Europa (rocket) - Project History

Project History

The first test took place at 9.14am local time on 5 June 1964 at Woomera. Thrust was terminated after 147 seconds, 6 seconds earlier than planned. The point of impact was 625 miles from the launch site, instead of the intended 950 miles. It reached a height of 110 miles and a maximum speed of 6,400 mph. Near space is considered to be around 60–70 miles. The craft's structure was built by Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and the rocket engine were the Rolls-Royce RZ2. At this stage the French and German rocket stages were mere fibre-glass scale models.

The first full-size launch, weighing in total 104 tons, took place at Woomera on 24 May 1966, with dummy upper stages. Tests were conducted by Australia's Weapons Research Establishment and the French Laboratoire de Recherche en Balistique et Aérodynamique (based at Vernon). After two minutes and fifteen seconds, six seconds short of the planned flight, the rocket was destroyed as it was thought (by an impact predictor) to be veering west of the planned trajectory. However, the rocket was exactly on courses and inaccurate readings had been picked up by a radar station 120 miles away.

Two stage testing was planned for June 1967. At 11.12pm GMT on 30 November 1968, the first three-stage Europa 1 launcher put a 550 lb Italian satellite-model into orbit.

The first launch from French Guiana on 5 November 1971 was also the first launch of the four-stage Europa 2. It exploded over the Atlantic after three minutes. It landed in the sea 302 miles from the launch site, and had reached a height of 40 miles.