Black Brant Rockets

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Revision as of 21:17, 27 January 2025 by Gcook (talk | contribs) (Created page with "===Introduction=== In the 1950s, the Canadian Armament Research and Development Establishment (CARDE) combined new propellants with nosecones and instrumentation from Bristol Aero Industries (later Bristol Aerojet, Bristol Aerospace, and now Magellan Aerospace) to develop the Propulsion Test Vehicle (PVT-1) that would later evolve into a sounding rocket known as the Black Brant 1 (BB1). On September 5, 1959, Canada became the third nation to reach space with a successfu...")
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Introduction

In the 1950s, the Canadian Armament Research and Development Establishment (CARDE) combined new propellants with nosecones and instrumentation from Bristol Aero Industries (later Bristol Aerojet, Bristol Aerospace, and now Magellan Aerospace) to develop the Propulsion Test Vehicle (PVT-1) that would later evolve into a sounding rocket known as the Black Brant 1 (BB1). On September 5, 1959, Canada became the third nation to reach space with a successful launch of the BB1 from the Churchill Research Range (CRR) in Northern Manitoba. Over the last 60 years, the Black Brant rocket has evolved and completed 1,000 launches from around the world with over 98% success rate — an extraordinary engineering achievement.

Insert photo one here.

Sounding rockets are the unsung heroes of space research because they provide a low-cost, rapid, and reliable platform to conduct experiments in space. These rockets can reach a wide range of altitudes from 150–1500 km above the surface, experience up to 20 minutes of microgravity, and carry payloads ranging from 70 to 850 kilograms. At its simplest form, the rockets are composed of a payload and a solid-fueled rocket motor (or motors in multi-stage rockets). After motor burnout, the payload separates from the rocket to run its experiment before re-entering the atmosphere and deploying a parachute so that it can be retrieved, refurbished, and used again in future missions.