Prospero X-3
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The Prospero X-3 satellite (official designation 05580 / 71093A) was the only satellite to be launched by a British rocket.
X-3 was launched on 28 October 1971 from Woomera, South Australia range on a Black Arrow rocket, making Britain the sixth nation to place a satellite into orbit (after the USSR, USA, France, Japan and China).
The satellite contained a single experiment to test solar cells. A tape recorder was also on board, which failed on 24 May 1973 after 730 plays.
Radio transmissions from Prospero could still be heard as of 2000 although it had officially been switched off in 1996 when the UK's Defence Research Establishment decommisioned their satellite tracking station at Lasham, Hampshire.
Technical Data
| Perigee/Apogee | 531/1402 km |
| Inclination | 82° |
| Period | 104.4 min |
| Mass | 66kg |