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Black Brant Sounding Rocket
Black Brant
The Winnipeg plant of Bristol Aero-Industries was in
the business of aircraft overhaul and component
manufacturing. In addition to its experience in the
Northern Lights Threaten National Security
manufacture of welded high-strength steel
The northern lights (aurora borealis) travel in the same components (such as jet engine after-burners),
aerospace as radio waves – that thin layer of the Bristol had the technological depth, the
atmosphere between 20 and 200 miles above the earth. manufacturing base and convenient access to the
The radio interference caused by the northern lights Churchill rocket range.
sparked an industry, built a city, and developed a world-
Bristol launched its first Black Brant sounding rocket
renowned research center in Manitoba’s North.
(named after the Canada Goose species) from
Cold War Reaction Churchill in 1959. Black Brants carry payloads up to
In the 1950s, at the onset of the Cold War, any 1,800 pounds to altitudes of 1,000 miles providing
phenomena interfering with radio waves were up to 20 minutes for micro-gravity experiments;
considered a threat to national security and the U.S. auroral studies; deep-space observations;
Army was keen to research the matter. The only problem aeronomy (the study of the upper atmosphere);
was that the aurora belt lies across inaccessible areas of astronomy; plasma physics and solar physics; and
tundra and is not easily probed. Churchill in northern other studies that don’t require orbital launches.
Manitoba, is not only a location of maximum aurora Black Brant, which went through 12 model versions,
borealis activity, but in 1957 it was also close to has earned a vehicle success rate of 98 per cent
established supply routes (rail and sea, as well as air). since 1962.
These factors combined to make Churchill the ideal Black Brant established Bristol’s reputation in the
location for aerospace research. scientific market. It also cemented a long and
In 1954, the Churchill Rocket Research Range was successful collaboration with NASA. Since that first
established as a northern base of operations for the U.S. launch in 1959, almost 600 of these Manitoba-
Army’s sounding rocket research program. (Rockets can made rockets have been launched, most recently in
access the low ionosphere, a region of the atmosphere July of 2012. Black Brant rockets are still part
beyond the reach of research balloons and too low for of Bristol Aerospace’s product line with active
satellites.) By 1957, the U.S. Army had already fired 95 contracts that support the NASA Sounding Rocket
rockets from the Churchill Research Range. Operations Group.
