WRESAT, or Weapons Research Establishment Satellite, was

Australia's Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

first satellite. It was named after its designer, the

Weapons Research Establishment The Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) is a part of the Australian Department of Defence, which provides science and technology support to Defence and defence industry. The agency's name was changed from Defence Science and Technolog ...

. WRESAT was launched on 29 November 1967 using a modified American Redstone rocket with two upper stages, known as a

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

, from the

Woomera Test Range The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a S ...

in South Australia. The Sparta (left over from the joint Australian-US-UK Sparta program) was donated by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. After this launch, Australia became the seventh nation to have a satellite and the third nation to launch from its own territory, after the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the

(the UK's, Canada's and Italy's satellites were also launched on American rockets, unlike the French '' Astérix,'' which launched on an indigenous rocket out of

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

). WRESAT was a cone-shaped satellite weighing , with a length of and a diameter of . It remained connected to the rocket's third stage and had an overall length of . It carried upper atmospheric radiation measurement experiments designed in the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

. The first stage fell into the

Simpson Desert The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth-largest Deserts of Australia, Australian desert, with an area of . The Wangka ...

, but the second's reentry over the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...

was unobserved. WRESAT, which bore an early forward-bounding kangaroo logo, operated in a nearly polar orbit and reentered the atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean on 10 January 1968 after 642 revolutions. The battery-operated satellite successfully sent back data to

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

and Australian ground tracking stations during its first 73 revolutions of the Earth.Synopsis of WRESAT
/ref> Today, this achievement is rarely remembered in Australian textbooks or collections of major 20th century news stories and so remains largely unknown to the general Australian populace.

References

Literature

External links

Synopsis of WRESAT

A personal reminiscence of WRESAT
(Broken Link)
National Film Archive film clips of WRESAT

WRESAT
{{Orbital launches in 1967 Satellites formerly orbiting Earth Spacecraft launched in 1967 First artificial satellites of a country 1967 establishments in Australia Satellites of Australia

See also

References

Literature

External links