The Éridan is a two-stage French
sounding rocket, which resulted from the use of the Stromboli engine of the Dragon and/or Dauphin as first and second stage. It belonged thereby to a family of
solid-propellant rockets from the
Belier (rocket), the
Centaure (rocket)
Centaure was a two-stage French sounding rocket consisting of a Belier (rocket) starting stage and a Venus upper stage. It was operated by CNES between 1961 and 1986. The Centaure has been built in a number of 230 and has been launched from th ...
, to the
Dragon, the Dauphin and the Eridan. As the most powerful version of this series it could lift payloads from 100 to 420 kg to heights of 200 to a maximum of 460 km. Its climbing time is between 230 and 350 seconds.
[Les débuts de la recherche spatiale française 2846082154 IFHE,, Institut français d'histoire de l'espace - 2007 Intéressés, ils demandèrent au CNES d'envisager sérieusement un projet d'astronomie spatiale d'envergure qui serait réalisé par quelque soixante fusées-sondes Éridan (ou de la classe Éridan).]
The main launch site was Kourou, but the first start on 26 September 1968 from this site failed. Twelve additional launches took the rocket to altitudes of 196 – 420 km between 12 April 1969 and 14 November 1979. Two copies were launched in January and February 1975 off the
Kerguelen Islands.
References
{{reflist
*http://fuseurop.univ-perp.fr/sudav_e.htm
Other links
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Eridanos
1974 in spaceflight
Sounding rockets of France