The Dauphin is a French

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are often ...

, flown six times between 1967 and 1979. It consists of a modification of the first stage of the

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

with a larger payload nosecone. The Dauphin has a diameter of 56 centimetres, a launch weight of 1.132

metric ton The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the sh ...

s, a length of 6.21 metres, a takeoff thrust of 90 kN and a ceiling of 150 kilometres. It belonged to the ''Stromboli'' family of

solid-propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or another motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicles, th ...

including the Belier, the Centaure, and the

, along with the Eridan.

Launches

The first launch occurred on March 20, 1967 from Hammaguira and was a failure. The three next flights, from

Ile du Levant Île du Levant (), sometimes referred to as Le Levant, is a French island in the Mediterranean off the coast of the Riviera, near Toulon. It is one of the four that constitute the Îles d'Hyères. Part of the island is occupied by the naturist ...

and Biscarosse were successful. On September 14, 1971, a Dauphin rocket was first launched from

Kourou Kourou (; ) is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It ...

, conducting the ''PHARE (FU-196) Aeronomy mission''. A final launch happened on February 8, 1979 to test the Ariane launch range.

References

Sud-Aviation Belier rocket family {{rocket-stub

Launches

See also

References