On 25^th June 2020 I presented a webinar about the Skylark sounding rocket, as part of UCL’s “One O’clock Space Lecture” series. This described the origins, the 48-year service life from 1957 to 2005, and some of the hundreds of then state-of-the-art space science and astronomy experiments carried out using the British Skylark rocket. (Video Presentation & Slides)

However, in this blog, I would like to focus on the wider benefits of the Skylark programme, and bearing in mind the current resurgence of Space activity within the UK, initiate a discussion on the possibility of a modern-day replacement for the experience Skylark provided.

Skylark missions had three main purposes, the fulfilment of which would depend on the actual payload flown and number of experiments on board. These were:

• experiments complete in themselves – for example pioneering astronomy observations
• equipment testing – to try an experimental technique or to test new hardware before use on a more expensive satellite or the space shuttle
• training for those involved

This later aspect may seem less obvious, but even at the time, and even more so later on, its great importance was recognised. For instance, to quote from page 601 of my book on the Skylark sounding rocket (www.skylark.space ):

 It provided a unique training ground for scientists, engineers and technicians from the mid-1950s to the 1970s. A PhD student could design an experiment, help build it, fly to Australia, help unpack and re-assemble it, be involved in the excitement of the launch and hopefully have good scienti­fic results at the end. It was viewed as an exceptional way of developing a scienti­fic career, and many such students who were in the right place at the right time have risen to leading positions in their ­fields.

“The nostalgia felt by those who experience[d] a Skylark PhD is fuelled by the current lack of any replacement for the horribly realistic management training it provided.” (This last from Mike Cruise)

A few examples of those who “trained” on Skylark would include John Zarnecki (Emeritus Professor, Principal Investigator on many spacecraft including the Huygens probe/lander on Titan, Chris Rapley, who became director of the Science Museum in London, and indeed Professor Alan Smith of UCL MSSL.

On the wider stage, after Skylark was no longer directly funded by the UK, it had an even longer use within Europe, and a 2003 German report concluded:

“…that sounding rockets were recognised as an essential tool for many experiments in space, as a complementary tool to ground-based and satellite investigations and as an educational and training tool for students and young scientists. Hence, sounding rockets remained an important part of the German microgravity programme.” (Page 589 of my book).

However, these days, European sounding rocket launches are limited to perhaps one or two a year from Esrange in Sweden, and it seems that only NASA with its resources can still afford a busy sounding rocket programme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, although sounding rockets have their advantages, it can be argued that NASA’s CubeSat Launch initiative (CSLI), provides a better model. This scheme provides free launches to orbit for American educational institutions via the ELaNa programme (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites) (https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/elana/index.html ).

How might the equivalent work in the UK? The author is Project Leader for the SLV (Small Launch Vehicle) Project, which has been working for a number of years on providing access to space from the UK using our own hardware. (https://www.bis-space.com/what-we-do/projects/the-slv-small-launch-vehicle-project .) Our current economic model for the SLV is based on a summer season of six launches from our preferred launch site of Unst, the northernmost of the Shetland Islands in the very north of Scotland. (https://shetlandspacecentre.com/  .) The SLV has a nominal payload of 150 kg, which it would place into a polar or Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) at a typical altitude of 500km.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The launch vehicle payload module is optimised to launch several satellites at the same time, for instance one configuration could be a dozen 3U CubeSats and four larger 16U microsats. Thus, the vehicle could act as a modern “Skylark” replacement, and by utilising only part of its capacity, could launch into orbit several space science related satellites each year.

On the Skylark sounding rocket, the vehicle payload telemetry system was used to return experimental data to Earth. In order to do the same from an orbiting satellite, it is envisaged that a standard CubeSat “bus” would be used to host the experiments. This would provide power supplies, pre-approved telemetry capability etc., via a standard interface, so that the experiment could focus on its primary purpose. Academic institutions such as UCL MSSL could book launch slots in advance, which could then be allocated to experiments and students as required.

The aim would be to provide the same scientific, testing and training experience as Skylark did, but in a modern setting. An experiment could be devised, approved and built by a student. They would be involved in the final testing and integration in the UK (as for instance used to be done by BAC at Filton in Bristol), and (for better or worse!) have no need to travel to Australia or even Spain, but if they wished, they could simply drive to the launch site in Unst (Shetland’s oil-based economy has resulted in excellent road, ferry and telecommunications links) and see their satellite launched, and/or simply monitor their orbiting experiment from the lab as required.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funding – for the first 22 years of its life, the Skylark programme was funded by the government as part of the UK’s National Space Programme; on the basis of 50% for the rockets, and 50% for the experiments. This arrangement was initiated by Professor Harrie Massey of UCL in conjunction with the Royal Society. However, the modern equivalent would be on a simpler basis, with the launch vehicle already a going concern. The cost to orbit would be of the order of £40,000 per kg, so a typical 3U CubeSat of maximum mass 4.0 kg would cost some £160,000 to have launched in this way. Hence it is not anticipated that academic institutions could afford the launch as well as the construction of such a CubeSat, so a funding programme would have to be devised, perhaps in association with ESA or the UKSA.

Is this idea naïve? Is it already being done? Does it correspond to modern academic needs? Could such orbiting experiments do genuine research resulting in PhD qualifications, or would they be mainly for training and experience? And it must be emphasised that, although it has been under study since 2016, at the moment our proposed launch vehicle is only at the advanced design study stage, and is not yet funded or developed. Hence the earliest when commercial launches could take place using it would be in 2027. However, this gives time for arrangements to be made, and a funding programme to be devised, and even the Skylark programme took a decade or so to mature into its final three-stage version, which reached altitudes of over 700 km.

So, is there any mileage in the idea of a Skylark sounding rocket programme replacement? I’d be most interested to hear from anyone on the matter. Please do email me at robin@nfel.co.uk.

Brief Biography

Although an electronic engineer by profession, Robin Brand (BSc CEng MIET FBIS) has always been interested in space matters, having graduated from the ‘Eagle’ comic and ‘Dan Dare’ (in colour) via ‘The Sky at Night’ on television (in black and white) to membership of the British Interplanetary Society (in 3D!).

His early interest was enhanced when science fiction started coming true with the advent of the first orbiting Earth satellites. Those were the days of great public interest, when the times the satellites could be seen passing overhead were published in the daily newspapers, and their data transmissions could be heard on the radio.

Many years later, after his three grown-up children had left home, he was able to find the time to carry out the archival research on which the original book and the webinar and were based. He was amazed to find that writing the book took over from his day job, as instead of lasting the anticipated six months, it took more than six years of research and writing! However, in 2014 it was finally published, and in 2015 the was short-listed for a ‘Sir Arthur Clarke’ award for space activity in the media category.

He lives on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire, UK.