Prospero (spacecraft)
The Prospero satellite, also known as X-3, is the only satellite to be successfully launched by a British rocket. It has the COSPAR (NSSC ID) designation 1971-093A, and the US Space Command satellite catalogue number 05580. The satellite was originally to be called Puck, but was renamed Prospero when it was announced that it would be the last launch attempt using a British rocket.[1]
It was launched at 04:09 GMT on 28 October 1971, from Launch Area 5B (LA-5B) at Woomera, South Australia on a Black Arrow rocket, making Britain the sixth nation to place a satellite into orbit using a domestically developed carrier rocket, after the Soviet Union, United States, France, Japan and China. A previous launch attempt, of another Black Arrow, with the Orba X-2 satellite, failed to achieve orbit after a premature second stage shut down.
Prospero contained experiments to test solar cells and detect micrometeorites. A tape recorder is also on board, which failed on 24 May 1973 after 730 plays.
As of 2006, radio transmissions from Prospero could still be heard on 137.560 MHz,[2] although it had officially been deactivated in 1996, when the UK's Defence Research Establishment decommissioned their satellite tracking station at Lasham, Hampshire. It is in a low Earth orbit, and is not expected to decay for about 100 years.
See also
- 1971 in spaceflight
- Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
- Timeline of first orbital launches by country