Editing WRESAT

{{Short description|First Australian satellite}}
{{Infobox spaceflight
| name               = WRESAT
| image              = Redstone Sparta CC-2029 1.jpg
| image_caption      = [[Sparta (rocket)|Redstone Sparta]] rocket with WRESAT mounted on top (the black cone), {{ca}} November, 1967
| mission_type       = 
| operator           = 
| website            = 
| COSPAR_ID          = 
| SATCAT             = 
| mission_duration   = Data: 73 orbits<br/>Total: 642 orbits<br/>Total: ~42&nbsp;days
| spacecraft_bus     = 
| manufacturer       = [[Weapons Research Establishment]]
| dry_mass           = 
| launch_mass        = {{convert|45|kg|lb}}<br>{{convert|72.5|kg|lb}} (with the third stage){{sfn|Morton|2017|p=488}}
| power              = <!-- [[watt]]s -->
| launch_date        = {{start-date|29 November 1967, 04:49}}&nbsp;[[UTC]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Redstone Sparta {{!}} WRESAT |url=https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/NextSpaceflight.com/launches/details/1388 |access-date=2024-07-20 |website=nextspaceflight.com |language=en}}</ref>
| launch_rocket      = [[Sparta (rocket)|Sparta]]
| launch_site        = [[Woomera Test Range|Woomera]] [[Woomera Test Range Launch Area 8|LA-8]]
| launch_contractor  = 
| disposal_type      = 
| deactivated        = 
| last_contact       = <!-- {{end-date|[insert date here]}} -->
| decay_date         = 10 January 1968
| orbit_epoch        = 
| orbit_reference    = [[geocentric orbit|Geocentric]]
| orbit_regime       = [[Low Earth orbit|Low Earth]]
| orbit_periapsis    = 169 km{{sfn|Morton|2017|p=493}}
| orbit_apoapsis     = 1245 km{{sfn|Morton|2017|p=493}}
| orbit_inclination  = 83.3°
| orbit_period       = 99 minutes{{sfn|Morton|2017|p=493}}
| apsis              = gee
}}

'''WRESAT''', or '''Weapons Research Establishment Satellite''', was [[Australia|Australia's]] first satellite. It was named after its designer, the [[Defence Science and Technology Group|Weapons Research Establishment]]. WRESAT was launched on 29 November 1967 using a modified American [[Redstone (rocket)|Redstone]] rocket with two upper stages, known as a [[Sparta (rocket)|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]]. 

After this launch, Australia became the seventh nation to have a satellite and the third nation to launch from its own territory,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=First time in History|url=http://www.tbs-satellite.com/tse/online/thema_first.html|encyclopedia=The Satellite Encyclopedia|access-date=15 April 2011}}</ref> after the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[United States]] (the UK's, Canada's and Italy's satellites were also launched on American rockets, unlike the French ''[[Astérix (satellite)|Astérix]],'' which launched on an [[Diamant|indigenous rocket]] out of [[Algeria]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://spacearchaeology.org/?p=499|title=Asterix-1 – Space Archaeology|website=spacearchaeology.org|access-date=2016-11-15}}</ref>).

WRESAT was a cone-shaped satellite weighing {{Convert|45|kg|lb}}, with a length of {{convert|1.59|m|abbr=on}} and a diameter of {{convert|0.76|m|abbr=on}}. It remained connected to the rocket's third stage and had an overall length of {{convert|2.17|m|abbr=on}}. It carried upper atmospheric radiation measurement experiments designed in the [[University of Adelaide]]. The first stage fell into the  [[Simpson Desert]], but the second's reentry over the [[Gulf of Carpentaria]] was unobserved.<ref>[http://aso.gov.au/titles/sponsored-films/weapons-research-establishment/clip1/ National Film Archive film clips of WRESAT]</ref>

WRESAT, which bore an early forward-bounding [[Australian Made logo|kangaroo logo]], operated in a nearly polar orbit and reentered the atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean on 10 January 1968 after 642 revolutions. The battery-operated satellite successfully sent back data to [[NASA]] and Australian ground tracking stations during its first 73 revolutions of the Earth.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071225084001/http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~woomera/wresat.htm Synopsis of WRESAT]</ref>

Today, this achievement is rarely remembered in Australian textbooks or collections of major 20th century news stories and so remains largely unknown to the general Australian populace.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Spaceflight}}
* [[Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes]]

== References ==
<references/>
==Literature==
*{{Cite book |last=Morton |first=Peter |url=https://www.dst.defence.gov.au/publication/fire-across-the-desert |title=Fire across the desert: Woomera and the Anglo-Australian Joint Project, 1946-1980 |date=2017 |publisher=Defence Science and Technology |isbn=978-0-644-06068-4 |location=Canberra |pages=483-496 |chapter=WRESAT: Australia Joins the Space Club |chapter-url=https://www.dst.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/documents/Fire%20Across%20the%20Desert.pdf#page=515}}
==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071225084001/http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~woomera/wresat.htm Synopsis of WRESAT]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111011024424/http://astronautix.com/lvs/sparta.htm History of SPARTA test series]
* [https://archive.today/20130208231858/http://www.vitalmis.com/blog/files/4b3f93a41e42beb22b018e3c88878569-43.php A personal reminiscence of WRESAT] (Broken Link)
* [http://aso.gov.au/titles/sponsored-films/weapons-research-establishment/clip1/ National Film Archive film clips of WRESAT]
* [http://digital.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/nodes/view/2806#idx22933 WRESAT]
{{Orbital launches in 1967}}

[[Category:Satellites formerly orbiting Earth]]
[[Category:Spacecraft launched in 1967]]
[[Category:First artificial satellites of a country]]
[[Category:1967 establishments in Australia]]
[[Category:Satellites of Australia]]