science

MW 18014

MW 18014 is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand MW 18014 rather than just read about it. In short: MW 18014 was a German V-2 rocket launched on 20 June 1944, at the Peenemünde Army Research Center in Peenemünde. It was the first man-made object to reach outer space, attaining an apogee of 176 kilometres (109 mi), well above the Kármán line that was established later as the lowest altitude of space.

Key takeaways

MW 18014 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect MW 18014 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of MW 18014 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

MW 18014 was a German V-2 rocket launched on 20 June 1944, at the Peenemünde Army Research Center in Peenemünde. It was the first man-made object to reach outer space, attaining an apogee of 176 kilometres (109 mi), well above the Kármán line that was established later as the lowest altitude of space. As a vertical test launch that was not intended to reach orbital velocity, it returned and impacted Earth, making it the first sub-orbital spaceflight.

Background

Early A-4 rockets, despite being able to reach altitudes of 90 km, had suffered from multiple reliability problems. For example, a design fault in the forward part of the outer hull caused it to regularly fail mid-flight, resulting in the failure of as many as 70% of test launches. On one occasion, an A-4 rocket suffering from pogo oscillations during ascent veered 90° off course, then spiralled back down to its launch pit, killing four launch troops on site. The Peenemünde rocket team made a number of improvements to rectify the reliability problems during 1943 and the first half of 1944. Hindering the program were Allied raids as part of Operation Hydra, attempts to privatise the program during June 1944, frequent interference from the SS, and a two-week detention of technical director Wernher von Braun on 15 March 1944. Allied advances in Northern France, improvements of the Mittelwerk underground facility, where the A-4 rockets were produced, and improvements of the liquid-propellant formula renewed emphasis on Von Braun to address the A-4's reliability problems.

Records exceeded MW 18014 was part of a series of vertical test launches made during June 1944 designed to gauge the rocket's behaviour in vacuum. MW 18014 exceeded the altitude record set by one of its predecessors (launched on 3 October 1942) to attain an apogee of 176 km. MW 18014 was the first human-made object to cross into outer space, as defined by the 100 km Kármán line. This particular altitude was not considered significant at the time; the Peenemünde rocket scientists rather celebrated test launch V-4 in October 1942, first to reach the thermosphere. After the war, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (World Air Sports Federation) defined the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space to be the Kármán line. A subsequent A-4/V-2 launched as part of the same series of tests would exceed MW 18014's record, with an apogee of 189 km. The date of that launch is unknown because rocket scientists did not record precise dates during this phase.

Notes

See also Albert II, first mammal in space, 14 June 1949 Sputnik 1, first orbital space flight, 4 October 1957 Vostok 1, first manned space flight, 12 April 1961

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with MW 18014

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what MW 18014 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to MW 18014 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about MW 18014 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of MW 18014

In research: MW 18014 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses MW 18014 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: MW 18014 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1940s in spaceflight, 1944 in Germany, 1944 in outer space, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for MW 18014 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study MW 18014 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what MW 18014 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain MW 18014 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is MW 18014 in simple terms?

Why does MW 18014 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study MW 18014?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on MW 18014.