‘Hot wire’ design enhances pilot safety

One of the recent spacecraft safety devices is a “hot wire” designed into the Titan III launch vehicle that is expected to provide safety insurance for the pilot. The hot wire is part of an overall pilot safety program for manned Titan III flights. The wire, carrying 28-volt direct current, will be routed through the vehicle to sense several conditions of pilot safety: premature staging, loss of power, solid motor thrust termination, and inadvertent destruction.