Hello All,

Here is scale data on the Australian Cockatoo Mk. 1 - Mk. 4 sounding rockets, including website links and Kerrie Dougherty's (attached) paper, "Upper atmospheric research at Woomera: the Australian-built sounding rockets." Included (please see attached below) is a photograph of a Cockatoo sounding rocket at launch from Woomera (from Gunter's Space Page: http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/cockatoo.htm ). This photograph is from Peter Morton's book "Fire Across the Desert." As with the Kookaburra sounding rocket, the fins of the Cockatoo were mounted directly onto the nozzle venturi of each stage. Also:

I've compiled (and derived, in some cases) dimensions for the various Cockatoo marks. These are as follows:

On pages 10 and 11 of Ms. Dougherty's paper, she lists the different motor types used in the four marks. The Cockatoo Mk. 1 used a Gosling I first stage and a Lupus 1 second stage (identical to the motors used in the HAD and Kookaburra Mk.1, respectively). The Cockatoo first stage had four rectangular 30 cm X 45 cm fins (I think the fins were 12" X 18" in size, because the Cockatoo was made before Australia went metric). Ms. Dougherty's article does not mention the Cockatoo second stage fins' dimensions, but I think they were 6" X 6" square (the inch-based equivalent of the 15 cm X 15 cm square dimensions of the Lupus 1 [Kookaburra Mk.1] first stage fins, as given in her paper). The Cockatoo launch photograph (from Peter Morton's book "Fire Across the Desert"--it's also on Gunter's Space Page and elsewhere online [linked below]) also shows square fins on the Cockatoo's second stage, which appear to be this size. The Cockatoo Mk. 1 had an 89 cm (almost exactly 35") long payload section (carrying a maximum of 18.1 kg), and the overall length of the vehicle was 6.24 m. It could reach an apogee of 130 km. In addition:

The Cockatoo Mk. 2 used a Gosling I first stage and a Lupus 2 second stage (which was identical to the Kookaburra Mk. 2's Lupus 2 first stage motor). This vehicle had a longer payload section (102 cm [which is almost exactly 40"] long), and could reach 145 km with a 21 kg payload. Only four Cockatoo Mk. 2s were flown before a critical shortage of Gosling I motors forced the WRE to substitute ballasted Gosling IV rocket motors (which were otherwise the same as the Gosling IV rocket motors that were used as the first stage of the Aero-High sounding rocket) for the Gosling I motors; the Gosling IV motors carried about 100 kg of ballast each. As well:

The Gosling IV/Lupus 2 motor combination became the Cockatoo Mk. 3, which had essentially the same payload capacity, vehicle weight, and apogee as the Cockatoo Mk. 2. The Cockatoo Mk. 4 was a slightly "de-rated" companion to the Mk. 3. The Cockatoo Mk. 4 used a Gosling IV first stage and a Lupus 1 second stage. Its payload section was shortened to 35 cm (which is almost exactly 13.75"), and its payload capacity and peak altitude were 16 kg and 135 km, respectively. When the Kookaburra Mk. 3 entered service, its higher performance enabled it to take over the Cockatoo's missions, and the Cockatoo sounding rocket was retired. Plus:

This page (see: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/col...ase/?irn=143516 ) from the Powerhouse Museum's website shows a sectioned Lupus rocket motor (the Lupus photo [which is also attached below] shows the green band around its front end quite well, which--knowing the motor is 5" in diameter--would enable the green band's width and its distance from the front end of the motor to be determined. Below are two links to information on--and photographs of--the Cockatoo sounding rocket, and Ms. Dougherty's paper (a PDF) is attached to this message. Here are the links:

Cockatoo sounding rocket
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en...0.0.piIDTzsNoYc

Gunter's Space Page (which covers all areas of rocketry and space flight)
http://space.skyrocket.de/directori...r_australia.htm

I hope this material will be helpful.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Attached Files

The Australian-built sounding rockets.pdf (142.8 KB, 708 views)

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