Space

Woomera Rocket Range - 31° South 136.5° East

The Woomera Rocket Range is one of the world's largest launch sites. Officially known as the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA), the facility covers some 127,000 sq km, which is almost exactly the size of England. Woomera, an Australian aboriginal word meaning "spear thrower," [the aboriginal word for a short stick used to launch a spear] refers not only to the WPA but also to Woomera township, which contains support facilities for the rocket range. Since Woomera's first missile was launched in 1949, the range has played an important role in the history of rocketry. It has been the site of guided weapons testing, space capsule launch and retrieval, sounding rocket tests, satellite launches, and tracking of early spacecraft, including the crewed spacecraft of the American Mercury program.

The establishment of the spaceport in 1947 marked the beginning of a joint Australia–United Kingdom agreement to develop and test guided weapons systems. More specifically, the British needed access to a launch site within the Commonwealth to test-fire the large number of missile systems planned in the postwar era. Several potential locations were identified, and the vast, sparsely populated, flat terrain of the state of South Australia was selected.

This joint defence project, managed by the Weapons Research Establishment (WRE, now the Defence Science and Technology Organisation), was established in the shadow of the Cold War and the advent of nuclear-armed ballistic missiles. It saw the development and testing of many guided weapons and large liquid-fuelled research rockets like Black Knight, and was designated for the testing of Britain's independent nuclear deterrent, Blue Streak, although this program was cancelled before any test launches were made.

In 1967, a U.S. Redstone rocket carried the Australian science satellite, WRESAT, to orbit from Woomera. That made Australia the fourth nation in the world – after the USSR, the U.S. and France – to place in Earth orbit a satellite launched from its own territory. In 1971, Great Britain became the sixth nation to launch an artificial moon to orbit above Earth. The science satellite Prospero, also named Black Knight 1, rode atop a British rocket called Black Arrow in a launch from Woomera. No further satellites have been launched from Woomera, and most of the rocket range equipment has been destroyed or sold off for scrap.

In the mid-1960s Australia became an independent member of the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO), which was formed to develop a European satellite launch vehicle, Europa. Rather than providing direct funding to ELDO like the other European partner countries, Australia contributed launch and support facilities at Woomera. In 1973, after ten test launches of Europa-I from Woomera using the joint project facilities, and the failed launch of Europa-II from French Guiana, the ELDO launcher program was closed without having placed a satellite in orbit.

In 1976 the joint Australia-Britain project under which the Woomera launch area was established effectively came to an end (it was formally terminated in 1980). The Woomera launch area is currently used regularly for Australian Department of Defence purposes, and on a commercial basis to external users (e.g. the Japanese NEXST-1 supersonic vehicle flight test program).

The WPA is currently administered by the Australian Department of Defence, which allows it to be used for not only military but also approved civil and commercial purposes. In addition to its largely flat, featureless, and vast terrain, which allows easier access for test object recovery and provides an important safety valve for hazardous launch activities, the WPA's desert climate is another positive feature of the range.

Rainfall is rare, which results in few overcast days, and the climate is generally warm and dry, with only a brief, generally mild winter. The area's stable climatic conditions virtually assure the ability to conduct year-round operations, with little downtime resulting from poor weather conditions.

An important aspect of the WPA's remote location is the ability of the range to enforce strict security when required and to limit overflights by air traffic during launch and test activities. The low population density of the WPA is another range attribute. During 1972 approximately 40% of the WPA was de-restricted. This included the opal mining communities of Coober Pedy and Andamooka as well as almost 90% of the Maralinga Prohibited Area.

Today the WPA covers an area of 127,000 square km, still the largest land locked range in the world. DSTO scientists in collaboration with the University of Adelaide launched the WRESAT (Weapons Research Establishment Satellite) from the Woomera Rocket Range in South Australia in 1967. Australia became only the fourth country to launch a satellite from its own territory.

Australia's primary launch site is located in the Outback town of Woomera, named after The surrounding sparsely populated desert is ideal for launching and recovery operations. In 1947 Australia's desert was decided upon by a British team of scientists as the best location for a new launch site.

Over the years, Woomera has hosted many rocket and missile launchings including some for NASA. The first large rocket was the 10m Black Knight. Its 25 launches from 1958 to 1965 were conducted for upper atmospheric research and testing of instruments for the U.S. and Great Britain. From 1961 to 1973 the European Launcher Development Organization (ELDO) launched ten 32m rockets. Eldo was comprised of the UK. France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium. Holland and Australia. In 1967, Australia became the fourth nation to launch a satellite after the Soviet Union, United States and France. The Black Arrow project in 1971 conducted four launches with the last flight putting a satellite (Prospero) into orbit.

The town of Woomera was founded to house the workers of the launch facilities. Up until 1982. a special permit was required to enter. The United States' influence can be seen by the amount of American vehicles there and the fact that the fourth of July is celebrated. There are currently about 1300 residents.

NASA scheduled six Black Brandt night launches for October and November 1995. The payloads used X-ray sensors to study a "superbubble" of hot galactic gas visible from the southern hemisphere. Woomera had not seen this much activity since NASA had been there last in 1987 with a series of sounding rocket launches.

Although activity has fallen off dramatically in the last few years, there was still interest in the Woomera launch facilities. The Japanese considered using Woomera's airstrip as a part of their own future space shuttle program. The H-II Orbiting Plane would take off from Japan and land in Australia. The Australian Space Office hoped Woomera will host the entire program including launches. And the Russians are looking for spaceports to launch lightweight communications satellites into low Earth orbits. Of course, nothing came of these schemes.

Rocketplane Kistler (RpK), formerly Kistler Aerospace had been proposing to launch its K-1 aerospace vehicle from Woomera for more than 10 years. In August 2006, RpK was awarded a US$206.8 million contract under the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) initiative, to develop and demonstrate a launch vehicle to support the International Space Station. (A second US company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., was awarded a separate COTS contract for US$278 million at that time.) Under its Space Act Agreement with NASA, RpK received payments according to milestones and objective criteria. The final milestone, an orbital demonstration mission to the ISS, was scheduled to be conducted from Woomera in March 2009. On 18 October 2007, NASA terminated its COTS agreement with RpK for failure to meet a May financing deadline and for failing to complete a critical design review on schedule.

There are currently no operational orbital launch facilities at Woomera, and considerable investment would be needed to establish such facilities. Today, most Woomera residents work at the nearby high security base of Nurrungar. Completed in 1970 it is a joint US – Australian facility linking up spy satellites.