In their crusade to make grow high - vim rocket fuel during Vietnam , researchers find the fuel they ’d make was a little too powerful , consistently destroying the rockets they power . After some refinement , the investigator dubbed it Astrolite — the air - scatterable liquid nation mine .
Invented by pharmacist Gerald Hurst while at the Atlas Powder Company , Astrolite technically is a category of binary swimming - state eminent explosives that are formed when you mix ammonium ion nitrate and anhydrous hydrazine ( the rocket fuel ) . This produces a cleared fluid explosive call in Astrolite G — it has a very high 8600 m / s explosion speed — most double that of TNT . If you then add atomic number 13 powder to Astrolite G , you get Astrolite A ( for Aluminum ) which has a velocity of explosion of 7800 m / s.
Now while they have a very high detonation velocity ( it expand very quickly ) , Astrolite does not have a lot of mass ( there ’s less explosive to explode per volume ) . That intend that it ’s not suitable for heavy destruction but excellent as an anti - personnel / light armor mine .
As a 1968 consequence of Stars And Stripes delineate it :
Latest development is a “ Liquid Land Mine ” using Astrolite , the most powerful know explosive … Poured directly onto a dirt road , the stuff and nonsense soaks into the first few inches of earth , give tremendous upheaval power . Although the demesne mine was fired remotely in the exam , a press - sensitive fuzee can be used that will react to the exercising weight of a spend vehicle … Liquid Land Mine can be plainly poured from canteen like containers say its maker , Explosives Corporation of America , or sprayed from motortruck or helicopters .
That ’s right , you just just spray it on — as little as 1 oz is needed to incapacitate an foe soldier — and sow in a detonating equipment . It will continue active and detonatable in the dirt for four twenty-four hours , unmoved by rain , but will finally inactivate itself , eliminating the need for de - mining . The most useful feature is the fact that even when active , the Astrolite ca n’t be detected by normal mine detection equipment .
[ Danger Room – Wikipedia – Global Security ]
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