crashedintotheAustralianoutback, 150 miles
or sofromitslaunchsiteattheWoomerarocket
rangeinSouthAustralia.Andthereit layfornearly
halfa century,gatheringdustandgraffiti,untilthe
turnofthisyear—whena newEdinburgh-based
spacecompany,Skyrora,paidforitsreturnto
Britain,albeittheotherendofBritainfromwhere
it started.Thecompanyhopesinthenextcouple
of yearstobuilda rocketofitsown—verysimilar
in itscorepropulsionsystemtotheinnovative
BlackArrow—whichwilllaunchsatellitesundera
Britishflag.Thistime,therocketwillspringfrom
Britain’sownshores,notfroma distantpartof
theCommonwealth.
Theplanis tolaunchsmallsatsintopolarorbit.
OnereasontheBlackArrowfailedis thatthere
wasnomarketforthepayloadit couldlift:A
smallsatellite,atthetime,coulddoverylittle.
Now,though,theminiaturizationoftechnol-
ogymeansthatit is feasibletolaunchpowerful
toolsintospaceinrelativelysmallpackages—and
Britainmanufactures 44 percentoftheworld’s
smallsatellites.
TheremainsofBlackArrownowsitona pair
ofwoodenpalletsbythewallofa warehouse
inPenicuik,a smalltowna fewmilesoutside
Edinburgh.It’sa largeobject,ona humanscale—
onitsside,it standssixanda halffeettall,and
about 18 feetlong—although,bythestandardsof
thesortofrocketlaunchedfromCapeCanaveral,
it’sa midget.“BlackArrowwouldalmostfitside-
waysacrossthebottomofSaturnV,”saysRobin
Hague,Skyrora’sleadengineer.
WhenI seeit,it’sdentedandscratchedbut
stillveryrecognizablya rocket.Theeightrocket
nozzlesarestillinplace,albeitsquashedbythe
impactoflanding.Thebodyconsistsoftwo
tanks,oneatoptheother.Thelower,largertank
containedhydrogenperoxide,andthesmaller
onekerosene.HagueandhiscolleagueDerek
Harris,thecompany’sbusinessoperationsman-
agerandthemanbehindbringingBlackArrow
home,areclearlyfondoftheoldrocket.They
patit affectionatelyfromtimetotime,asthough
it wereanelderlyfamilypet,andtheyarekeen
topointouthowingeniouslylow-techit is.For
instance,theeightrocketnozzlesarearrangedin
pairs,andlinkedtoanold-fashionedmechanical“BLACKARROWWOULD
ALMOSTFITSIDEWAYS
ACROSSTHEBOTTOM
OFSATURNV.”—ROBINHAGUE,SKYRORA’S
LEADENGINEEROutside the Scottish
Parliament building
in Edinburgh,
Skyrora executive
Owain Hughes
views the hulk of
the Black Arrow
that his company
brought home after
it sat for 50 years in
the Australian
outback.64 AIR & SPACE airspacemag.comHOLYROOD PR ON BEHALF OF SKYRORA LTD