]

See also

References
  1. 388th Fighter Wing - Utah Test and Training Range
  2. Lonnquest, John C.; Winkler, David F. (November 1996). To Defend and Deter (PDF) (Report). Rock Island, IL: Defense Publishing Service. p. 429. 97/01. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
  3. "APPLICANT'S OBJECTIONS AND NON-PRORIETARY RESPONSES TO STATE'S SECOND REQUESTS FOR DISCOVERY (GROUP I)" (PDF). nrc.gov. 4 June 1999. pp. 22–24. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  4. "NASA to Launch New Science Mission to Asteroid in 2016". NASA. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  5. Ray, Justin. "OSIRIS-REx probe launched to asteroid in compelling search for the origins of life". Astronomy Now. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  6. Leonard David (20 September 2004). "Genesis Reentry Observed By Ground, Airborne Instruments". Space.com. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  7. Robert Roy Britt (10 September 2004). "Lots of Science Intact in Smashed-Up Genesis Capsule". Space.com. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  8. "Genesis Mishap Report" (PDF). nasa.gov. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
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