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High above us, circling the Earth once every 90 minutes, the Prospero satellite floats
through space.
The 28th of October will mark the 50th year anniversary of the launch of this special
satellite, and although it no longer functions , it will likely remain in orbit for another
50 years yet.
There is something strangely sad about this unique satellite that only ever ran a couple
of scientific experiments, yet we can learn inspiring lessons from its story.
But why is it unique?
Prospero is the result of the only time a nation developed its own rocket capacity to
put a satellite into space, and then later discarded that capability.
I’m Alex McColgan, and you’re watching Astrum.
Join with me as we uncover the early days of space exploration history of my home nation,
and the first and only time that they put a satellite into space using a rocket of their
own making.
Today we will be exploring Prospero and the Black Arrow program of the United Kingdom.
The UK officially joined the space race in 1962 when they became the third country to
operate a satellite in space, after Russia and the United States.
However, that satellite – Ariel 1 – was not launched using a UK rocket, but was instead
carried into orbit by NASA.
And as America and the USSR were starting to gear up for their journey to the moon,
the United Kingdom was eager not to be left behind.
The Royal Aircraft Establishment - which was the closest equivalent the UK had to their
own space agency at the time - first proposed the idea of developing their own rockets in
1963.
Up until then, UK rocket science was mostly military in nature.
Blue Streak and Black Knight rockets were developed using the scientific knowledge of
German scientists who’d been brought to Britain after World War II (much like what
happened in America around the same time), and they were intended to carry nuclear payloads.
However, the RAE wanted to make rockets carry satellites into space for scientific and communication
purposes.
Their initial request was for a low earth orbit rocket that could carry a 144kg satellite
into orbit.
The request was approved in 1964, but was quickly put on hold due to an upcoming general
election.
A new government came in and restarted the process, but decided to reduce the number
of test flights from 5 to 3.
This was the beginning of the slow withering of the UK’s rocket abilities, before they
had even really begun.
Using the technology of the Black Knight rockets, RAE scientists began to develop the Black
Arrow, a 3 stage rocket that, although it used a lot of the same technology as the Black
Knight, was considerably more powerful (producing an initial 256 kN of thrust compared to the
Black Knight’s 96kN).
The first stage would carry the payload for the first 2 minutes or so of the launch, before
falling away.
The second stage would burn for 2 more minutes, before splitting in half, releasing the third
stage and the payload.
After separation, the third stage would burn for a minute, and a minute later again, the
payload and final stage would separate.
Parts for the Black Arrow were constructed around the UK, with much of the assembly taking
place in the Isle of Wight, with the launch site itself being in Australia, a commonwealth
country.
Other test sites closer to home had been considered, but in the end it was decided that the risk
of spent rocket parts falling on locations in the UK was too great.
However, the Wilson Government of the day was going through difficult times financially,
and was looking for ways to reduce its outgoing costs.
They had another project underway that was demanding large investment – the supersonic
airliner, Concorde – and the UK government didn’t want to invest in both programs (ideally,
they didn’t want to spend money on either).
Ironically, they decided that Concorde had the better long-term prospects for the UK
economy than satellite technology, which is a shame because Concorde ended up grounded
altogether in 2003.
It wasn’t that they didn’t think satellites would benefit the economy – it was that
no-one could agree on who should cover the developmental costs.
On top of this, unfortunately, the Black Arrow program began to run into technical problems
too.
Although its maiden flight (testing its first two stages) was supposed to occur in 1968,
it wasn’t until 1969 that the first Black Arrow launched, and that launch was a failure.
An electrical fault caused some of its combustion chambers to pivot, causing the rocket to roll
erratically.
It ended up disintegrating and was ultimately completely destroyed.
The second launch, where it was testing the first two stages again, went off successfully,
but the Black Arrow’s third and final test launch, where it first attempted to reach
a full orbit, was also a failure.
Its second stage had an oxidiser that failed to pressurize, which meant that the second
stage cut out early, and the whole rocket with its mock payload failed to reach orbit.
In this time, France, Japan and China all successfully launched satellites using their
own rockets.
On 29 July, 1971, the UK government decided to cut its losses and cancelled the Black
Arrow project.
This was a great blow to the RAE.
However, by this time, the fourth Black Arrow had already been constructed and shipped to
Australia, along with the accompanying satellite.
The government finally gave the go ahead for the final launch.
This satellite was designed to test the technologies necessary for communicating with satellites.
As such, it had tape recorders, a micrometeor detector designed to measure the frequency
of small particles in space, and multiple designs for solar cells to see which would
be the most effective.
Initially, this satellite was named Puck by the RAE, not Prospero.
This continued the tradition at the time of RAE satellites being named as Shakespearean
references.
Puck, and its predecessor Ariel, were both fey creatures in Shakespeare plays.
They were beings of the air, of pranks and of magic.
When the project got cancelled, however, the RAE team changed the name of the satellite
from Puck to Prospero.
Prospero, a sorcerer in the Shakespearean play “the Tempest”, was a powerful magician
too, but ultimately gave it all up to become a normal human.
It’s a sharp indicator for how the RAE team must have felt.
Although they would be allowed to launch their last rocket, they knew that they would never
do so again.
Britain was giving up on its space race – it would in future pay for other nations to carry
its satellites into space, as this was considered more economical.
To the RAE scientists, it must have felt that they were giving up the magic.
It made the successful launch of Black Arrow and Prospero on the 28th of October 1971 all
the more bittersweet.
Before this point, a Black Arrow had not carried a payload all the way into low Earth orbit
successfully.
And now, just when it had finally proven its viability, it was ended.
Admittedly, Prospero’s launch didn’t go completely smoothly.
When the third stage of the Black Arrow rocket came away, one of its thrusters kept firing,
and clipped Prospero on the way past.
Fortunately, while this knocked off one of Prospero’s four antennae, Prospero maintained
a stable orbit and was able to go on to have a successful mission.
It taught British scientists much about designing satellites for space, a knowledge that would
come in useful as Britain went on to specialise in the field of satellite technology.
Unlike in other nations (like the US), the successful launch of their first satellites
did not make UK front page news.
The public didn’t really notice it had happened.
It was a full two days later before any newspapers even mentioned it.
The UK Government acknowledged that the successful launch was excellent news but did not restart
the program.
Britain became the 6th nation to launch a satellite into space using their own rocket.
In 1973, Prospero’s tape recorders stopped working.
It could still be contacted, but government scientists eventually stopped doing so when
they closed their satellite monitoring station in 1996.
Prospero was officially deactivated.
However, it didn’t immediately go silent.
Amateur satellite enthusiasts continued to contact Prospero until about 2004, where its
faint signal powered by its solar panels could still be heard.
As we near the end of October 2021, we approach the 50-year anniversary of Prospero’s launch,
although Prospero has now gone silent.
And that might have been the end for Prospero and the Black Arrow project… if it hadn’t
been for an unexpected twist in the tale.
Thanks to the recent massive growth of the space industry, in 2010 the UK government
decided to get back into space.
It created the UK Space Agency, and is building several space ports to begin developing once
again its capability for rocketry.
And thanks to the advances made in satellite technology in the intervening years, satellites
are smaller now than they used to be a few decades ago.
As such, only a smaller rocket is needed to carry such payloads into low earth orbit.
A rocket just like Black Arrow.
In fact, Black Arrow is so ideal for this niche , that the Edinburgh-based Space Technologies
company “Skyrora” has based their rockets heavily on its design.
Their Skyrora XL rocket has similar dimensions as the Black Arrow and uses the same sort
of kerosene and hydrogen peroxide mix for their fuel.
In 2018 the company acquired the remains of Black Arrow R3 to display in their offices,
in respect for the legacy of this great rocket.
And crazily enough, as part of an effort to remove space debris from orbit, they even
have plans to find Prospero and bring it back down to Earth – intact.
So perhaps Prospero will not end up lonely and forgotten.
Although it seemed for almost 50 years that Prospero and Black Arrow were a mere footnote,
a failed experiment as part of an effort that was doomed before it even began, their legacy
is proving much more influential than any of the RAE scientists could have predicted
at the time.
And perhaps the magic does not need to be given up after all.
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I’m guessing that if you clicked on this video that you enjoy rockets.
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