A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to launch instruments from 48 to 145 km above the surface of the Earth, the altitude generally between weather balloons and satellites; the maximum altitude for balloons is about 40 km and the minimum for satellites is approximately 121 km. Certain sounding rockets have an apogee between 1,000 and 1,500 km, such as the Black Brant X and XII, which is the maximum apogee of their class. Sounding rockets often use military surplus rocket motors. NASA routinely flies the Terrier Mk 70 boosted Improved Orion, lifting 270–450-kg (600–1,000-pound) payloads into the exoatmospheric region between 97 and 201 km.
Vostok was a family of rockets derived from the Soviet R-7 Semyorka ICBM and was designed for the human spaceflight programme. This family of rockets launched the first artificial satellite and the first crewed spacecraft (Vostok) in human history. It was a subset of the R-7 family of rockets.
The Black Brant is a family of Canadian-designed sounding rockets originally built by Bristol Aerospace, since absorbed by Magellan Aerospace in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Over 800 Black Brants of various versions have been launched since they were first produced in 1961, and the type remains one of the most popular sounding rockets. They have been repeatedly used by the Canadian Space Agency and NASA.
Atlas II was a member of the Atlas family of launch vehicles, which evolved from the successful Atlas missile program of the 1950s. The Atlas II was a direct evolution of the Atlas I, featuring longer first-stage tanks, higher-performing engines, and the option for strap-on solid rocket boosters. It was designed to launch payloads into low Earth orbit, geosynchronous transfer orbit or geosynchronous orbit. Sixty-three launches of the Atlas II, IIA and IIAS models were carried out between 1991 and 2004; all sixty-three launches were successes, making the Atlas II a highly reliable space launch system. The Atlas line was continued by the Atlas III, used between 2000 and 2005, and the Atlas V, which is still in use as of 2024.
The RT-23 Molodets was a cold-launched, three-stage, solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile developed and produced before 1991 by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Dnipro, Soviet Union. It came in silo- and rail-based variants, and was armed with 10 MIRV warheads of 550 kt yield. All missiles were decommissioned by 2005 in accordance with the START II.
S-Series is a fleet of sounding rockets funded by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that have been in service since the late 1960s. Manufactured by IHI Aerospace and operated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). The nomenclature of the S-Series rockets is the number of "S"s indicates the number of stages, and the following number details the diameter of the craft in millimeters. For example, the S-310 is a single stage rocket with a diameter of 310 mm.
Stasiun Peluncuran Roket or Staspro is a rocket launch site managed by the Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN). It is located at Pameungpeuk Beach in the Garut Regency on West Java near Cilautereun and has been active since 1965 to perform engine tests and launch sounding rockets.
The RX-250-LPN is an Indonesian sounding rocket, part of the RX rocket family. It was launched six times between 1987 and 2007.
Blok D is an upper stage used on Soviet and later Russian expendable launch systems, including the N1, Proton-K and Zenit.
This is a timeline of first orbital launches by country. While a number of countries, incl. Canada, Australia, Germany, Brazil, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Argentina, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, the Philippines, Egypt, Spain, Mexico, Thailand and Chile, have built or launched satellites, as of 2022, eleven countries, incl. the United States, Japan, China, India, Iran, Israel, France, the United Kingdom and South Korea, have had the capability to send objects into orbit with their own launch vehicles. Russia and Ukraine inherited the capability of the space launchers and satellites from the Soviet Union, following its dissolution in 1991. Russia launches its rockets from its own and foreign (Kazakh) spaceports.
The National Institute of Aeronautics and Space was the Indonesian government's space agency. It was established on 27 November 1963, by former Indonesian president Sukarno, after one year's existence of a previous, informal space agency organization. LAPAN is responsible for long-term civilian and military aerospace research.
Satellite Orbiting Rocket Number 420, or Pengorbitan-1, was a proposed space launch vehicle under consideration in Indonesia from 2008 to 2012. Recent developments have focused on a larger core stage called RX-420 and a smaller upper stage called RX-320. Therefore, this particular version RPS-420 is no longer being pursued. However, the goal remains valid: Indonesia aims to reach orbit with self-made rockets and satellites in order to become an Asian space power.
The LR87 was an American liquid-propellant rocket engine used on the first stages of Titan intercontinental ballistic missiles and launch vehicles. Composed of twin motors with separate combustion chambers and turbopump machinery, it is considered a single unit and was never flown as a single combustion chamber engine or designed for this. The LR87 first flew in 1959.
Simorgh, also called Safir-2, is an Iranian expendable launch vehicle under development. It is the successor of the Safir, Iran's first space launch vehicle. Its mission is to carry heavier satellites into higher orbit than Safir.
Morotai Island is an island in the Halmahera group of eastern Indonesia's Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is one of Indonesia's northernmost islands.
Capricornio was a Spanish satellite launch vehicle developed by the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA) in the 1990s. It was intended to be Spain's first launcher.
Telkom-3 is an Indonesian communications satellite which failed to reach its target orbit due to a launch failure on 6 August 2012. It was built by ISS Reshetnev for Indonesian telecommunications provider PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia. It was based on the Ekspress-1000H bus and had 32 C band transponders and 16 Ku-band transponders. It was due to be located in geosynchronous orbit at 118° East above the equator. The satellite reentered the atmosphere and was destroyed on 5 February 2021.
Kartika I is an Indonesian sounding rocket built by LAPAN, AURI, Bandung Institute of Technology, and Pindad under PRIMA project. This rocket was launched on August 14, 1964, in LAPAN Rocket Launching Station Pameungpeuk, West Java, becoming the first sounding rocket ever launched in Indonesia, and the fourth in Asia after Japan through Kappa Rocket, China with T-7 and Pakistan with the Rehbar series.
KVD-1 was an upper stage LOX/LH2 cryogenic engine developed by the Isayev Design Bureau (now KB KhIMMASH) of Russia in the early 1960s. It is a modified version of the RD-56, developed for a never-completed cryogenic upper stage of the N-1 super-heavy lift rocket, with the goal of enabling crewed lunar missions by the USSR. The KVD-1 produces a thrust of 7.5 tonnes.
Telkom 4, also known as Merah Putih, is an Indonesian geostationary communication satellite built by Space Systems/Loral that is located at an orbital position of 108° East and is operated by PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk. The satellite is based on the SSL 1300 satellite bus and has a life expectancy of 16 years. It was launched on 7 August 2018, at 05:18 UTC or 12:18 Jakarta Time, using the SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 launcher from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, United States.
RX-320
RX-420
RX-550
