South Africa Puts Newly Built Rocket Gantry To The Test

According to a statement from Sansa on Thursday, the payload successfully measured Earth's magnetic field as well as flight data of its "mothership" during the 400s-long journey.

The test of the new rocket gantry followed its 3 December inauguration. The facility supports the launch of various types of spacecraft by domestic and international companies and space agencies.

"This gantry is a national asset that will be used to launch suborbital rockets built by the Aerospace Systems Research Institute Asri," said deputy science , technology innovation minister Nomalungelo Gina in a statement. Asri forms part of the school of engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, renowned globally for its high-performance hybrid rocket-building capabilities.

"It can also accommodate much larger solid-propellant vehicles of the type operated by space-faring nations, including other potential international clients on the continent and worldwide."

The gantry's development was funded by the department of science, technology innovation and implemented by Asri. While orbital vehicles have the ability to steer themselves, suborbital rockets used for research can't do so and therefore must be launched on an accurate flight trajectory, depending on mission requirements.