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In honour of those across the pond - here's their last attempt at a rocket launch ;-) Worth watching the whole thing, but go to about 7:15 for the business end.

by tjmc 14y ago

In honour of those across the pond - here's their last attempt at a rocket launch ;-) Worth watching the whole thing, but go to about 7:15 for the business end... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b4WzWFKQ20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b4WzWFKQ20

arethuza 14y ago
"The United Kingdom remains the only country to have successfully developed and then abandoned a satellite launch capability." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Streak_%28missile%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Streak_%28missile%29 :-(
- _djo_ 14y ago
  That's not entirely true. South Africa developed the RSA-series of ICBMs and space rockets in the late 1980s along with a concurrent satellite program. The RSA-3 was successfully tested in a number of launches from the Overberg Test Range in the Southern Cape of South Africa. With the end of the Cold War, the abandonment of Apartheid and the unbanning of the ANC in 1990 both the defence budget and the rocket program budget were slashed and the RSA program and Greensat satellite were put on hold as a result. An attempt was made to drum up international orders for RSA-3 launches and the development of an even larger variant, the RSA-4, but nothing ever came of it and the entire program was shut down forever around 1994. The sole remaining RSA-3 rocket is on display at the South African Air Force Museum at Zwartkop Air Force Base. Nowadays South Africa is slowly rebuilding its satellite capability and built two micro-satellites on a shoestring budget, both of which had reasonable service lives in orbit, but it has some way to go to rebuild the capability it lost.
  - rdl 14y ago
    I feel horrible for saying this, but in many areas of science and engineering, RSA under sanctions was more interesting to outsiders, in that it was a relatively rich, industrialized country which produced technology (due to being isolated) which most other countries wouldn't have (since they didn't need it, with global supply sources). Synthetic fuels, some amazing defense tech (G5 howitzer, funding Gerald Bull, etc.), a credible nuclear program, space, ... I guess the isolation wasn't as complete as North Korea, and had a much better industrial base to begin with, because aside from superbills, a huge abandoned hotel, novel money laundering techniques, and some industrial scale meth production, North Korea hasn't done anything interesting. (It was of course immoral, a horrible human tragedy and was objectively worse for 90% of the population, etc.) Is it an accurate perception that RSA is less of an interesting science/engineering power now than it was in the 1980s? Will this reverse itself?
    - _djo_ 14y ago
      Sure, it's undoubtedly true that in certain industrial and technological spheres South Africa produced far more impressive and interesting projects during Apartheid. Even though there was some outside assistance, the developments produced in the country during this period were extraordinarily innovative and advanced in relative terms. Acknowledging that interesting developments came about in that period does necessarily justify Apartheid or lessen its immoral nature. Just as (not to invoke Godwin, the systems were totally different) we can acknowledge the amazing technology that German engineers and scientists invented during the Second World War without endorsing Nazi ideology. With regards to the question of whether RSA is a less interesting science and engineering power, it's complex. Certainly, when it comes to state-funded R&D, especially in defence and space, then yes it's true. The defence industry, while still innovative and very advanced in certain niche areas, has shrunk significantly since Apartheid, shedding many skills and leaving many defence industry companies in precarious financial positions. This is a result of the huge cuts in defence spending since 1990, which gutted the industry. That level of funding would never have been sustainable in a democracy with a universal franchise and serious socio-economic problems though. To some extent the non-defence private sector suffered too as state R&D dried up almost entirely. It's important to understand that with the trade sanctions of the late 1980s it was state funding and the mining industry which drove most R&D and many companies weren't able to transition to a market-based approach when that stopped. Imagine the impact on the US high-technology scene were US government research funding to be yanked almost overnight from universities and private companies. Yet there are some encouraging developments, with private companies continuing to try to innovate using private capital. The satellite design and construction industry has re-established itself and is growing fairly well, as are other space-based industries especially astronomy where South Africa is one of the world leaders. Similarly there is small but rapidly-growing tech scene that's creating some interesting things, with two prominent examples being the development of Amazon's EC2 system and Mark Shuttleworth's Thawte Consulting. Mobile telecoms are another interesting area, while there are some aerospace firms doing well, such as Aerosud which is a single-source supplier for both Airbus and Boeing on safety-critical parts. R&D spending still remains low compared to other countries at South Africa's level but there are signs that that, too is changing. So we'll have to see what the future brings.
- tjmc 14y ago
  Not the only country. Australia launched a satellite in 1967 and it no longer has an active satellite program. However they still do some cool aerospace research here like this Mach 10 scramjet test back in 2007: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12075-scramjet-hits-mach-10-over-australia-.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12075-scramjet-hits-ma...
  - arethuza 14y ago
    From what I can see WRESAT used a modified American Redstone launcher. Britain still manufactures satellites, but what we don't still have is a home grown capability for launching them. As far as I know, the UK is the only country to have launched its own satellite with its own launcher that has given up that capability. NB The Prosopero satellite is still orbiting after 40 years and was launched from Australia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospero_%28satellite%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospero_%28satellite%29
reneherse 14y ago
Haha, brilliant. I'm surprised it actually worked as well as it did, since I can't believe there was much testing. The SRB seperation was particularly impressive. The final trajectory (and lack of bunker for the RC guy) reminds me of some of the very unsafe launches we had in my high school shop class. Experimental, untested, overpowered, unbalanced and... flying right through the student parking lot.

by tjmc 14y ago

arethuza 14y ago

"The United Kingdom remains the only country to have successfully developed and then abandoned a satellite launch capability." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Streak_%28missile%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Streak_%28missile%29 :-(

_djo_ 14y ago
That's not entirely true. South Africa developed the RSA-series of ICBMs and space rockets in the late 1980s along with a concurrent satellite program. The RSA-3 was successfully tested in a number of launches from the Overberg Test Range in the Southern Cape of South Africa. With the end of the Cold War, the abandonment of Apartheid and the unbanning of the ANC in 1990 both the defence budget and the rocket program budget were slashed and the RSA program and Greensat satellite were put on hold as a result. An attempt was made to drum up international orders for RSA-3 launches and the development of an even larger variant, the RSA-4, but nothing ever came of it and the entire program was shut down forever around 1994. The sole remaining RSA-3 rocket is on display at the South African Air Force Museum at Zwartkop Air Force Base. Nowadays South Africa is slowly rebuilding its satellite capability and built two micro-satellites on a shoestring budget, both of which had reasonable service lives in orbit, but it has some way to go to rebuild the capability it lost.
- rdl 14y ago
  I feel horrible for saying this, but in many areas of science and engineering, RSA under sanctions was more interesting to outsiders, in that it was a relatively rich, industrialized country which produced technology (due to being isolated) which most other countries wouldn't have (since they didn't need it, with global supply sources). Synthetic fuels, some amazing defense tech (G5 howitzer, funding Gerald Bull, etc.), a credible nuclear program, space, ... I guess the isolation wasn't as complete as North Korea, and had a much better industrial base to begin with, because aside from superbills, a huge abandoned hotel, novel money laundering techniques, and some industrial scale meth production, North Korea hasn't done anything interesting. (It was of course immoral, a horrible human tragedy and was objectively worse for 90% of the population, etc.) Is it an accurate perception that RSA is less of an interesting science/engineering power now than it was in the 1980s? Will this reverse itself?
  - _djo_ 14y ago
    Sure, it's undoubtedly true that in certain industrial and technological spheres South Africa produced far more impressive and interesting projects during Apartheid. Even though there was some outside assistance, the developments produced in the country during this period were extraordinarily innovative and advanced in relative terms. Acknowledging that interesting developments came about in that period does necessarily justify Apartheid or lessen its immoral nature. Just as (not to invoke Godwin, the systems were totally different) we can acknowledge the amazing technology that German engineers and scientists invented during the Second World War without endorsing Nazi ideology. With regards to the question of whether RSA is a less interesting science and engineering power, it's complex. Certainly, when it comes to state-funded R&D, especially in defence and space, then yes it's true. The defence industry, while still innovative and very advanced in certain niche areas, has shrunk significantly since Apartheid, shedding many skills and leaving many defence industry companies in precarious financial positions. This is a result of the huge cuts in defence spending since 1990, which gutted the industry. That level of funding would never have been sustainable in a democracy with a universal franchise and serious socio-economic problems though. To some extent the non-defence private sector suffered too as state R&D dried up almost entirely. It's important to understand that with the trade sanctions of the late 1980s it was state funding and the mining industry which drove most R&D and many companies weren't able to transition to a market-based approach when that stopped. Imagine the impact on the US high-technology scene were US government research funding to be yanked almost overnight from universities and private companies. Yet there are some encouraging developments, with private companies continuing to try to innovate using private capital. The satellite design and construction industry has re-established itself and is growing fairly well, as are other space-based industries especially astronomy where South Africa is one of the world leaders. Similarly there is small but rapidly-growing tech scene that's creating some interesting things, with two prominent examples being the development of Amazon's EC2 system and Mark Shuttleworth's Thawte Consulting. Mobile telecoms are another interesting area, while there are some aerospace firms doing well, such as Aerosud which is a single-source supplier for both Airbus and Boeing on safety-critical parts. R&D spending still remains low compared to other countries at South Africa's level but there are signs that that, too is changing. So we'll have to see what the future brings.
tjmc 14y ago
Not the only country. Australia launched a satellite in 1967 and it no longer has an active satellite program. However they still do some cool aerospace research here like this Mach 10 scramjet test back in 2007: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12075-scramjet-hits-mach-10-over-australia-.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12075-scramjet-hits-ma...
- arethuza 14y ago
  From what I can see WRESAT used a modified American Redstone launcher. Britain still manufactures satellites, but what we don't still have is a home grown capability for launching them. As far as I know, the UK is the only country to have launched its own satellite with its own launcher that has given up that capability. NB The Prosopero satellite is still orbiting after 40 years and was launched from Australia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospero_%28satellite%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospero_%28satellite%29

reneherse 14y ago

Haha, brilliant. I'm surprised it actually worked as well as it did, since I can't believe there was much testing. The SRB seperation was particularly impressive. The final trajectory (and lack of bunker for the RC guy) reminds me of some of the very unsafe launches we had in my high school shop class. Experimental, untested, overpowered, unbalanced and... flying right through the student parking lot.