Cockatoo
Launch vehicle · Australia
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
Australian sounding rocket. The Cockatoo solid-propellant sounding rocket replaced HAD at Woomera in 1970, and consisted of a British Gosling I first stage and an Australian Lupus 1 second stage.
A much larger vehicle than Kookaburra, Cockatoo could attain altitudes of 130 kilometers. Over sixty Cockatoos were launched during through 1975, about two-thirds of them falling sphere trials as a continuation of the earlier HAD program. Cockatoo had greater capabilities and most of its other flights were lithium-trail experiments to measure winds and turbulence at about 80 kilometers altitude. It also made measurements of ozone concentration, ultraviolet radiation and ionospheric conditions.
Four Gosling motors with canted nozzles were used as boosters for the British Thunderbird ramjet surface-to-air missile. 664 Gosling IV motors were supplied for the Thunderbird, Bloodhound, and Seaslug Mark II missiles.
For sounding rocket applications, motors were supplied with in-line nozzles. The Gosling IV had an a all up mass of 256 kg, was 3.00 m long, and 0.254 m in diameter. It produced an average thrust of 124 kN over its 3.15 second burn time.
Related
- Family
- test vehicle
- Country
- Australia
- Launch Sites
- Woomera, Woomera LA2, Woomera LA1
- Agency
- WRE
- Bibliography
- 2
Chronology
28 events
1970 April 16
06:38 GMT - . Launch Site: Woomera. Launch Complex: Woomera LA2. LV Family: Lupus. Launch Vehicle: Cockatoo.1970 April 16
10:02 GMT - . Launch Site: Woomera. Launch Complex: Woomera LA2. LV Family: Lupus. Launch Vehicle: Cockatoo.1970 May 21
10:15 GMT - . Launch Site: Woomera. Launch Complex: Woomera LA2. LV Family: Lupus. Launch Vehicle: Cockatoo.1970 May 26
07:00 GMT - . Launch Site: Woomera. Launch Complex: Woomera LA2. LV Family: Lupus. Launch Vehicle: Cockatoo.1970 October 21
09:39 GMT - . Launch Site: Woomera. Launch Complex: Woomera LA2. LV Family: Lupus. Launch Vehicle: Cockatoo.1970 November 6
03:36 GMT - . Launch Site: Woomera. Launch Complex: Woomera LA2. LV Family: Lupus. Launch Vehicle: Cockatoo.1970 November 12
11:00 GMT - . Launch Site: Woomera. Launch Complex: Woomera LA2. LV Family: Lupus. Launch Vehicle: Cockatoo.- Lunar ultraviolet Ozone Aeronomy mission - . Nation: Australia. Agency: WRE. Apogee: 104 km (64 mi).