VSB-30 - "Veículo de Sondagem Booster – 30" (Booster Sounding Vehicle) is the designation of a Brazilian sounding rocket

Sounding rocket

A sounding rocket, sometimes called a research rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The origin of the term comes from nautical vocabulary, where to sound is to throw a weighted line from a ship into...

, which replaced the Skylark

Skylark (rocket)

Skylark was a British sounding rocket design. The Skylark was first launched in 1957 from Woomera, Australia and its 441st and final launch took place from Esrange, Sweden on 2 May 2005...

 rocket at Esrange

Esrange

Esrange Space Center is a rocket range and research centre located outside the town of Kiruna in northern Sweden. It is a base for scientific research with high altitude balloons, investigation of the aurora borealis, sounding rocket launches, and satellite tracking, among other things...

.

The VSB-30 is based on the VS-30 rocket with the addition of a second stage. Development started in 2000 in cooperation with DLR.
The rocket can therefore carry a payload of 400 kg to an altitude of 270 km. It has a liftoff thrust of 102 kN and a total mass of 2570 kg. It has a diametre of 0.57 m and a length of 12.6 m.

VSB-30 was first launched on October 23rd, 2004 at Alcântara Launch Center. The first launch at Esrange took place on December 1st, 2005.

Characteristics

• Length (mm) 12600
• Stages 2
• Payload Mass (kg) 400
• Diameter (mm) 570
• Total takeoff mass (kg) 2570
• Apogee (km) 270

External links

• http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/vsb30.htm
• http://www.aeb.gov.br/indexx.php?secao=lancadores