Upper atmospheric research at Woomera: the Australian-built sounding rockets

Sounding rocket programs for upper atmospheric research (UAR) commenced at Woomera in 1957, with the British Skylark project and the Anglo-Australian HARP rockoon program. Shortly afterwards, the Weapons Research Establishment (WRE) inaugurated its own sounding rocket program with the first successful Australian-built sounding rocket, Long Tom, developed from surplus British motors. This research would eventually lead to the development of Australia’s first satellite, WRESAT, launched in 1967. Long Tom became the first more than 10 Australian designed and built sounding rockets that would be employed at Woomera until the demise of the WRE upper atmosphere program in 1976, as the Range was winding down to the cessation of the Anglo-Australian Joint Project. Like Long Tom, most of the early Australian sounding rockets were constructed by the WRE from surplus British motors, but after 1967 the later vehicles had a much higher local content, based on combinations of British motors and/or rocket motors developed in Australia. These new motors were named after constellations of the southern sky, while the rockets themselves bore the names of Australian native birds. This paper will outline the technical and scientific history of the Australian sounding rocket program, examining its origins and the reasons for its demise. It will look at the sequential development of the various Australian rockets and consider the particular research projects with which they were associated, the relationship with the WRESAT project and the move to Australian production after 1967.