VE 110 Agate is the designation of an unguided French test
rocket
A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...
developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
It was part of the ''Pierres précieuses'' (fr.: gemstones) program, that included five prototypes Agathe,
Topaze,
Emeraude,
Rubis and
Saphir,
leading up to the
Diamant
The Diamant rocket (French for "diamond") was the first exclusively French expendable launch system and at the same time the first satellite launcher not built by either the United States or USSR. As such, it has been referred to as being a key ...
orbital rocket.
The Agate has a length of 8.50 metres, a diameter of 0.80 metres, a start mass of 3.2 tonnes, a takeoff
thrust
Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that ...
of 186
kN and a ceiling of 20 km. It used a ''NA801 Mammouth''
solid propellant rocket engine (same as the
Rubis VE-210).
The initial version was designated VE (Véhicule Expérimental) 110,
while the VE 110RR version was used to develop recovery procedures at sea.
The name indicates that it is a "Véhicule Expérimental" (Experimental Vehicle) with 1 stage, using solid propulsion (code 1), and not guided (code 0).
File:PierrePrecieusesf.png, Military space program Pierres précieuses (fr.: gemstones) that included the five prototypes Agathe, Topaze, Emeraude, Rubis et Saphir.
File:SEREB Agate Rubis rockets.gif, Agate and Rubis rockets
Launches
The Agate was launched from the
CIEES test site in
Hammaguir,
French Algeria
French Algeria ( until 1839, then afterwards; unofficially ; ), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of History of Algeria, Algerian history when the country was a colony and later an integral part of France. French rule lasted until ...
, and the
Île du Levant test site,
in order to test instrument capsules and recovery systems.
See also
*
French space program
*
Rubis
*
Diamant
The Diamant rocket (French for "diamond") was the first exclusively French expendable launch system and at the same time the first satellite launcher not built by either the United States or USSR. As such, it has been referred to as being a key ...
*
Nuclear dissuasion
References
Pierres précieuses
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