The Jaguar (also called Jabiru ) was a three-stage British

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 ...

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 with 190 kilograms fuel. The Jabiru Mk.2 was launched ten times at Woomera between 1964 and 1970. This rocket was replaced by the Jabiru Mk.3 which used a modified first stage of the Jabiru Mk.2 as second stage, while the first stage remained unchanged. No third stage was used on the Mk.3. The Jabiru Mk.3 was used for re-entry experiments between 1971 and 1974.

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20050209210125/http://astronautix.com/lvs/jagarrtv.htm {{rocket-stub Experimental rockets Sounding rockets of the United Kingdom History of science and technology in the United Kingdom