Sounding rocket
Design
A common sounding rocket consists of a solid-fuel rocket motor and a science payload. The freefall part of the flight is an elliptic trajectory with vertical major axis allowing the payload to appear to hover near its apogee. The average flight time is less than 40 minutes, usually between five and 20 minutes. The rocket consumes its fuel on the first stage of the rising part of the flight, then separates and falls away, leaving the payload to complete the arc and return to the ground with a parachute.
Advantages
Sounding rockets are advantageous for some research due to their low cost, short lead time (sometimes less than six months) and their ability (as mentioned above) to conduct research in areas inaccessible to either balloons or satellites. They are also used as test beds for equipment that will be used in more expensive and risky orbital spaceflight missions. The smaller size of a sounding rocket also makes launching from temporary sites possible allowing for field studies at remote locations, even in the middle of the ocean, if fired from a ship.
Research applications
Sounding rockets are commonly used for:
Research in Aeronomy, which requires this tool for in situ measurements in the upper atmosphere.
Ultraviolet and X-ray astronomy, which require being above the bulk of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Microgravity Research, which benefit from a few minutes of weightlessness on rockets launched to altitudes of a few hundred kilometers.
Operators and Programmes
The British Skylark (rocket) was designed in 1955 and had over four hundred launches prior to its discontinuation in 2005.
India’s VSSC developed the Rohini sounding rockets series starting in 1967 that reached altitudes of 500 km.
The Australian Space Research Institute (ASRI) operates a Small Sounding Rocket Program (SSRP) for launching payloads (mostly educational) to altitudes of about 7 km.
The University of Queensland operates Terrier-Orion sounding rockets (capable of reaching altitudes in excess of 300 km) as part of their HyShot hypersonics research.
Iranian Space Agency operated its first sounding rocket in February 2007.
UP Aerospace operates the UP Aerospace SpaceLoftXL sounding rockets that can reach altitudes of 225 km.
TEXUS and MiniTEXUS, German rocket programmes at Esrange for DLR and ESA microgravity research programmes.
MASER, Swedish rocket programme at Esrange for ESA microgravity research programmes.
MAXUS, German-Swedish rocket programme at Esrange for ESA microgravity research programmes.
REXUS, German-Swedish rocket programme at Esrange for DLR and ESA student experiment programmes.
The NASA Sounding Rocket Program
The JAXA operates the sounding rockets S-310/S-520/SS-520
New Zealand company Rocket Lab is developing the highly adaptable Atea series of sounding rockets to carry payloads between 5 and 70 kg to altitudes in excess of 250 km.
Beyond-Earth Enterprises
See also
Astrobee
Black Brant
Boosted Dart
Mesquito
Rocketsonde
Seliger Rocket
Skylark
Frank Malina
Model rocket
High Power Rocketry
References
^ a b c d e Marconi, Elaine M. (April 12, 2004). “What is a Sounding Rocket?”. Research Aircraft. NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/f_sounding.html. Retrieved 2006-10-10.
^ a b c d e “NASA Sounding Rocket Program Overview”. NASA Sounding Rocket Program. NASA. July 24, 2006. http://rscience.gsfc.nasa.gov/srrov.html. Retrieved 2006-10-10.
^ “General Description of Sounding Rockets”. Johns Hopkins University Sounding Rocket Program. http://www.pha.jhu.edu/groups/rocket/general.html. Retrieved 2006-10-10.
External links
ESA article on sounding rockets
30 years of sounding rocket launches at Esrange in Kiruna, Sweden
NASA Sounding Rocket Program
NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract
NASA Sounding Rockets, 19581968: A Historical Summary (NASA SP-4401, 1971)
Australian Space Research Institute Small Sounding Rocket Program
UP Aerospace
German, Swedish and EADS-ST Programmes
MASER Programme of the Swedish Space Corporation
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Categories: Sounding rockets | Meteorological instrumentation and equipmentHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from October 2007
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