Editing Project HARP (section)

{{Short description|US-Canada ballistics research project famous for its extremely large gun}}
{{Distinguish|text=HAARP, the [[High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program]]}}
{{about|the space launch gun research project|other projects|Harp (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Project Harp.jpg|right|thumb|HARP {{convert|16|in|mm|adj=on}} gun at its test site in [[Barbados]] ([[Geographic coordinate system|Coordinates]]: {{Coord|13|4|38.3|N|59|28|32.48|W|display=inline}})]]
{{Coord|13.077306|N|59.475688|W|display=title|name=Project HARP Location}}

'''Project HARP''', for '''high altitude research project''', was a joint venture of the [[United States Department of Defense]] and [[Canada]]'s [[Department of National Defence (Canada)|Department of National Defence]] created with the goal of studying [[ballistics]] of [[re-entry vehicle]]s and collecting upper atmospheric data for research. Unlike conventional space launching methods that rely on rockets, HARP instead used very large guns to fire projectiles into the atmosphere at extremely high speeds.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Petrescu |first1=Relly |last2=Aversa |first2=Raffaella |last3=Akash |first3=Bilal |last4=Berto |first4=Filippo |last5=Apicella |first5=Antonio |last6=Petrescu |first6=Florian |date=2017 |title=Project HARP |journal=Journal of Aircraft and Spacecraft Technology |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=249–257 |ssrn=3092679 |doi=10.3844/jastsp.2017.249.257 |doi-access=free }}{{predatory publisher}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite magazine |last=Hanson |first=Joe |url=https://www.wired.com/2013/07/science-goes-ballistic-8-guns-for-hunting-knowledge/ |title=Science Goes Ballistic: 8 Guns for Hunting Knowledge |date=July 8, 2013 |magazine=Wired |access-date=February 11, 2020 }}</ref>

A {{convert|16|in|cm|adj=on}} HARP gun operated by the U.S. Army's [[Ballistic Research Laboratory]] (now called the [[United States Army Research Laboratory|U.S. Army Research Laboratory]]) at [[Yuma Proving Ground]] currently holds the world record for the highest altitude that a gun-fired projectile has achieved: {{convert|180|km|mi|1}}.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/a/abriefhistoheharpproject.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820020119/http://www.astronautix.com/a/abriefhistoheharpproject.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 20, 2016 |title=A Brief History of the HARP Project |last=Graf |first=Richard |website=Encyclopedia Astronautica |access-date=February 11, 2020}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Sterling |first=Bruce |url=https://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/SGbull.htm |title=Think of the Prestige |date=September 1992 |work=The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction |access-date=February 11, 2020 }}</ref>