BAS Observer November 2017

NOVEMBER 2017 11 In that same year, Britain and Australia’s Weapons Research Establishment (WRE) announced their IGY plans to launch sounding rockets for upper atmosphere research from the WRE-managed Woomera Rocket Range. Located in outback South Australia, the range had been established in 1 9 47 under the Anglo-Australian Joint Project as a guided weapons development and test facility. The decision to launch ‘sounding’ (sub-orbital measurement-taking) rockets there for the IGY, coupled with US plans to launch the world’s first satellite, would lead to Woomera becoming the hub of early space activities in Australia. The ‘space age’ truly dawned in October 1 9 57, with the surprise launch of the USSR’s Sputnik 1 satellite beating the US into orbit . A space race between the two Cold War superpowers commenced, with Australia poised to participate in the openly scientific and covertly military adventure of space exploration. Rockets, satellites, citizen scientists Britain’s Skylark sounding rocket program (1 9 57–1 9 7 9 ) would become the longest-operating space project at Woomera, launching British, Australian, European and American scientific instrument packages. Australian and British researchers made substantial contributions to X-ray, infrared and ultraviolet astronomy using Skylark rockets. Although the WRE’s first sounding rocket program was unsuccessful, the development of the Long Tom rocket in 1 9 58 paved the way for a succession of Australian sounding rockets operating until 1 9 75. This program, conducted in conjunction with the University of Adelaide, carried out upper atmosphere research that made important contributions to understanding the factors governing Australia’s meteorology . Australia was also ideally located, geographically and politically, to host facilities for the two networks planned to track America’s proposed satellite, Vanguard . These were: Minitrack (a radio-interferometry system), and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Baker-Nunn optical tracking telescope cameras. Project Moonwatch volunteers, mostly amateur astronomers, supported the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s work by spotting faint satellites and establishing their orbital coordinates so that the observatory’s high-precision A mock-up of the world’s first satellite, Sputnik 1 . ( Image courtesy of NASA ) 8.2 metres in length, Long Tom was the first Australian sounding rocket. ( Image courtesy of Defence Science and Technology Group )