Wresat

Wresat (Abbreviation for: Weapons Research Establishment Satellite ) is the name of the first Australian satellite. It was launched on 29 November 1967, a modified Redstone American rocket of the type from the Spaceport Woomera.

Wresat weighed 45 kg and had the shape of a cone having a length of 1.59 meters and a base diameter of 0.76 meters. He remained with the third stage of the rocket and had connected with it a total length of 2.17 meters. Wresat orbited the Earth on a nearly polar orbit until it burned up after 642 orbits of 10 January 1968 on the Atlantic Ocean in the Earth's atmosphere. The battery-powered satellite sent data during 73 orbits.