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Rocket Propulsion Establishment
The Rocket Propulsion Establishment at Westcott, Buckinghamshire on the site of the former RAF Westcott has made a number of notable contributions in the field of rocket propulsion, including input on the rocket design for the Blue Streak missile and the propulsion systems on Chevaline. It was also known as the Guided Projectiles Establishment and PERME Westcott (Propellants, Explosives and Rocket Motor Establishment, Westcott). For many years this establishment was regarded as so secret that it was not marked on Ordnance Survey maps, although it was present, from necessity, on maps for the use of pilots. History The establishment was set up in April 1946 under the Ministry of Supply. In the initial years a team of German scientists worked at the site, and examples of German weapons were on-site for study. These included the V-1 flying bomb; V-2; Feuerlilie F-55 subsonic missile; Messerschmitt Me 163B rocket-propelled interceptor; Rheintochter-1 anti-aircraft missile; Ruhrstah ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westcott, Buckinghamshire
Westcott is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England, about west of Waddesdon. The Toponymy, toponym is derived from the Old English for "west cottage". The Church of England parish church of Veneration of Mary in Roman Catholicism, St Mary the Virgin was designed by the Diocese of Oxford, Oxford Diocesan architect George Edmund Street, G.E. Street and built in 1867. It is a Listed building#Categories of listed building, Grade II* listed building. In the 20th century Westcott was the site of the Rocket Propulsion Establishment, which was on the former RAF Westcott airfield to the west of the main village. This has since been closed down, and the area is called the Westcott Venture Park. BAE Systems maintains a presence on the site (BAE Systems Environmental) which advises on the decommissioning of military sites. G.E. Street also designed the parish school. It is now Westcott Church of England School, a mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions. The first site was at Farnborough Airfield ("RAE Farnborough") in Hampshire to which was added a second site RAE Bedford (Bedfordshire) in 1946. In 1988 it was renamed the Royal Aerospace Establishment (RAE) before merging with other research entities to become part of the new Defence Research Agency in 1991. History In 1904–1906 the Army Balloon Factory, which was part of the Army School of Ballooning, under the command of Colonel James Templer (balloon aviator), James Templer, relocated from Aldershot to the edge of Farnborough Common in order to have enough space to inflate the new "dirigible balloon" or airship which was then under construction.Walker, P; Early Avi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LEROS
Leros ( el, Λέρος) is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies (171 nautical miles) from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 9-hour ferry ride or by a 45-minute flight from Athens, and about 20 miles to Turkey. Leros is part of the Kalymnos regional unit. The island has been also called in it, Lero. This island has population of 7,988 Geography The municipality has an area of . The municipality includes the populated offshore island of Farmakonisi (pop. 10), as well as several uninhabited islets, including Levitha and Kinaros, and had a 2011 census population of 7,917, although this figure swells to over 15,000 during the summer peak. The island has a coastline of . It is known for its imposing medieval castle of the Knights of Saint John possibly built on a Byzantine fortress. Nearby islands are Patmos, Lipsi, Kalymnos, and the small islands of Agia Kyriaki and Farmakos. In ancient times it was c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nammo
Nammo, short for Nordic Ammunition Company, is a Norwegian/Finnish aerospace and defence group specialized in production of ammunition, rocket engines and space applications. The company has subsidiaries in Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and Canada. The company is owned 50/50 by the Norwegian government (represented by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries) and the Finnish defence company Patria. The company has its headquarters in Raufoss, Norway. The company has five business units: Small Caliber Division, Medium & Large Caliber Division, Missile Products Division, Demil Division and Nammo Defense Systems. History Nammo was founded in 1998 by Raufoss (Norway), Patria (Finland), and Celsius (Sweden). The Lapua cartridge factory in Finland is also part of the Nammo group as Nammo Lapua Oy. In 2005, the present joint ownership between Patria and the Norwegian governm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Slug Missile
Seaslug was a first-generation surface-to-air missile designed by Armstrong Whitworth (later part of the Hawker Siddeley group) for use by the Royal Navy. Tracing its history as far back as 1943's LOPGAP design, it came into operational service in 1961 and was still in use at the time of the Falklands War in 1982. Seaslug was intended to engage high-flying targets such as reconnaissance aircraft or bombers before they could launch stand-off weapons. It was only fitted to the Royal Navy's eight County-class destroyers which were designed around the missile system. Seaslug was only fired in anger once as an anti-aircraft missile, from during the Falklands War, but missed its target. Later improvements meant that it could also be used against ships and ground targets. It was planned that Seaslug's medium-range role was to be supplanted by a very long-range missile known as Blue Envoy, but this was passed over in favour of a new medium-range system, Sea Dart. Sea Dart entered servic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prospero X-3
The ''Prospero'' satellite, also known as the X-3, was launched by the United Kingdom in 1971. It was designed to undertake a series of experiments to study the effects of the space environment on communications satellites and remained operational until 1973, after which it was contacted annually for over 25 years. Although ''Prospero'' was the first British satellite to have been launched successfully by a British rocket, Black Arrow; the first British satellite placed in orbit was ''Ariel 1'', launched in April 1962 on a US rocket. Construction ''Prospero'' was built by the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough. Initially called Puck, it was designed to conduct experiments to test the technologies necessary for communication satellites. Two experimental solar cells setups were tested. One was a test of a lightweight cell and mounting. The other was an attempt to replace the standard fused silica cover of solar cells with a cerium oxide-based cover. Designs for telemet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orba X-2
Orba, also known as X-2, was intended to be the first satellite launched by a British rocket. It was launched at 00:34 GMT on 2 September 1970, atop a Black Arrow rocket from Launch Area 5B at Woomera, but failed to reach orbit after the second stage of the carrier rocket shut down 13 seconds early. Orba was built from spare parts due to funding restrictions, and was to have been used to measure upper atmosphere density by monitoring the decay of its orbit. See also *Prospero X-3 *Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes This Timeline of artificial satellites and Space probe A space probe is an artificial satellite that travels through space to collect scientific data. A space probe may orbit Earth; approach the Moon; travel through interplanetary space; fl ... References Satellite launch failures Space programme of the United Kingdom Spacecraft launched by Black Arrow rockets Spacecraft launched in 1970 Rocket launches in 1970 {{UK-spac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skylark (rocket)
Skylark was a family of British sounding rockets. It was operational between 1957 and 2005. Development of the Skylark begun during the early 1950s at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), which approached the Royal Society with an offer for it to carry scientific experiments. During early 1955, the British government agreed to provide £100,000 to support the programme's operations for four years. Development of the Skylark, initially known as the ''CTV.5 Series 3'', was pursued at a rapid pace, with hopes that initial launches could take place during the latter half of 1956. On 7 April 1956, the existence of the Skylark rocket was publicly revealed under the early name of ''Gassiot vehicle''. Launch facilities were established at the existing Woomera missile range in Australia; the Skylarks were produced in Britain and flown to Australia for final assembly, testing, and launching. The Skylark was first launched on 13 February 1957; the first scientific mission occurred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jaguar (British Rocket)
The Jaguar (also called Jabiru ) was a three-stage British sounding rocket built in several versions. The first stage of the Jabiru Mk.1 was 5.6 m long and had a takeoff weight of 1,170 kilograms, of which about 866 kilograms were fuel. The second stage of the Jabiru Mk.1 weighed 292 kilograms, of which 184 kilograms were allotted to fuel. The third stage contained 26 kilograms of fuel. In all stages solid fuel was used. The complete rocket was 12 meters long. The Jabiru Mk.1 was launched several times between 1960 and 1964 at the aerospace testing area at Woomera, South Australia Woomera, unofficially Woomera village, refers to the domestic area of RAAF Base Woomera. Woomera village has always been a Defence-owned and operated facility. The village is located on the traditional lands of the Kokatha people in the Far .... The follow-up version, the Jabiru Mk.2, contained an improved starting stage and a second stage with 307 kilograms of fuel as well as a third stage wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Knight (rocket)
Black Knight was a British research sounding rocket, originally developed to test and verify the design of a re-entry vehicle for the Blue Streak missile. It was the United Kingdom's first indigenous space launcher. Design work on what would become the Black Knight launch vehicle commenced in 1955, being performed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) and British manufacturer Saunders-Roe. Saunders-Roe was the principal manufacturer for the Black Knight at its facility on the Isle of Wight. On 7 September 1958, the first Black Knight was launched at Woomera in Australia. Between 1958 and 1965, a total of 22 launch vehicles were fired, none of which suffered any major failures. After 22 launches, the Black Knight programme was closed. The success of the Black Knight as a cheap and successful test vehicle led to many studies being performed into further derivatives of the vehicle, including its adaption to serve as an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) and as a l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Arrow
Black Arrow, officially capitalised BLACK ARROW, was a British satellite carrier rocket. Developed during the 1960s, it was used for four launches between 1969 and 1971, all launched from the Woomera Prohibited Area in Australia. Its final flight was the first and only successful orbital launch to be conducted by the United Kingdom, and placed the Prospero satellite into low Earth orbit. Black Arrow originated from studies by the Royal Aircraft Establishment for carrier rockets based on the Black Knight rocket, with the project being authorised in 1964. It was initially developed by Saunders-Roe, and later Westland Aircraft as the result of a merger. Black Arrow was a three-stage rocket, fuelled by RP-1 paraffin (kerosene) and high test peroxide, a concentrated form of hydrogen peroxide (85% hydrogen peroxide + 15% water). It was retired after only four launches in favour of using American Scout rockets, which the Ministry of Defence calculated to be cheaper than maintaining ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
