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by quicklime 2908 days ago
Looks like it, except that the rocket itself isn't taking measurements, it's just there to create a smoke trail which can be analyzed later?

http://www.atomcentral.com/atomic-smoke-trails.aspx http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/SmokeTrails.html

1 comments

Yes, exactly. Immediately before detonation you send up rockets in a grid pattern, then film it with high speed cameras. You can then look at the grid deformation over time to get an idea of the shape of blast wave.