Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.Science: Inertial Brains
The latest Atlas ICBM to rise from Cape Canaveral flew, to the naked eye, like many a previous successful Atlas. But it was very different. For the first time no umbilical cord of guiding radio signals connected it with the ground. As soon as it left the pad, it was on its own, depending on the guidance of its built-in brain and senses. The test was a first-try marvel: the Atlas hit within two miles of a target 5,000 miles down range.
What was different about the latest Atlas was its "full inertial"...
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