Capricornio was a Spanish
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...
launch vehicle
A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syste ...
developed by the ''
Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial'' (''INTA'') in the 1990s.
It was expected to be a low cost solution to place up to 70 kg payloads into 600 km
polar orbits or 60 to 140 kg payloads into
low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never m ...
. The Capricornio program was cancelled in 2000.
Development
* First phase: development of solid motors using the
INTA-100
The INTA-100 vehicle was a small 2-stage meteorological sounding rocket designed and developed between the 1980s and the 1990s by the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA). The final design was entirely produced in Spain to be used ...
and
INTA-300 sounding rockets, launched from the
El Arenosillo test range in southern Spain.
* Second phase: use Capricornio second and third stages as the
Argo sounding rocket
In Greek mythology the ''Argo'' (; in Greek: ) was a ship built with the help of the gods that Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The ship has gone on to be used as a motif in a variety o ...
(originally planned for winter 1998-99).
* Third phase: first launch of the full Capricornio rocket, carrying a micro-satellite.
Configuration
Three-stage solid propellant launcher. Overall length of 18.25 m, body diameter of 1.0 m and weighs 15,035 kg at launch.
* Stage 1 contains a
Thiokol Castor 4B motor with
HTPB solid propellant.
* Stage 2 contains a motor named
Deneb-F.
* Stage 3 contains a motor named
Mizar-B.
Projected flights
The first flight of Capricornio was scheduled to take place from
El Hierro Launch Centre in late 1999 or 2000. It would carry two small satellites:
(developed by the
Polytechnic University of Madrid
The Technical University of Madrid or sometimes called Polytechnic University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM) is a public university, located in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1971 as the result of merging different ...
) and
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
(Polytechnic University of Madrid and other universities in Mexico and Argentina).
See also
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References
{{Portal bar, Spaceflight
Space launch vehicles of Spain
Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial
Expendable space launch systems
Space launch vehicles of Europe