Bélier is the designation of a single-stage
French sounding rocket
A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...
. Three versions of the Bélier were launched between 1961 and 1970 at the
CIEES launch facility at
Hammaguir
Hammaguir (also written Hamaguir and Hammaguira) ( ar, حماقير) is a village in Abadla District, Béchar Province, Algeria, south-west of Béchar. It lies on the N50 national highway between Béchar and Tindouf. The location is notable fo ...
, the
Salto di Quirra
Salto di Quirra is a restricted weapons testing range and rocket launching site near Perdasdefogu on Sardinia.
It is the largest military range in Italy, composed of 12000 hectares of land owned by the Italian Ministry of Defence and one of the l ...
and
Ile de Levant
Île du Levant (), sometimes referred to as Le Levant, is a French island in the Mediterranean off the coast of the Riviera, near Toulon. It is one of the four that constitute the Îles d'Hyères. Part of the island is occupied by the naturist ...
missile ranges, and
Kourou Space Center. After its retirement, the Bélier was used as an upper stage of other French sounding rockets, including the
Dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
.
Belier I
*pay load: 30 kg
*maximum height: 80 km
*takeoff thrust: 20,00 kN
*takeoff weight: 313 kg
*diameter: 0.31 m
*length: 4.01 m
*fin span: 0.78 m
Belier II
*pay load: 30 kg
*maximum height: 130 km
*takeoff thrust: 21.50 kN
*takeoff weight: 352 kg
*diameter: 0,31 m
*length: 5,90 m
*fin span: 0,78 m
External links
https://web.archive.org/web/20080916173609/http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/belier.htm
Rockets and missiles
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