This is part of my British Aviation 1945-75 essay, in which a British launched satellite beats Sputnik one by up to 3 months. However, it doesn't allow for the Americans taking the British project more seriously than they did the Soviet Union and accelerating their efforts in response. Also I wrote it about 2 years ago before I knew more about the Europa project than I now do.
a) Black Knight and Blue Streak
Westland's Saunders Roe Division didn't build the Princess flying boat, SR.53 and SR.177. Instead it concentrated on helicopters and ballistic missiles. Thus the Black Knight research rocket made its first flight in 1950 rather than 1958. In common with the real world 25 missiles were built of which 22 were launched between 1950 and 1957.
In the real world Westland proposed the 54" diameter Black Knight Mk 3 to follow on from the 36" diameter Mk 1 and 2 versions, but the Government decided to buy the Black Arrow small satellite launcher because it did not have the money for both projects. Instead the Project Sparta RTV programme which Black Prince Mk 3 was intended to support used second-hand Redstone rockets bought from the Americans. In this version of history the Black Knight Mk 3 was proposed 8 years earlier and was operational by 1958.
Black Knight was built to test re-entry test vehicles for the Blue Streak ballistic missile and was begun 8 years earlier because Blue Streak was also begun 8 years earlier. In the real world the first launch was scheduled to take place in the last quarter of 1960, but that does not mean it happened in the last quarter of 1952 in this version of history. This is because the Government bought ballistic missile technology from the USA to accelerate the development programme. The real Blue Streak and its Rolls Royce RZ.2 engine were based technology purchased from America, that is the Atlas ICBM and the Rocketdyne S-3D engine
[1]. There was no Americans technology to buy in 1947 so the British engineers had to start from scratch. I half remember reading that buying American technology saved 2 years, but I have deliberately been more conservative by putting the first test launch in the last quarter of 1956 rather than the end of 1954.
Blue Streak entered RAF service in 1958 and 60 were deployed in place of the American Thor missiles used in the real world. In common with the American missiles these missiles were deployed on vulnerable open launch pads and galloping technology meant they were stood down in 1963.
b) Black Arrow and Black Prince
In the real world the British Government decided that it could not afford to a national satellite launcher because we did not have the money to pay for the R&D and the number of national satellites was too small to make economical use of production and launch facilities. Ironically the UK ended up developing the technology with Black Arrow and ELDO-A (Europa I/II) and threw it away. In this version of history the earlier start on Blue Streak and a huge amount of hindsight mean the British taxpayer gets more value for money.
In this version of history the British Government decided to launch a series of satellites during the International Geophysical Year (1st July 1957 to 31st December 1958). In the middle of 1955 the RAE presented it with the following alternatives:
- Black Arrow The small satellite launcher eventually built in the real world. First launch 1958
- Black Prince Mk 1 Blue Streak plus Black Knight (36" version) First launch 1957
- Black Prince Mk 2 Blue Streak plus Black Knight (54" version) First launch 1958
- Black Prince Mk 3 Blue Streak plus Black Arrow First launch 1958
The Government selected Black Prince Mks 1 and 2. The first of 6 Black Prince Mk 1 rockets was launched in January 1957 and there was an interval of 2 months between launches. The first 3 carried dummy payloads and the others test satellites. If all went well the UK would have launched 2 satellites (July and September 1957) before Sputnik 1 in October 1957. This was followed by 6 scientific satellites launched by Black Prince Mk 2 in 1958.
In the opinion of the author things would have gone very well. The 36" Black Knight had been flying since 1950 and all the bugs should be cured by 1957. The 54" Black Knight should be easy to develop and reliable because it was the avionics and engines of the earlier rocket in a larger body. Blue Streak was a reliable rocket in the real world and I see no reason why it should not be in this version of history.
Low technical risk, rapid development and reliability were three reasons why Black Prince Mks 1 and 2 were developed instead of the others. The fourth reason was cost: the R&D cost was covered by the RTV and MRBM programmes. Six 36" Black Knights and six 54" Black Knights were cheaper to build than 12 Black Arrows because they were already in production. 12 Blue Streak MRBM were taken off the production line and modified as Black Prince first stages and 12 more MRBM were ordered to replace them but that did not increase the production cost of the missiles by 20%. The cost of using Spadeham, the Isle of Wight and Woomera was covered by the ballistic missile and RTV programmes.
The IGY satellite programme was a huge success so the Government approved a follow on programme. Development of Black Arrow was approved because the use of proven Black Knight technology meant it could be built relatively quickly and cheaply at low technical risk. Black Arrow gave the UK a small satellite launcher that could also be used as the upper stages of the improved Black Prince Mk 3,
[2] which effectively meant 2 new rockets for the price of one. Test flights began in 1959, but in common with the real Black Arrow there were several launch failures and it did not launch a satellite until the end of 1960.
In the real world ELDO proposed 3 space rockets based on the Blue Streak:
- ELDO-A Europa I. With the PAS fourth stage added this became Europa II;
- ELDO-B Blue Streak with new upper stages using high-energy propellants (i.e. liquid hydrogen);
- ELDO-C A new first stage with 4 rather than 2 RZ.2 engines and high-energy upper stages.
What happened after that isn't clear. I think that ELDO-B became Europa III when ELDO-A/PAS was renamed Europa II. The lukewarm British attitude to ELDO led to Europa IIIB with a new first stage, with 4 Viking engines instead of 2 RZ.2 engines so it was effectively ELDO-C, rather than a variant of ELDO-B. Then the high-energy upper stages were replaced with a second stage powered by one Viking engine and a third stage developed from Diamant the French national launcher and Coralie the ELDO-A second stage. This rocket is better known as Ariane.
Black Prince Mk 3 gave Britain a launcher in the Europa II class in 1960. Black Arrow Mk 2 with the Stentor engine developed for Blue Steel in place of the original Gamma engines was developed with the money used to keep Blue Streak ticking over while ELDO was being organised. The Blue Streak-Black Arrow Mk 2 combination (Black Prince Mk 4) had the same performance as ELDO-B/Europa III and was ready by 1965.
The money the British taxpayer spent on Europa and Black Arrow would have gone a long way towards Super Black Prince which was equivalent to ELDO-C and Ariane. The first stage would have 4 RZ.2 engines, the second one RZ.2 and the third would be derived from Black Arrow. If adequately funded it would have been ready for 1970.
The 60 RAF Blue Streak rockets were retired in 1963 and could be recycled as Black Prince Mk 3 first stages and enough Stentor rockets for 40 Blue Streak Mk 2 became available after Blue Steel Mk 1 was retired. However, there were only 13 all-British satellites between 1962 and 1980 in the real world so what would all these rockets launch?
If Concorde was built in this version of history it would have taken less time to develop and been less expensive, but no more than 20 would have been built so it would still have been a commercial failure. An alternative use for the money would be space either through ESRO/ESA or a stronger national programme.
There was probably no ELDO in this version of history, but there was still ESRO and that organisations satellites were launched by British launchers because the UK Government made that a condition of British membership. If there was no ELDO and Europa the money spent on it by the other members might go into ESRO and the CETS communications satellite organisation with the extra satellites launched by Black Arrow and Black Prince. Instead of Ariane the newly formed ESA could use the development money on more satellites as it already had a launch vehicle in that class or use it to improve the existing launchers.
If the British Government had been prepared to spend the extra money the European Space Agency of today would be using launchers based on the Blue Streak and Black Knight, built in British factories rather than French built Arianes. This creates the question, "How would the French feel about that?" and "What would they do with the money that they spent on Concorde, Europa and Black Prince?"
[1] The Rolls Royce copy of the S-3D was designated RZ.1. The RZ.2 was a new engine developed from the RZ.1.
[2] In the real world the Black Arrow was designed so that it could have had replaced Coralie and Astris as the upper stages of the ELDO-A/Europa I rocket.
