A Skylark tower was a

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

used for the launch of earlier versions of

Skylark ''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species are ...

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

s. As Skylark rockets had no

guidance system A guidance system is a virtual or physical device, or a group of devices implementing a controlling the movement of a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or any other moving object. Guidance is the process of calculating the changes in po ...

and accelerated slowly, they required a safe launch tower with a height of at least 24 metres, with its own guidance system. Later versions of the Skylark rocket were equipped with a more powerful engine and therefore did not need such a large guidance tower for launch.

Woomera

In 1956, a 30 metre tall swivelling launch tower was set up on launch site 2, at Woomera,

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The tower was built of old

Bailey bridge A Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge. It was developed in 1940–1941 by the British for military use during the Second World War and saw extensive use by British, Canadian and American military engineering units. A ...

segments, each weighing 35 tons.

Salto di Quirra

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 ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

in 1965, a 30 metre tall Skylark tower was erected. The tower ceased to be in use from 1972, at which point launches moved to Esrange. The tower remains today.

Esrange

Esrange Esrange Space Center (short form Esrange) is a rocket range and research centre located about 40 kilometers east of the town of Kiruna in northern Sweden. It is a base for scientific research with high-altitude balloons, investigation of the au ...

, Sweden in 1972, a 30 metre high Skylark tower was built. The tower consists of a pyramid-like building with a launch tower on its top, in order to protect the rocket from cold before launch, necessary as Esrange is within the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

. At launch, exhaust doors were opened to enable the smoke to leave the construct. As Skylark rockets are no longer available, the Esrange Skylark launch tower was modified in 2005 for launching Brazilian

VSB-30 VSB-30 - "''Veículo de Sondagem Booster – 30''" (Booster Sounding Vehicle) or "''Foguete Suborbital VSB-30''" is the designation of a Brazilian sounding rocket, which replaced the Skylark rocket at ''Esrange''. The VSB-30 is based on the VS- ...

rockets. The tower is now used for launches of rockets manufactured in Brazil.

References

* Description in DORADO, José M. ''Spain and the European Space Effort''. Studies in Modern Science and Technology from the International Academy of the History of Science, Volume 5. Beauchesne. Paris, 2008, pp 75–119

External links

European Space Agency: In Brief

Skyscraper Page
– features a diagram of the Woomera Skylark Tower
Skyscraper Page
– features a diagram of the Esrange Skylark Tower *
University of Leicester: The Skylark Sounding Rocket
{{rocket-stub Rocket launch sites