Waxwing (rocket motor)
Appearance
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Black_Arrow_satellite_deployment.jpg/220px-Black_Arrow_satellite_deployment.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Waxwing_engine.jpg/220px-Waxwing_engine.jpg)
Waxwing was a British solid rocket motor used for apogee kick as the 3rd (upper) stage of the Black Arrow satellite launch vehicles. Waxwing was used to successfully place the Prospero X-3 satellite into low Earth orbit on 28 October 1971, Britain's only satellite launch on an indigenously-developed launch vehicle.
Another use of Waxwing was to increase the velocity of test re-entry vehicles on Black Knight during tests for the Blue Streak missile.[1]
Design and development
Design was by the Rocket Propulsion Establishment (RPE) at Westcott and it was manufactured by Bristol Aerojet.[2] The casing was spherical and the propellant grain used an internal star profile to control the initial burn rate.
Specifications
- Thrust: 29.4 kN[3][4]
- Specific impulse: 2700 m/s (278 s) [3]
- Burn time: 28 s
40 seconds [4][contradictory] - Weight:[3]
- Gross mass: 397 kg (875 lb)
- Unfuelled mass: 87 kg (192 lb)
- Dimensions:[5]
- Diameter: 28 in (0.71 m)
- Overall length: 52 in (1.3 m)
- Nozzle length: 22 in (0.56 m)
- Nozzle diameter: 18 in (0.46 m)
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References
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Waxwing rocket motor.
- ^ "Waxwing rocket motor".
- ^ "Point of the Arrow" FLIGHT International, 11 November 1971
- ^ a b c "Black Arrow-3". astronautix.com.
- ^ a b Black Arrow exhibit, Science Museum, London
- ^ "Waxwing dimensional drawing". Space UK.