Skylark

From The Space Library

The Skylark sounding rocket was first proposed in the summer of 1953 by the Gassiot Committee of the Royal Society in Oxford England. The committee and the Royal Aircraft Establishment then applied for funding from the treasury to proceed with the program.

The Skylark was designed to carry a payload of approximately 125 lbs to above 100 miles. The basic vehicle was 17ft long and 17.4 inches in diameter and frequently carried an instrumented nosecone that was upwards of 7ft in length.

The main solid rocket engine was constructed at the Rocket Propulsion Establishment at Westcott in England and was named the Raven. The propellant for Raven was a plastic and perchlorate mix providing about 12,000 lbs of thrust for 30 seconds.

The launch vehicle was built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company and featured three simple stablisation fins.

The instrumented nosecone of Skylark had two bays, both of which could be pressurized and could carry dozens of instruments. Telemetry was back to the ground using AM and FM transmissions. Electrical power was provided by lightweight batteries.

Six ground test firings took place before Skylark was first launched on February 14 1957. Two more instrumented tests took place before Skylark 4 reached an altitude of 77 miles on November 13 1957.

A total of 17 Skylark launches took place before the end of 1959, the first true experimental mission being Skylark 6 on April 17 1958.