Canadian physicist mission specialist astronaut 1983-2008. Selected Aug 1996; he had been Payload Specialist on STS-52 Mission LAGEOS-2 (responsible for the Space Visions System). 2 spaceflights, 21.7 days in space. Flew to orbit on STS-52 (1992), STS-115.

Twelve Canadian Black Brant rockets for upper-atmosphere research were to be launched from NASA's Wallops Station, Virginia, as the Canadian Defence Research Board shifted the firing site from Fort Churchill because a fire largely destroyed the Canadian facilities. Capable of carrying a 150-pound payload to an altitude of 150 miles, Black Brants were to be fired from Wallops at the rate of two in December 1961, two in February 1962, six in April 1962, and two in May 1962.

The Martlet One Flight Vehicle was designed in mid-1962 as a first generation test vehicle for the HARP project. The primary role of the Martlet One was to test the fundamental technologies for the concept. The main body of the vehicle was intended contain coloured chemicals for release during flight to produce a visible trail. This was to allow the wind and atmospheric conditions to be observed along the flight path. (primarily wind shear at altitudes near apogee). Ground observers were to determine the effect of high altitude winds on the chemical trail. The nose was designed to hold a small one watt radio telemetry transmitter and other electronic instruments.

Only four Martlet Ones were manufactured. Two were flown during the initial test series and the remaining two were retired. The first Martlet One was launched on January 21, 1963. It was launched at an elevation of 80 degrees and flew for 145 seconds. During its flight it rose to an altitude of 26 km and landed 11 km down range. The second Martlet One was launched on February 1, 1963 and flew for 146 seconds. It rose to an altitude of 27 km and landed about 11 km down range. These two flights were sufficient to prove the launch concept. The initial test series also included several wooden test slugs.

The Martlet 1 series was retired in favour of the much improved Martlet 2 family of vehicles. Also, the cost of installation of the gun and the ground support infrastructure left precious little funds for an extensive initial test series.

MARTLET ONE SPECIFICATIONS

• Mass: 205 kg (450 lb.)

• Body Diameter: 0.168 m (6.6 inches)

• Length: 1.78 m (70 inches)

• Sabot: Metallic pusher plate with four laminated plywood centring petals; outside diameter of sabot 0.417 m (16.4')

• Gun Launcher: 16.4 inch L45 smooth-bored gun. This was a standard 16 inch battleship gun which had the rifling bored out. Propellant load 330 kg cordite.

by Richard K Graf

The Martlet 3A gun-launched rocket program began in the spring of 1963 with test flights beginning in September. Early Martlet 3A test flights were less then successful. At launch loads of 5000-6000 g's the rocket motor fuel grain would fail.The Martlet 3A set a world record as the largest rocket launched from a gun.

It was not until 1964, when agreements between the Canadian and the US governments permitted stable funding over the following three years, that HARP was able to seriously consider an orbital program. The Martlet 4 program began in the spring of 1965 with extensive parametric studies which showed that meaningful payloads could be launched into low Earth orbit from the 16 inch L86 HARP gun on the Barbados flight range using a full bore, 3 stage rocket vehicle.

Ionospheric research; data correlated with Explorer 31. The double-launch project, known as ISIS-X was the first in a new co-operative NASA-Canadian Defense Research Board program for International Satellites for Ionospheric Studies. Alouette was in orbit with an apogee just over a kilometre lower than Explorer 31's and with a perigee of just more than a kilometre higher. The orbits were some 3000 km at apogee and 500 km at perigee.

Development trials for the Martlet 4A began in the fall of 1966 with tests proceeding into early 1967. The majority of the early work was conducted on the Highwater, Quebec test range where the structural integrity of the Martlet 4A motor during gun-launching was proven. Prior to the abrupt end of the HARP project in July 1967, soft recovery trials and flight testing had been planned for the winter of 1967/1968. At nearly one ton the Martlet 4A holds the worlds record for being the largest rocket motor ever fired from a gun.

The cancellation came only a few months before an orbital 2G-1 could be flown. Martlet 2's were used to conduct extensive research at altitudes of up to 180 km with some 200 flights being conducted between 1963 and 1967. The very low cost per flight, about $3,000, made it ideal for a wide variety of applications.. Typical mission payloads included chemical ejection to produce an observable atmospheric trail and assorted sensors with multi-channel telemetry.

Anik I and Anik II also registered as United States objects. .The satellites, act as space repeaters capable of receiving transmissions from earth stations and retransmitting them to other earth stations in Canada. The antenna coverage of the satellite pr ovides the capability of serving virtually all of Canada. Anik I and II had weights of 1240.59 lb and 1246.48 lb. Each satellite has 12 RF channels each capable of transmitting a color television signal or up to 900 one-way voice channels. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the Americas at 114 deg W in 1973-1976; over the Americas at 104 deg W in 1976-1982 As of 1 September 2001 located at 66.14 deg W drifting at 5.205 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 107.03W drifting at 5.211W degrees per day.