The Éridan is a two-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 often ...

, which results from the use of the ''Stromboli'' engine (also used on the

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and Dauphin) for the first and second stages. It belonged to a family of solid-propellant rockets that also encompasses the Belier, the Centaure, the

, and the Dauphin. As the most powerful version of this series it could lift payloads from to up to altitudes of to a maximum of . Its ascent time is between 230 and 350 seconds. Total thrust was 90.00 kN (20,232 lbf) with a gross mass of to depending in payload. The rocket had a height of , a diameter of and a span of . An improved version called Éridan II was planned in 1971 but it never materialized due to the project being cancelled in 1973.

Launches

Éridan was flown fifteen times between 1968 and 1979 from Kourou and the

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. The first flight from Kourou on 26 September 1968 failed, but was followed by twelve successful launches that took the rocket to altitudes of 196 to 420 km between 12 April 1969 and 14 November 1979. Objectives were ultraviolet astronomy experiments,

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and training launches for operators at the Kourou launch base. Two Éridan were launched in January and February 1975 off the Kerguelen Islands for magnetosphere studies.

References

{{French rockets 1974 in spaceflight Sud-Aviation Belier rocket family

Launches

See also

References