A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Space Science » History
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Skylark Gets Set for Final Launch (Forwarded)



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old April 29th 05, 07:18 PM
A. Yee
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Skylark Gets Set for Final Launch (Forwarded)

Press and Publications Office
University of Leicester
Leicester, U.K.

CONTACTS

Alistair Scott
Public Relations, EADS Astrium (Formerly British Aerospace)
Tel: +44(0)1438773698

Dave Haslam
Media relations, Moon Mars Working Group
E-mail:

Hugh Whitfield
SRS Limited
Sounding Rocket Services
Unit 1 Parnall Road
Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JQ
Tel: +44 117 965 1818, Fax: +44 117 965 1822

Ather Mirza, University of Leicester
, +44 (0) 116 252 3335

28/04/2005

Skylark Gets Set for Final Launch

University of Leicester played key role in historic space programme

Skylark, one of the world's longest running space programmes, will
lift-off for the final time in a launch window starting on Saturday,
April 30th. The launch of the 441st Skylark sounding rocket marks the
end of 50 years of outstanding scientific research that has included
investigations into atmospheric conditions, X-ray astronomy, land use
and the effects of microgravity.

The Skylark sounding rocket has been a leading British success story
since its design in the mid 1950s. The first Skylark was launched from
Woomera, Australia, during the International Geophysical Year of 1957.
The final Skylark mission, MASER 10, carries a suite of experiments to
study the effects of microgravity, including a biological investigation
of the protein, actin, and a study of interfacial turbulence in
evaporating liquids. MASER 10 will be launched from the Esrange Site,
near Kiruna in northern Sweden.

Hugh Whitfield, of Sounding Rocket Services Ltd, which has operated the
Skylark programme since 1999, says, "Skylark is one of the most
successful rocket programmes of all time, but this British achievement
is largely unknown. We should be immensely proud of the contribution to
science that Skylark has made and it is a testament to the skill of
British engineers that the programme has lasted nearly half a century."

Skylark rockets have been launched from Wales, Argentina, Australia,
Brazil, Norway, Sardinia, Spain and Sweden. Early experiments ranged
from atmospheric studies to X-ray astronomy and research into the
ionospheric interactions that cause aurorae. The rockets were popular
with young scientific researchers, as it was possible for a PhD student
to design a space experiment, launch it on a Skylark vehicle and write
up the results in just three years. In recent years research has focused
on microgravity experiments led by the German space agency, DLR, and
testing equipment for Spacelab and the International Space Station.

The Skylark 7 that will be used for the final launch is a two-stage
rocket that can carry a payload weighing 380 kilograms to an altitude of
230 kilometres. The Skylark 7 is powered by a "Goldfinch" boost stage
and a "Raven XI" main stage motor.

Skylark was developed by the Royal Aeronautical Establishment,
Farnborough, in conjunction with the Rocket Propulsion Establishment,
Westcott. The rocket motors, which were filled with a plastic
propellant, were produced by Royal Ordnance Bridgewater and Westcott.
Initially funded by the UK government, Skylark has been operated on a
commercial basis since 1966, first by British Aerospace, then Matra
Marconi Space, and finally Sounding Rocket Services Ltd. Although
production of motors ended in November 1994, a stockpile has meant that
Skylarks have continued to be launched at least once per year ever since.

Sounding Rocket Services now plan to become the European agent for the
American built Oriole range of rockets and a supplier of hardware to the
German/Brazlian VSB 30 vehicle.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The launch window for MASER 10 opens on April 30, 2005 at 05:00 GMT
(07:00 LT) until 13:00 GMT and ends on May 15, 2005 at 05:00 GMT until
13:00 GMT.

FURTHER INFORMATION

* Sounding Rocket Services
http://www.srs-limited.com/
* Campaign information for MASER 10

http://www.ssc.se/default.asp?groupi...1 22111174931

The Skylark Research Rocket and Space Science at Leicester

Emeritus Professor Ken Pounds CBE reflects on his, and Leicester's,
involvement with Skylark
* Professor Ken Pounds, Department of Physics and Astronomy

The first Skylark sub-orbital rocket was launched successfully at
Woomera in S.Australia in February 1957, less than 2 years after its
development was approved by the UK Treasury. After 3 test flights the
first Skylark carrying a scientific payload flew on 13 November 1957. I
was then a research student at UCL and played a minor role in building
one of the experiments, which involved ejecting grenades from the rocket
as it rose through the atmosphere, each flash and sound being picked up
on the ground, yielding information on the density and temperature
profile, and wind speed at high altitudes.

The first Leicester instrument to fly (a collaboration with UCL) was on
8 July 1959, on SL14, obtaining the first direct measurement of the
Sun's X-ray spectrum. Encouraged by that early success a new group was
established at Leicester in 1960, with the prime aim of studying the
Sun's X-ray emission and it's effects on the Earth's atmosphere. The
evolving Skylark rocket gave us a first class platform for those
studies, especially when the early spin-stabilised vehicle was replaced
with versions capable of locking onto the Sun and then night-time stars.
Leicester scientists were active in each phase, providing the payload
(with the Culham Laboratory) for the first 3 sun-pointing launches (SL
301,302,303) in 1964, and for the first successful star-pointing vehicle
(SL 1011) in April 1973.

Our science programme had by then been extended from solar studies to
the exciting new discipline of X-ray astronomy, with Skylark providing
us with the opportunity to explore the Southern Sky from Woomera, while
US groups used their Aerobee vehicle from the White Sands Missile Range
in New Mexico to follow up the historic discovery of Scorpius X-1 in
June 1962. In such a new field of research every rocket flight had
exciting potential for new discoveries, while the short timescale to
build and fly each payload made the Skylark programme well-suited to the
training of new graduate students.

The great majority of UK Skylark launches were from Woomera, which saw a
grand total of 193 launches to the end of the national programme in
1978. 14 other UK Skylark launches took place during the 1970s from
Andoya and El Areonosillo, while 56 Skylark were also funded by the
emerging European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) between 1965-1972,
with Leicester scientists taking part in several launches from Sardinia.

With the availability of dedicated satellites from the late 1960s,
Skylark became less and less cost-effective, and UK national funding was
ended in 1978. Looking back, this outstanding research rocket can be
seen to have played a major part in establishing space science in the UK
(and through ESRO, across Europe).
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Space Calendar - December 23, 2004 [email protected] History 0 December 23rd 04 05:03 PM
Space Calendar - November 26, 2004 Ron History 0 November 27th 04 07:35 AM
Space Calendar - June 25, 2004 Ron Misc 0 June 25th 04 04:37 PM
Space Calendar - May 28, 2004 Ron History 0 May 28th 04 04:03 PM
Space Calendar - March 26, 2004 Ron Astronomy Misc 0 March 26th 04 05:05 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 06:09 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.