Hi Bill Many thanks for your reply and personal recollections....great stuff. Its amazing how well preserved this stuff is after all these years. I wonder how much more hardware is lying around waiting to be found ? John ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Frost" <billfrost@bigpond.com> To: "'John Locker'" <john@satcom.freeserve.co.uk>; <SeeSat-L@satobs.org> Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2008 9:20 AM Subject: RE: Rocket wreckage found in outback > Hi John, > > I saw a number of Blue Streak missile launches when I lived at Woomera, > but > we moved out the year before that one. I'd hazard a guess it has been > correctly identified for these reasons: > > * A large portion of a Blue Streak rocket body from one of the > launches is on display at the Woomera Museum having been recovered from > the > Simpson Desert. It is in similar condition to the photo. > > * According to 'Fire Across the Desert', a history of the Woomera > rocket range, page 468, "The first stage [of Blue Streak] had to be made > either to fall 'short' into the Simpson Desert, whose northern limit lay > some 795 kilometres from Woomera, or 'long' into the Gulf of Carpentaria." > The Simpson Desert was chosen, at the cost of reduced performance. > > * Having ridden a mountain bike through the Simpson Desert, in 47 > degree Celsius heat, it is a very dry, arid, sandy environment. A lot of > objects are preserved in that environment - two years ago someone found a > perfectly preserved metal plate from the Burke and Wills exploration of > 1861. > > Cheers, > > Bill > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: John Locker [mailto:john@satcom.freeserve.co.uk] > Sent: Thursday, 5 June 2008 12:11 AM > To: SeeSat-L@satobs.org > Subject: Re: Rocket wreckage found in outback > > Great story and some amazing pictures. > > I'm no expert on the weather conditions which prevail in that region , but > the remains don't look like they have spent 40 years or more open to the > ravages of extreme temperatures. > Having said that , it may be that its just those conditions which have led > to the hardware staying in an almost pristine state. > > > Could this be "wreckage" from a much more recent launch I wonder ???? > > John > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Michael & Caroline Rice" <mcrice@bigpond.com> > To: "'Seesat List'" <SeeSat-L@satobs.org> > Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2008 1:20 PM > Subject: Rocket wreckage found in outback > > >> From Australian ABC News >> http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/04/2265252.htm >> Also links to video >> http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200806/r257547_1067056.asx >> And photo http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200806/r257563_1067126.jpg >> >> Rocket wreckage found in outback >> =========================================================== >> >> Surveyors in the Simspon Desert have discovered what is believed to be >> part >> of a blue streak rocket launched at Woomera in 1966. >> >> Simon Fanning and his geological survey team were flying over the Simpson >> Desert when they saw what they believed was part of satellite in the >> scrub. >> >> "It turns out this wreck is not in fact a satellite but a rocket - at >> least >> a chunk of one anyway" he said. >> >> "I'd seen ET as a kid, Star Wars and all that stuff, but to actually find >> something was really different." >> >> Dr Alice Gorman of Flinders University in Adelaide believes the rocket >> could >> be one of 10 blue streak rockets launched at Woomera in South Australia >> in >> the 1960s by the European Launcher Development Organisation. >> >> "The blue streak's very distinctive and the location in the Simpson >> Desert >> and the details on the rocket indicate it's most likely from one of the >> two >> 1966 launches" she said. >> >> Mr Fanning is reluctant to disclose the precise location of the find, but >> the ABC has found a EBay site offering the GPS coordinates for sale. >> >> There is private collector interest in blue streaks, but Dr Gorman says >> this >> discovery belongs in a museum. >> >> "There was only a handful of them launched here in Australia" she said. >> >> "I think it would be appropriate to put this one in a museum." >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: >> http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html >> >> >> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: > http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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