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On this day in space! Oct. 28, 1971: Britain launches its 1st satellite Prospero into space on a Black Arrow rocket
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On Oct. 28, 1971, the United Kingdom launched Prospero, its first satellite, from the Woomera Range Complex in Australia. The 66-kilogram satellite, also called X-3, lifted off on a British-built Black Arrow rocket. It remains the first and only British satellite launched by a native rocket.
Six earlier British satellites launched from the United States on NASA rockets. Prospero's mission was the fourth and final Black Arrow flight, using a three-stage rocket nearly 13 meters tall. The satellite was designed to study how the space environment affects communications satellites.
It tested solar cells, telemetry systems, and a micrometeoroid detector to assess threats from tiny space particles. The launch succeeded, but the rocket's final stage struck Prospero after separation. The collision broke one of four radio antennas, yet the satellite still worked until 1973.
Prospero flew in an elliptical orbit between 522 kilometers and 1,300 kilometers above Earth. The Black Arrow program had two failures and two successes before it was canceled. The mission nevertheless secured Prospero a place in British spaceflight history.
Regular communications ended in 1973, though the satellite was contacted at least once yearly through 1996, the BBC reported. Prospero remains in orbit today. In 2021, Scotland-based startup Skyrora announced plans to retrieve and deorbit it.
Skyrora intends to use a space tug to rendezvous with Prospero, latch onto it, and pull it from orbit. The company aims to launch its Skyrora XL rocket from SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland. Skyrora founder and CEO Volodymyr Levykin said recovering Prospero would demonstrate responsibility for launched objects and commitment to sustainable space use.
