Waxwing (rocket motor)
This article is about the rocket motor. For other uses, see Waxwing (disambiguation).
Waxwing upper stage from Black Arrow
Waxwing seen without its engine nozzle
Waxwing was a British solid rocket motor used for apogee kick as the 3rd (upper) stage of the Black Arrow satellite launch vehicles. Waxwing was used to successfully place the Prospero X-3 satellite into low Earth orbit on 28 October 1971, Britain's only satellite launch on an indigenously-developed launch vehicle.
Another use of Waxwing was to increase the velocity of test re-entry vehicles on Black Knight during tests for the Blue Streak missile.[1]
Design and development
Design was by the Rocket Propulsion Establishment (RPE) at Westcott and it was manufactured by Bristol Aerojet.[2] The casing was spherical and the propellant grain used an internal star profile to control the initial burn rate.
- Specifications
- Thrust: 3,000 kgf
0.27 tonnes [3] - Specific impulse: 278 s
- Burn time: 28 s
40 seconds [3] - Dimensions:[4]
- Diameter: 28 in (0.71 m)
- Overall length: 52 in (1.3 m)
- Nozzle length: 22 in (0.56 m)
- Nozzle diameter: 18 in (0.46 m)
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Waxwing rocket motor. |
- ↑ "Waxwing rocket motor".
- ↑ "Point of the Arrow" FLIGHT International, 11 November 1971
- 1 2 Black Arrow exhibit, Science Museum, London
- ↑ "Waxwing dimensional drawing". Space UK. External link in
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