this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2024
110 points (87.2% liked)
People Twitter
5228 readers
2116 users here now
People tweeting stuff. We allow tweets from anyone.
RULES:
- Mark NSFW content.
- No doxxing people.
- Must be a tweet or similar
- No bullying or international politcs
- Be excellent to each other.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
They most certainly can be guided. Ballistic means that the terminal phase of flight is not propelled, eg they are just falling and no longer accelerating.
Guidance can be inertial, magnetic, radar, GPS, or even star-map for ICBMs, or a combination of many of these. Minuteman missiles still rely on the position of some stars to orient themselves in exosphere coast phase. Part of their flight may be unguided, namely 3rd stage ascent where they are spin-stabilized, and during reentry phase where atmospheric plasma makes GPS guidance impossible and inertial might be inaccurate.