WRESAT

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Wresat (abbreviation for: Weapons Research Establishment Satellite) was the name of the first Australian satellite. It was named after its manufacturer.

Wresat was launched on 29 November 1967 using a modified American Redstone rocket from the spaceport at Woomera, South Australia. The Redstone rocket (left over from the SPARTA program) was donated by the USA.

Wresat weighed 45 kilograms and had the form of a cone with a length of 1.59 metres and a mouth diameter of 0.76 metres. It remained connected with the third rocket stage and possessed with it an overall length of 2.17 metres. Wresat circled the earth on a nearly polar course, until it reentered the atmosphere after 642 earth revolutions on 10 January 1968, over the Atlantic. The battery-operated satellite sent data during its first 73 orbits around the earth.

[edit] External links

• Synopsis of WRESAT
• History of SPARTA test series