Portal:Rocketry/Selected article/2
Black Arrow, officially capitalised BLACK ARROW, was a British satellite expendable launch system.
Black Arrow originated from studies by the Royal Aircraft Establishment for carrier rockets based on the earlier Black Knight rocket; the project was authorised by the British government in late 1964. Development of Black Arrow was largely performed by the prime contractor, the British aerospace company Saunders-Roe, and later undertaken by Westland Aircraft as the result of a merger. Both the first and second stage engines were produced by Bristol Siddeley at their factory in Ansty, Warwickshire. Assembly of the first and second stages was carried out at East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Once manufactured, each Black Arrow vehicle was transported by ship to Australia prior to being launched from the RAAF Woomera Range Complex.
Black Arrow was a three-stage rocket, fuelled by RP-1 paraffin (kerosene) and high-test peroxide, a concentrated form of hydrogen peroxide (85% hydrogen peroxide + 15% water). While the first two stages featured thrust vectoring to provide attitude control, the third stage did not have an attitude control system, and instead relied upon spin stabilization along with a reaction control system. The first stage was designed to be compatible with Blue Streak, as well as to be interchangeable with Coralie. Furthermore, several derivatives of Black Arrow were proposed to provide for increased payload capacity.
A total of four launches of Black Arrow were performed between 1969 and 1971, the first two being demonstration flights to prove the launcher's capabilities. While the first and third flights were failures, the second and fourth flights were successful. Black Arrow's final flight placed the Prospero satellite into low Earth orbit, making it the first and only successful orbital launch to be conducted by the United Kingdom. British officials decided to discontinue the programme in favour of using American Scout rockets instead, the Ministry of Defence having calculated this option to be cheaper than continuing with Black Arrow.