Various South African Space projects,concepts and associated equipment

Graugrun

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Part and parcel of our then nuclear weapons program, many items of which were dual use and dependent on each other. Starting with GreenSat (a spy satellite now thinly veiled as an earth observation satellite), there is no point in having nuclear tipped MRBM/ICBM's without the necessary surveillance and early warning to know when to use them.

So GreenSat was built (a couple of them actually) as part of a constellation of spy satellites for South Africa. Naturally with the change of power looming in the early 90's, the Americans in particular where rather uneasy about this sort of technology and very particularly of their launch vehicles, landing up in the hands of a new government that had close ties with countries like Cuba/Russia/China/North Korea etc.

So massive pressure was put on us to shut it all down , with the only viable chance of survival being to commercialise it - something that apparently held promise but ultimately proved unsuccessful (we also denounced our nuclear weapons program and destroyed the 6 +1/2 bombs we declared - with some observers stating that these were just the tip of our nuclear weapons iceberg).

The article from Engineering News (South Africa) gives some interesting insight, although it's deduction is incorrect in that we wanted foreign partners to pay for the full development of GreenSat (we had already built at least 3 of them), I think that the rest is fairly close to what happened: http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/why-greensat-stayed-grounded-2000-07-07

I thought nothing much of our space capabilities, however in recent years details of some of the countries we have assisted, and supplied our own built items to - for their own space programs is a bit of an eye opener - more on that later though.
 

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There is a story I once heard, but never had a chance to follow up on - the manufacture of Space Shuttle Nosecones were subcontracted to Vereeniging Refractories.
Supposedly they were the only company with the tooling to machine Carbon Carbon on that scale.


It would be pretty impressive if that was the case.
 
compton_effect said:
There is a story I once heard, but never had a chance to follow up on - the manufacture of Space Shuttle Nosecones were subcontracted to Vereeniging Refractories.
Supposedly they were the only company with the tooling to machine Carbon Carbon on that scale.


It would be pretty impressive if that was the case.

A nice thought, however I sincerely doubt the Yanks would farm anything as sensitive like that out to any other country, especially to the likes of a country like South Africa (if they could find us that is... ;) ).

Some more info regards us re-starting our program - despite what the article says AFAIK the RSA-3 MRBM was test launched - article courtesy of Engineering News (South Africa) July 2009.
 

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FW de Klerk really wasn't a big thinker or negotiator.

Either way, is there a particular reason they feel the need to differentiate in the article the SumbandilaSat satellite mentioned as South Africas first "official" satellite?

SUNSAT was launched a full decade previously.

And of course, there was the other, much larger, earlier satellite design...
 
kaiserbill said:
And of course, there was the other, much larger, earlier satellite design...

GreenSat - which they seemed to have set up some sort of production line for - If this pic had not come off of a site of ex-Houwtech guys still offering their services (and labeling this pic specifically as being GreenSat, one of their previous projects), I would have simply thought it's a pic of the Israeli Offeq/Ofek satellite series. This pic would date to around 1993 or so as a guess.

What would they be doing with so many satellites (at least 4) - selling them off to various other countries, who would launch them then - or was that meant to be us?
 

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The inside of the brochure of the newly formed SpaceTeq division of Denel Dynamics (formed from a section of Stellenbosch University and the former Sunspace - who in turn were also fed from the defunct Howteq).

It covers most of the satellite development within the correct time-frames and chronological order.
 

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Article on GreenSat from Flight International June 1994 - the 2nd last paragraph gives a good hint as to why it properly never got launched - no one likes competition...

Interesting that they mention the UAE - looks like they might have been one of the interested parties.
 

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The one thing that seems to be hammered home with every South African project - is that we have the technological know-how, the skills, but not the political clout to be able to play against established players.
 
compton_effect said:
The one thing that seems to be hammered home with every South African project - is that we have the technological know-how, the skills, but not the political clout to be able to play against established players.

Amen to that!
 

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A nice detailed article on the latest South African Space program developments - including this interesting tid-bit!

"In the 1980s the Overberg Test Range in the Western Cape was used for space launches. Four South African space rockets were built, and three launched between 1989 and 1990, but without useful payloads. In the 1990s funding for South Africa’s space programme dried up and as a requirement to join the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in 1995, South Africa was forced to destroy much of its key facilities and technologies, including the launch pad at Overberg. However, the site has retained most of its space launch capabilities, including mission control centre, radar and telemetry tracking facilities, and range safety systems."

http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51386:south-africa-to-increase-focus-on-space&catid=35:Aerospace&Itemid=107
 
The proposed EO-SAT NG (my understanding is that it has not yet been completely built, due to the usual lack of funds). Should it get full funding to be developed, I'm sure that it will properly have a few different components, that are also currently being developed and refined.
 

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Has there been any real changes in the R&D funding situation with the recent change in government?
 
Has there been any real changes in the R&D funding situation with the recent change in government?
No - it has gotten even worse... The levels of corruption are on a scale that defies belief, in fact you would think I'm making up complete fantasy stories if I had to detail just a few of the almost daily incidents that come out in the news (at least our papers are still reasonable independent..), so bottom line is no, from when Jacob Zuma became our president about 10 years ago, then R&D funding and military equipment purchases really started drying up (except for one or two foreign deals, in which they could get good kick-backs). So now everything gets developed very slowly and on a shoe-string budget, and only when a foreign client takes an interest in and funds a particular project, does it get going and completed. Still things could be worse, so there's no use complaining too much...!
 
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From Graugruns link above, the previous missile programme saw 4 solid fuel rockets built, with 3 launched in 1989-90, and the RSA-3 which is displayed in the SAAF museum with its erector.
These were military rockets, with a sideline view on commercial launches eventually.
All that know-how and knowledge/industrial base just thrown away.....
 
This might have some sort of tie in with my post #18 above... Of personal interest to me was this piece from the article "the research group was founded in 2009 and has focused on developing hybrid rockets. The rockets use a mix of liquid and solid propellants, to launch sounding equipment into space".

SA rocket launches almost 18 km into the air – setting a new African record​


https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/a...g-a-new-african-record-2021-03-10/rep_id:4136
 

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So two more new type Nano satellites are to be developed and launched - the interesting piece in this article for me was this "Meanwhile, plans are also under way to develop Denel’s Overberg Test Range, in the Western Cape, as a facility to launch future CubeSats developed by the CPUT"

Science, innovation dept invests R18.9m in nanosatellites​


https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/a...pt-invests-r189m-in-nanosatellites-2021-03-25
 
One of the areas (of Space) that South Africa seems to be thriving in to some degree, is in terms of imagers for Nano and Micro satellites.. I posted a bit about Simera above (post #20), however here's a bit on the Dragonfly Aerospace's Optical options and some of their new products still in development..

This statement on their website caught my eye:

"We are planning a production line with up to 16 satellites being built in parallel and up to 48 satellites produced per year. The facility is designed to build satellites from 50kg to 600kg and imagers from 1U CubeSat imagers to 400mm aperture sub-metre imagers. It is intended to serve commercial and civil space customers."

They have also signed up into some interesting international partnerships...!

https://dragonflyaerospace.com/#home
 

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Some of the Hydrazine thrusters, high pressure hydrazine tanks and solenoid valves developed for our Space (and to some extent the Nuclear weapons) program. Interestingly and obviously due to both sensitivity of potential clients and perhaps why they were developed in the first place etc, they have listed an address in New Jersey USA on some of the brochures, and on others add a South African office as being the Head Office..

I got these brochures in the mid 1990's IIRC..
 

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Now, when I think of South Africa-I think of mines. Are there horizontal shafts that could lend themselves to sled or gun launch? Ideally, a tube running out of the Pacific up the Andean slope with geothermal power might be gradual enough for people-but smaller South African LVs might use a mIne shaft for a run-and go...with underground compressed air storage like we tried in Alabama. Diamond companies might look at that. Old Elevator shafts might allow a narrow first stage's whole flight profile be undergroud-and sled captured....only the upper stage emerging above ground level. Remember-shuttle SRBs went about 44 km high-and 36 km tunnels are under construction. I repeat-a first stage burn could take place underground--open pit mines for flame trenches...or to be filled by debris sliding down an upward sloping tunnel that needs no conveyor-then cleared as a trench as the stage slides back down. I can just see an opening atop the Tibetan plateau by an airfield-lots of tunnels. They have the manpower to allow a first stage to work without flying. Hey Boring Company! Falcon 9 needs a slide! Or Super Heavy-Sea Dragon? SLBM tech with no salt-no pad. Geothermal? First stage slows with magnets and the second stage speeds up-perhaps passing each other in different tunnels to save the payload...first stage sliding down as gravity gain.
 
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Yeah Publiusr - that's certainley an interesting point, we do have a lot of the deepest mines in the world (many are now defunct), and our position on the earth would allow for some interesting orbits to be achieved for both us and foreign customers. However with our present government's state of ineptitude, corruptiveness and just plain downright incompetence, I seriously doubt anything like what you describe could even be considered.

I am even surprised at the article below, in that we can even get some sort of funding for a couple of locally developed Cube Sats to be launched... Still one can only live in hope..

Edit: All of this is to keep track of all those pesky Chinese fishing vessels, who are illegally plundering our fishing resources off of our coast (they are supposed to be our friends..!?), and who have the nasty habit of switching off their transponders at night...

Maritime Domain Awareness Satellite constellation satellites due for launch​


https://www.defenceweb.co.za/aerosp...lite-constellation-satellites-due-for-launch/
 

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Greensat..
This is a great picture, thanks for sharing. I have the "those who had the power" book, and this is included. I always wondered about OTHER documentation of the satellite and the SLV (RSA-3) or the Arniston ballistic missile. Are there any good quality pictures of these systems? The Vehicle prior to launch, or preparations for static fire for example?
 
Greensat..
This is a great picture, thanks for sharing. I have the "those who had the power" book, and this is included. I always wondered about OTHER documentation of the satellite and the SLV (RSA-3) or the Arniston ballistic missile. Are there any good quality pictures of these systems? The Vehicle prior to launch, or preparations for static fire for example?
Voskhod - I certainly wish that we had more photos and documentation available! "Those who had the power" is certainly the best, most revealing and accurate book out there in terms of many of our secret programs, especially the ballistic and nuclear stuff. We are priviledged to have one of the authors active on this site (Thorn - https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/members/thorn.30324/ ) - hopefully he can weigh in on some of your questions...

My picture in post #5 should have raised more eyebrows, as it clearly shows at least 4 Greensats in production... That should speak volumes as to our then space program!

The famous photo, often claimed to be of the supposed launch of one of our ICBM/MRBM missiles from Arniston (a coastal town), appears to rather be the launch of a U.S. MX Peacekeeper ICBM.. (see photo below).

I have posted some more info on our MRBM/ICBM's in the South African Missile thread: https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/th...-pgms-prototypes-projects-concepts-etc.21179/
 

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Greensat..
This is a great picture, thanks for sharing. I have the "those who had the power" book, and this is included. I always wondered about OTHER documentation of the satellite and the SLV (RSA-3) or the Arniston ballistic missile. Are there any good quality pictures of these systems? The Vehicle prior to launch, or preparations for static fire for example?
Voskhod - I certainly wish that we had more photos and documentation available! "Those who had the power" is certainly the best, most revealing and accurate book out there in terms of many of our secret programs, especially the ballistic and nuclear stuff. We are priviledged to have one of the authors active on this site (Thorn - https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/members/thorn.30324/ ) - hopefully he can weigh in on some of your questions...

My picture in post #5 should have raised more eyebrows, as it clearly shows at least 4 Greensats in production... That should speak volumes as to our then space program!

The famous photo, often claimed to be of the supposed launch of one of our ICBM/MRBM missiles from Arniston (a coastal town), appears to rather be the launch of a U.S. MX Peacekeeper ICBM.. (see photo below).

I have posted some more info on our MRBM/ICBM's in the South African Missile thread: https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/th...-pgms-prototypes-projects-concepts-etc.21179/
Thanks!
 
Years ago, this picture of RSA missile was published. It is NOT RSA-3, rather a shorter version, perhaps a member of the Arniston missile family.
 

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Years ago, this picture of RSA missile was published. It is NOT RSA-3, rather a shorter version, perhaps a member of the Arniston missile family.
That's a very interesting picture voskhod - I'd like to spend a bit of time comparing it to the RSA-3 pics...

Here's what one of the sites covering our space/nuclear program has to say about what happened.. (link below). Including what they claim to be a pic of the launch of RSA-2.

Israel and South Africa collaborated closely in rocket technology in the 1970´s and 1980´s. As a cover for and supplement to the missile development, a space program was funded. This would use the RSA-3 and RSA-4 launchers. Following the decision in 1989 to cancel the nuclear weapons program, the missile programs were allowed to continue until 1992, when military funding ended and South Africa officially ended its missile collaboration with Israel. The RSA-3 and RSA-4 space launchers were therefore cancelled in June 1994.

The first two rockets, designated RSA-1 and RSA-2, were test-flown on ballistic missile trajectories, their flights ending in the sea: 01.06.1989: altidude 100 km; 06.07.1989: altitude 300 km; 19.11.1990: altitude 300 km
The third was modified into a satellite launch vehicle RSA-3 but never launched. To reassure the international community, the administration of President de Klerk scrapped the MRBM/SLV program. The physical infrastructure was demolished, and the technical specialists were transferred, retrenched, retired and some resigned – a significant number emigrated.

The RSA-3 launcher (sy. Arniston) began development in the 1980´s. The RSA-3 was developed by the Houwteq. The Overberg Test Range near Cape Town was used for test flights. The first and second stages of RSA-3 used the same rocket motor loaded with 9 tonnes of propellant. The first stage used vanes in the exhaust for steering during the first 16 to 20 seconds of flight, after which the fins at the base of the vehicle provided aerodynamic control. The second stage had a higher expansion nozzle and may have been equipped with TVC for steering. Atop the second stage was a guidance / orientation / spin-up bus for the third stage and payload. Total mass of this bus and the payload shroud was 583 kg. After second stage burnout, the upper stage package entered a 148 second ballistic coast. A sideways trajectory deflection was made and the shroud was jettisoned. Then the third stage and payload were spun up, following by separation of the bus. The spin-stabilised third stage then made the 4,555 m/s burn to place the payload into orbit. The composite payload fairing for the RSA-3 was 4.5 m long, 1.3 m in diameter, and had a mass of 57 kg.

The RSA-4 launcher was planned follow-on to the RSA-3. A large new first stage optimised the vehicle and more than doubled the payload in comparison to the RSA-3. The planned first stage should be a new development. The second and third stage were essentially those of the RSA-3.

Houwteq was the prime contractor in the RSA space industry. Houwteq is offering a comprehensive launch service with its RSA-4 launch vehicle from Overberg Test Range for MEO earth satellite constellations. This RSA-4 comprise three solid propellant boost stage and a hydrazine powered fourth stage for orbit injection. It can lift a mass of 0.550t into a circular orbit at a high of 1,400 km or 0.570 t into 800 km polar orbit. Provision is made for a payload volume of 10.4 m3.

The South African RSA-3 launch vehicle was designed to place a small surveillance satellite, named Greensat, of 330 kg mass into a 41 degree, 212 x 460 km orbit around the earth. Following cancellation of the military missile program in 1989, the project was reoriented to civilian uses, with the declared missions of vehicle tracking and regional planning.
The solar array for the satellite had a mass of under 7 kg and with three panels could supply 295 W of power. Certain technology on the satellite was probably derived from that of the Israeli Ofeq satellites. However Greensat was over twice the mass of the Ofeq, due to the favorable launch azimuth for the RSA-3 launch vehicle from South Africa as compared to due-West launch of the similar Shavit booster from Israel.
Houwteq (from 1992, Denel) attempted to continue marketing the RSA-3 and RSA-4 as space launch vehicles and repurposed the surveillance satellite. But orders were never forthcoming and the entire program was cancelled.

http://www.b14643.de/Spacerockets_1/Rest_World/RSA_LV/Description/Frame.htm
 

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