Woomera, South Australia
This article is about the Australian town. For the Australian Aboriginal spear-thrower after which it is named, see woomera. |
Woomera Launchpad in the 60's, the rocket on the pad is a Europa |
Woomera () is a town in
South Australia, 488 km north of
Adelaide, along the
Stuart Highway.
The population of "Woomera Village" reached 6000 people at its peak, but is now stable at around 300. Next to the village is the
Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA), a military area 127,000 square km in area; it is about the same size as
England, making it the largest testing area in the world. The area has been used since the
1950s for joint
Australia-
United Kingdom weapons and
aerospace testing (including
testing of
nuclear weapons). It was also home to the Nurrungar satellite ground station (closed in
1999, activities moved to
Pine Gap) which was thought to be part of the global
ECHELON intelligence gathering network.
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Missile Park northern section |
Although many sounding rockets were launched from Woomera, only two satellites were launched there successfully. These satellites were the British satellite
Prospero in
1971 and the Australian
Wresat in
1967. Nowadays most pads at Woomera are abandonded, but there are still launches of sounding rockets. The
Australian Space Research Institute conducts many of these launches.
From
1999 to
2003, the nearby
Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre, held
asylum seekers and
refugees.
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Missile Park southern section |
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Location of Woomera in South Australia (red) |
Woomera's attractions include Missile Park which features missiles and rockets developed at Woomera, and a visitors centre and museum which was formerly a recreation centre for U.S. Army personnel.
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British nuclear tests at Maralinga (part of the Woomera Prohibited Area)
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Woomera website*
Woomera on the Web*
History of Woomera Meteorological Office Bureau of Meteorology
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Woomera Orbital Launch site
