Travel Channel film crew visits YPG for segment on ‘space’ gun
A film crew from the Travel Channel spent the day at Yuma Proving Ground one day last week getting footage of the High Altitude Research Project (HARP) “space” gun for a segment on an upcoming episode of its popular television series “Mysteries at the Museum.”
The hour-long program, which began airing in 2010, features museum artifacts of unusual or mysterious origins from around the world.
“They were looking for an artifact that is littleknown about and told a story about an incredible human triumph,” said YPG Spokesperson Chuck Wullenjohn. “The elements are all here, including the HARP ‘space’ gun still being on the same spot it was the last time it was fired.”
The “space” gun, which it has come to be known, was initially built in 1954 to test naval ammunition, but was later used by the U.S. Army to test the conditions of the upper reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere as part of the HARP program.
Launched during the early 1960s, the goal of the HARP program was to de-
velop cannons that could fire scientific payloads into space, such as satellites, with the purpose being to find a more cost-effective method than having to launch a rocket.
The program was established in three locations — Canada, Barbados and at YPG. The world record for highest-ever artillery projectile shot was achieved at YPG in Nov. 1966 as part of the program, firing a scientific payload 111 miles above the earth into the lower reaches of outer space.
The monster gun, with a white barrel that measures 122 feet from breach to muzzle, sits at a remote artillery site on YPG’s Kofa Firing Range. Mounted on a converted naval turret, the entire weapon weighs a staggering 270 tons. Also, the cannon is actually two barrels from retired battleship cannons, welded together.
Wullenjohn added that one member of the film crew was so awed by the “space” gun that he remarked it was the largest historical artifact he had ever filmed.
“Another member of the film crew told me that he thought it could possibly be the biggest gun on the planet,” Wullenjohn said.
From 1966 to 1969, the HARP gun was used for atmospheric tests, including shooting projectiles into the ionosphere to get readings, with the flight of the payloads, which always landed back on a YPG range, being tracked from ground stations located in Gila Bend, Arizona Western College and Blythe.
However, in the 1980s and into the early 1990s, the gun was used for other tests requiring large artillery. Its usage was cancelled shortly thereafter and the gun was never fired again.
Since then, the HARP cannon and several smaller associated projectile tubes have sat idle because they have not been involved in any firing programs. Wullenjohn said that with some minor maintenance, however, the gun can be fired again.
Wullenjohn said producers came across some archival footage of the “space” gun in Barbados being fired while doing research for future shows and thought it would make for a good topic. He added that as far as he knows, there is no video of the YPG cannon ever being fired.
After spending several hours getting footage of the HARP “space” gun and gathering information about it, Wullenjohn said the film crew next visited YPG’s Heritage Center Museum, where they filmed some of the exhibits on display there as well.
Wullenjohn said he was told that the final television segment will probably be about 10 minutes in length and should air sometime before Christmas.
There may come a time in the near future where the HARP gun could be fired again. A private industry customer called Green Launch is currently using one of the smaller HARP projectile tubes to conduct early phase testing of an innovative new technology that uses a hydrogen and oxygen gas propellant, with the same ultimate goal HARP had.
At this stage, the testers are primarily interested in measuring projectile velocity and ensuring the burst diaphragm performs in a controlled manner.
“So far, with horizontal fires, the testers have already achieved velocities similar to that of the HARP vertical shot that set the world record so many years ago,” Wullenjohn said.