Thirty Years of Sounding Rockets - Reflections Following a Reunion at ESRANGE
Thirty Years of Sounding Rockets - Reflections Following a
Reunion at ESRANGE
A. Pedersen, P. Colson, R. Meiner*, A. Menardi & T. R.
Sanderson
ESA/ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
* Retired
P. Englund
ESRANGE, Kiruna, Sweden
Even as the first launch of ESRO's Sounding Rocket
Programme departed from the Salto de Quirra military range in
Sardinia in June 1964, planning was already completed for ESRO's
own range in Kiruna, Sweden to probe the auroral ionosphere and
atmosphere. ESRANGE officially opened on 24 September 1966 and
the first rockets were launched the following November. This was
to be the start of several years of hectic activity at the range.
The programme came to an abrupt end in 1972 as part of the
preparations for the creation and expansion of ESA, but the
memories remain vivid for many of the rocketeers. An enthusiastic
group, some still with ESA and others working or retired in
various European countries, marked the 30th Anniversary with a
reunion at ESRANGE from 28 August to 1 September this year.
ESRANGE past and present
A total of 152 sounding
rockets was launched from ESRANGE between 1966 and 1972: 72 under
ESRO's aegis and 80 within national programmes. Most flew during
auroral activity to study the effects of energetic electrons and
ions that had been accelerated in the distant magnetosphere
before precipitating along magnetic field lines in the auroral
atmosphere. The beautiful auroral displays are the visible
manifestations of a region in space uniquely suited to studying
these processes at work, both near and beyond the Earth.
Figure 1. Preparation of a Centaure rocket for the first launch
campaign at ESRANGE in late 1966
Most of ESRANGE's permanent staff hailed from countries with
previous sounding rocket experience, such as the United Kingdom,
France, Germany, Norway and Sweden, but other nationalities added
colour to Kiruna's new community. Life became more hectic during
the campaigns when the payload teams from ESTEC, and the
experimenters from various ESRO Member States, joined the
permanent staff. This made it necessary to make use of Hotel
Albert, a primitive wooden barrack built next to the main ESRANGE
building - an unforgettable experience for many visitors.
Launching auroral rockets often required long vigils during cold
winter nights, and it was not unusual for a campaign, when no
suitable launch conditions appeared, to be moved to the following
winter.
Several national space agencies also exploited ESRANGE for
rocket and balloon experiments. This was particularly true of
Germany and Sweden, which had sizable national rocket programmes
at that time.
It came as an unpleasant surprise when ESRO's Council decided
in 1971 that the rocket programme would end the following year
in order to clear the decks for a wider range of activities under
the soon-to-be-born ESA. Most of the ESRO staff, and many of the
experimenters, felt that this sudden end to a successful and
smooth-running programme, with a quick turnaround time, was most
unfortunate. ESRANGE was turned over to Swedish control, leaving
it with a much smaller programme and, consequently, a highly
uncertain future.
The members of this year's reunion were therefore delighted
to find that not only has ESRANGE survived, but it is thriving
thanks to new rocket programmes and other activities as a co-ordinated European programme under the responsibility of national space agencies.
Recent years have seen a new class of rocket flights:
microgravity experiments on high-altitude carriers. Microgravity
research on Skylark 7 and the 15 t Maxus, first launched in May
1991, has brought ESA back to ESRANGE. The steerable Maxus can
reach close to 1000 km and return within 7 km of the predicted
impact point. Cassini's Huygens Probe, which will land on Titan
in 2004, was drop-tested by ESA at ESRANGE. A balloon carried
Huygens up to 38 km, where it was released to demonstrate
deployment and parachute performance. The Probe was successfully
recovered a standard procedure at ESRANGE.
Figure 2. Cassini's Huygens probe, recovered after its ESRANGE
drop test in 1995
ESRANGE's continuity has also been assured by the operation
of numerous Earth-observation and science satellites for ESA and
many agencies worldwide. ESA's Earth-observation ground station
near ESRANGE adds to the technical and social environment in the
gently sloping hills 50 km northeast of Kiruna.
The 30th Anniversary Reunion
Some 50 people travelled
to Kiruna for the reunion, from ESA establishments, Belgium,
Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and France, and several
ex-ESRANGE staff came from various corners of Sweden. About 60
apologies were received from ex-rocketeers unable to join the
reunion; inspired letters were received from Albert Le Bras, the
first ESRANGE Director, and Pierre Blassel, who was responsible
for all technical installations.
On Thursday 29 August, ESRANGE provided a full day's programme
for the visitors. They were welcomed by the present Head of
ESRANGE, Jan Englund, and then staff members gave presentations
of past and present range activites. Professor Bengt Hultqvist
gave an historical overview of the events leading up to the
establishment of ESRANGE; the early existence of what was then
called the Kiruna Geophysical Observatory was certainly an
important element in that process. A tour of the present
facilities followed. In the evening a dinner was held in the
Kiruna Town Hall for the visitors and ESRANGE staff. The Mayor
of Kiruna reminded the guests that Kiruna is the largest
'community' in the World, being half the size of Switzerland!
There was also a 'ceremonial launch' to bring back old
memories. A miniature Zenith was successfully launched to an
altitude of several hundred metres. This model of one of ESRO's
rockets was kindly provided by Nova Models of Florida, USA.
The reunion was also an opportunity to remember colleagues who
have passed away. A well-known veteran from the early ESRO rocket
campaign, Steve Pooley, died earlier this summer. His memory was
honoured by a one-minute silence, which also served as a mark of
respect for other deceased staff.
Figure 3. Participants at the ESRANGE Reunion
Figure 4. Launching the Skylark 7/Texus-3 mission from ESRANGE
in April 1980
Figure 5. Reliving old memories: launching the Zenith model
rocket
Figure 6. The reunion participants picnicking on a mountain
overlooking Abisko near the Swedish/ Norwegian border
The ESRO Sounding Rocket Programme - early lessons for ESRO
and ESA
In 1989, the then Director General of ESA, Reimar
Lüst, said in relation to the 25th Anniversary of the first
ESRO sounding rocket flight,
'The spirit of those who worked on the early sounding
rockets still pervades much of the European space activities
today. It is an excellent heritage: long may it remain so.'
These words have special significance coming from an ex-
rocketeer whose space career began with rocket experiments at
ESRANGE.
Figure 7. View over ESRANGE during a Texus rocket launch
ESRO provided the first test of European co-operation in this
field, proving successful in terms of technical performance,
management and programmatics. An important element was that
technical teams could design, build and test a significant
proportion of the rocket payloads at ESTEC; the rest was built
by industry. This increased the level of knowledge and experience
in the Agency and formed the basis for a sound management
structure.
Many engineers were forced to leave ESRO after the last
rockets departed in 1972. ESRANGE could still offer some
employment to the Swedish staff, and a fair number of other
nationalities found new positions at the various ESRO
establishments, the majority of them at ESTEC. For many
engineers, the experience gained on sounding rockets was a
stepping stone to longer-term careers in ESA. Many made valuable
contributions to satellite and manned space projects due in part
to the technical insight gained by their close involvement in
ESRO's rocket projects. Unfortunately, many have either retired
or are close to retirement, leaving few with hands-on experience
for future ESA projects.
The sounding-rocket programme made it possible for scientists
from all Member States to be involved and gain their first
experience in a space venture. The rocket projects, taking only
a few years from concept to flight, provided ideal PhD themes,
and many well-known European space scientists launched their
academic careers on rockets. Building experiments for flight was
a new challenge for scientific laboratories in the mid-1960s.
Colleagues on NASA programmes were initially far ahead of the
Europeans, as few laboratories here had the knowledge required
to produce satellite hardware. The sounding-rocket experience
changed all that: European groups quickly grasped the intricacies
of space instrumentation and gradually gained the confidence and
knowledge to be the equals of their international colleagues,
even on the more challenging space missions. It is a telling fact
that most laboratories involved in the current ESA Scientific
Programme were involved at some time in a rocket programme run
by ESRO or a national space agency.
The scientific knowledge obtained via the ESRO sounding-rocket
programme at ESRANGE provided new insights into the dynamic
auroral ionosphere and its coupling to sources of energetic
particles. Today, the early results from rocket measurements in
the polar atmosphere have gained renewed relevance for the
understanding of the depletion of the ozone layer. These results
also formed the basis for later international and national
auroral satellite missions. Even now, there are unsolved
mysteries in the ionosphere and atmosphere above ESRANGE at
heights reachable only by rockets and balloons.
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ESA Bulletin Nr. 88.
Published November 1996.
Developed by
ESA-ESRIN ID/D.