Sonda (rocket)

Sonda is a family of Brazilian-built sounding rockets which serves as an R&D path to the VLS (Portuguese: Veículo Lançador de Satélites) orbital rocket.

Sonda rockets family portrait
Side-by-side comparison of Sonda rockets, to scale

Sonda 1
  • The Sonda 1 is a two stage rocket (1 x S10-1 + 1 x S-10-2 rocket stages) with a maximum flight altitude of 65 km, a liftoff thrust of 27 kN a total mass of 100 kg, a diameter of 11 cm and a length of 4.5 metres. It was launched 9 times between 1965 and 1966.
Diagram with Sonda I rocket dimensions.

Sonda 2
  • The Sonda 2 is a single stage rocket (1 x S-20 rocket stage) with a maximum flight altitude of 180 km, a Liftoff Thrust of 36.00 kN, a total mass of 400 kg, a core Diameter of 0.30 m and a total Length of 5.60 m. It was launched 7 times between 1990 and 1996.
Diagram with Sonda II rocket dimensions.

Sonda 3
  • Sonda 3 is a two stage rocket available in two versions, the Sonda 3 (1 x S30 + 1 x S-20 rocket stages) and the Sonda 3M1 (1 x S30 + 1 x S-23 rocket stages). Both rockets have a maximum flight altitude of 600 km, a liftoff Thrust of 102.00 kN, a diameter of 0.30 m and a length of 8.00 m. However Sonda 3 weighs 1500 kg while Sonda 3 M1 weighs 1400 kg at launch. It was launched 27 times between 1976 and 2002.
Diagram with Sonda III rocket dimensions.
Sonda III rocket shapes.

Sonda 4
Sonda IV-03
  • Sonda 4 is a two stage rocket (1 x S30 + 1 x S-43 rocket stages) with a maximum flight altitude of 800 km, a liftoff Thrust of 203.00 kN, a total Mass of 7200 kg, a diameter of 1.01 m and a length of 11.00 m. It was launched 7 times between 1984 and 1990.
Diagram with Sonda IV rocket dimensions.


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