Hurricane Mesa Test Track
An Unusual R&D Field Test Installation
Hurricane Mesa Test Track is a research and development,
test and evaluation (R&D,T&E) facility, located at a dramatic
and remote location, atop a mesa in southern Utah. The primary
feature of the installation is a 12,000 foot-long test track,
the only privately owned supersonic test track facility in the
country, and which is used for military and aviation-related research.
Looking northeast down the more than
two-mile long track.
Photo courtesy of Universal Propulsion
Co.
The private and secure mesa-top installation has
been dubbed Space Mesa by some area residents, who have grown
used to seeing unusual lights and hearing loud reports coming
from the facility. From the ground, all that can be seen are a
few water towers and camera stations, and a trailer that projects
boldly off the edge of the mesa. The trailer is apparently used
as an employee lounge. A dirt road snakes up the edge of the mesa,
leading to the unmanned, unmarked, and locked gate.
The track is the primary testbed at Hurricane. The
third largest in the country (there is a 20,000-foot track at
China Lake Naval Weapons Center, in California, and a 50,000-foot
track at Holloman Air Force Base, in New Mexico), it has been
used in developing ejection seats and other aviation-related systems.
Sleds on the test track are rocket and jet-driven, and can achieve
speeds over Mach 1.3. The "muzzle" end of the track
terminates at the edge of a 500-foot cliff, a feature which has
been used to study the characteristics of propelled objects in
free air, making use of camera stations located on the sloping
base of the mesa, as well as impacts tests, that study the durability
of weapons canisters, for example. Parts of the 4,180 acres surrounding
the track are used for air drop tests, unrelated to the track,
and also contain support facilities, such as a metal fabrication
shop, photo laboratories, explosive storage bunkers, and accommodations
for test crews. There are several high speed camera stations and
tracking theodolites, both ground-based and in towers, used for
recording tests.
The remote and hidden location makes Hurricane Mesa
suitable for classified projects, which continue to take place
on the site, according to company representatives. The facility
is operated by Universal Propulsion Inc., based outside of Phoenix,
Arizona, a relatively small propulsions company owned by Talley
Industries, a German defense and engineering company.
Location of the Hurricane Mesa Test Track, in southern
Utah
