A presentation on the History of British Rocketry from the 1950s and 60s.

1. Early British Rocketry A presentation on the History of British Rocketry from the 1950s and 60s. Compiled by Andy Hill (May 2005)

2. Introduction • Its hard to remember a time when America or Russia didn’t dominate the space industry but only a few short decades ago Britain had a creditable space program that lead to its own indigenous launch vehicle capable of placing a satellite into orbit. • During the 1950s and 60s Britain actively pursued the Blue Streak rocket development program whose aim was to produce an independent intermediate range ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead up to a range of 4,000km. • So what happened? Why did the UK decide to stop its involvement with space? Blue Streak - spaceuk 1

3. A Missile Requirement • The original concept was to have open air missiles ready to be deployed. Thislead to questions on the vulnerabilityof missiles, attack from Russian missiles and the need to protect them in silos. • Air ministry estimates in 1959 placed the cost of each silo at £2.3m and a total of 60 would be needed. Although this was an unforeseen cost, the project may still have proceeded but for the creation of Skybolt by the US which could be launched from the RAF’s V bombers. • Skybolt carried a smaller warhead and had a range of 1000 miles but the costs of development would be paid for by the US so it was a cheaper option for the UK. • Faced with either having underground missiles or flying more planes the RAF predictable took the latter option and Blue Streak was cancelled in April 1960 by the UK government but not before it had produced some good results. Blue Streak launch - spaceuk 2

4. Blue Streak • Blue Streak was a Lox/Kerosene poweredintermediate range ballistic missile witha mass of 90,000kg and a lift off thrust of124,700kgf designed by De Havilland Propellers . • In retrospect Blue Streak’s use of liquidpropellants (Lox/Kerosene) made its quick response as a retaliatory weapon difficult and this caused further complications when firing/fuelling within an underground silo arrangement. • The costs associated with deploying it in silos throughout the UK and the local disruption this would have caused in the UK countryside were obstacles that the government of the day did not wish to tackle and Blue Streak never entered service. • It did however provide the basis for a commercial launcher, Europa, after it was cancelled. Blue Streak - spaceuk 3

5. SkyLark • Skylark, a sounding rocket produced by the Royal Aircraft Establishment,was first launched in 1957 and hascontinued in service to this year making over 440 launches (including 37 failures). • The UK programme ended in 1979 after266 launches but the rocket continuedin service being used by German andSwedish microgravity projects until thepresent day. It has been offered for use by the commercial company Sounding Rocket Services Ltd since 1999. • Originally designed to lift 45kg to aheight of 210km, it evolved into a 3stage rocket capable of delivering a 200kg payload to an apogee of 575km or smaller payloads to heights up to 1000km. SkyLark Launch- SRS Ltd 4

6. Black Knight • First launched on 7th September1958, Black knight continued in service until 25th November 1965. • Designed by Saunders-Roe as a sub-orbital vehicle required to loft a 115kg re-entry vehicle shape to an altitude of 800km for re-entries at 5km/sec (18,000km/h). • Black Knight was powered by 4 Gamma engines configured in pairswhich ran on a mixture of Kerosene and Peroxide. Their performance was continually improved during the program giving an eventual thrust of 95kN to the 6,400kg Vehicle. It flew a total of 22 times (inc 3 failures). • After the Blue Streak programme was cancelled it wasused for a series of US-sponsored tests of RV radar signatures. Black Knight on launch pad- spaceuk 5

7. Black Arrow • The UK decided to develop the successful Black Knight into a satellite launcher and Britain’s only indigenous launch vehicle, Black Arrow, was born. • The vehicle had 3 stages, the first 2 used the same Gamma engines as Black Knight mounted in pairs with the final stage based on a “Waxwing” solid rocket motor. • The 10,130kg Black Arrow made a total of 4 flights, 2 of which were successful, from the Woomera launch facility in Australia. The vehicle was able to place 73kg into a 200km orbit. • The project was cancelled in July 1971 in favour of European collaboration on a launcher. Its final launch in October 1971 (after cancellation) placed the Prospero satellite into orbit in October of that year. Black Arrow at Woomera - spaceuk 6

8. Black Prince • The UK government had decided to develop Blue Streak as a satellite launcher after its cancellation as a missile, partly to justify the huge development costs that had been incurred already. • The obvious course of action was to use Black Knight as a 2nd stage mounted on a Blue Streak booster and the Black Prince concept was born. • In contemporary terms, its performance would have been equal to an Atlas Agena, and would not have been bettered by any US launcher until Centaur came into service. But, with very little interest from UK’s commonwealth partners, it was never built and the UK turned to Europe to continue its rocket development programme. Black Prince composite photograph - spaceuk 7

9. Europa • To share costs and improve its image as a good European the UK joined with other European countries and Australia, who were to supply the launch facilities at Woomera, to form the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO). • Although similar to the Black Prince concept, the cost of European collaboration was that Europa would used the UK’s Blue Streak as a 1st stage, the French would produce the 2nd stage developed from its Coralie rocket and Germany would build a new 3rd stage, Astris. All of this collaboration had predictable results, delaying the program by 2 years. • The UK became frustrated with lack of progress but could not withdraw because of international treaty and the project suffered from constant funding issues as the UK government dragged its heels. Europa Launch - spaceuk 8

10. Europa • Europa was a disaster with constant failures due to the 2nd and 3rd stages, the UK manufactured 1st stage proved reliable throughout. • It became apparent to the French that Europa was not powerful enough to place communication satellites into geosynchronous orbit. Added to this alack of satellites to launch called into question the need for Europa at all. • Rather than redesign it, it was decided to launch Europa from an equatorial site and add a 4th stage. Given the UK’s lack of interest, Kourou was chosen over Darwin and Australia withdrew from the project. • Of the 11 launches 4 were successful (3 of which consisted of a Blue Streak with dummy stages). • In the end the UK withdrew, the project was cancelled and the remaining countries went on to develop the Kourou space port and Ariane series of launchers. Astris stage - spaceuk 9

11. Missed opportunities • Looking back it seems inconceivable that successive UK governments squandered the chance to have a launch system that would have rivalled the USA’s dominance of the space industry and made Britain one of the major players in the space race. • The truth of the matter was that the UK was finding it difficult to adjust to its lesser status following the 2nd world war and its repayment of war debts had left it in a position where finance was not available for grand projects. • It was left to other countries, principally France, to continue with rocket development in Europe while the UK took no further part, a stance that it has maintained more or less for the last 3 decades. • Still it seems there are signs that the UK’s interest in space is being rekindled as its recent Beagle 2 Mars lander and commitment to ESA’s Aurora programme appear to indicate. One can only hope that this is the start of a longer term commitment. 10

12. Acknowledgements • This Presentation would not have been possible without the help of the following organisations or sources: • Encyclopedia Astronauticawww.astronautix.com • A Vertical Empire – Nicholas Hillwww.spaceuk.org EncyclopediaAstronautica 11