Australia enters the Space Age!WRESAT (abbreviation for: Weapons Research Establishment Satellite) was the name of the first Australian satellite. It was named after its designer, the Weapons Research Establishment located in Adelaide, South Australia.
WRESAT was launched on 29 November 1967 using a modified American Redstone rocket with two upper stages known as a Sparta from the Woomera Test Range in South Australia. The Sparta (left over from the joint Australian-US-UK Sparta program), was donated by the United States. The launch made Australia the seventh nation to have an Earth satellite launched, and the third nation to launch one from its own territory, after the Soviet Union and the United States (the UK, Canada and Italy's satellites were also launched on American rockets unlike the French Astérix, which launched on an indigenous rocket out of Algeria).
WRESAT weighed 45 kg (99 lb) and had the form of a cone with a length of 1.59 m (5 ft 3 in) and a mouth diameter of .76 m (2 ft 6 in). It remained connected with the third rocket stage and possessed with it an overall length of 2.17 m (7 ft 1 in). WRESAT circled the Earth on a nearly polar course, until it reentered the atmosphere after 642 revolutions on 10 January 1968, over the Atlantic Ocean. The battery-operated satellite sent data during its first 73 orbits of the Earth.
What was not known to the public at the time was that the US Space Agency, as part of the USAF's Anti-Ballistic Missile program had shipped two Atlas boosters to Woomera Rocket Range to be launched against Kwajalien atoll in the Eastern Pacific. The plan was to test the ABM system with a missile launched from an unusual vector other than the usual North-East direction from the US mainland. However, the Nike Zeus programme was terminated before the two Atlas boosters could be launched from Woomera.
Richard Smith, the director of the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientic Industrial Reserch Organisation) realised what a treasure trove the two Atlas boosters represented. Marooned at Woomera, he managed to convince NASA and the Australian Government to allow their purchase at cost price. He then set the CSIRO the task of copying the boosters. The result was the creation, at a cut price of the Australian Space and ICBM Programme.
The new version of Atlas was named the Yamurru (Aboriginal for “Ghost”) as it appeared to spring from nothing, as far as the public were concerned. The US Government was just as surprised when Australia announced in March 1970 that it would be launching a new, indigenous type of launcher from Woomera into the Western Pacific Ocean. HMAS Melbourne was dispatched from Sydney to recover the capsule. It's helicopters accomplished this and the new Astronaut was revealed to the public – Greg Norman, an ex-RAAF Mirage pilot.
Having proved the credentials of the Yamurru, the CSIRO started developing a re-entry vehicle for the ICBM version. Using the data that had been assembled by the UK ICBM programme in the early 1960s, a re-entry vehicle was designed to carry a 50 kilotonne atomic warhead. This was felt to be the largest warhead that Australia would assemble easily and in sufficient numbers. A dummy warhead was flown several times and was successful to prove the CEP of the system.
Stationed deep in the centre of Australia, the Australian Missile Force represented a deterrent to any who dared to threaten the Australian nation. The locations of the numerous above ground missile shelters are not marked on any maps and the vastness of the continent prevents any potential enemy from flying over it to discover their locations. The locals are sworn to secrecy and special units of the Army, composed of mixed Indigenous Aborigines and white soldiers guard them securely.
The ModelThe model is by Australian company Horizon Models and features the Mercury capsule, all the various ICBM warheads and so on. It is easy to put together but difficult to paint properly.
