Sparta (rocket)

The Sparta was a three-stage rocket that launched Australia's first Earth satellite, WRESAT, on 29 November 1967.

Sparta

Function	Sounding rocket Launch system
Manufacturer	ABMA/Chrysler
Country of origin	United States
Size
Height	21.8 metres (72 ft)
Diameter	1.78 metres (5 ft 10 in)
Mass	30,000 kilograms (66,000 lb)
Stages	3
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass	45 kilograms (99 lb)
Associated rockets
Family	Redstone
Comparable	Jupiter-C Juno I
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	Woomera Test Range LA-8
Total launches	10
Success(es)	9
Failure(s)	1
First flight	28 November 1966
Last flight	29 November 1967
Notable payloads	WRESAT
First stage – Redstone
Engines	1 A-7
Thrust	416 kilonewtons (94,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	265 sec
Burn time	155 seconds
Fuel	LOX/Hydyne
Second stage – Antares-2
Engines	1 X-259
Thrust	93 kilonewtons (21,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	293 sec
Burn time	36 seconds
Fuel	Solid
Third stage – BE-3
Engines	1 solid
Thrust	34
Burn time	9 seconds
Fuel	Solid

Sparta used a surplus American Redstone as its first stage, an Antares-2 as a second stage, and a BE-3 as a third stage. Several Spartas were launched from 1966–67 from Woomera Test Range in Woomera, South Australia as part of a joint United States–United Kingdom–Australian research program aimed at understanding re-entry phenomena, and the U.S. donated a spare for the scientific satellite launch into polar orbit.

The first stage was recovered from the Simpson Desert in 1990 after being found in searches by explorer Dick Smith the previous year.[1]^:76–80

Sparta on the pad at Woomera