Black Brant X - The low cost development of an advanced sounding rocket system

During the late 1970s it became more and more apparent that an investigation of the regions extending above the earth's dayside polar cusp is very important from a scientific point of view. The feasibility of a mission for implementing such an investigation was studied. It was found that a sounding rocket vehicle having the necessary payload throw capability and the required low trajectory dispersion did not exist within the NASA inventory. It was, therefore, decided to develop a suitable sounding rocket, the Black Brant X (BBX), in a cooperative effort including NASA, the Canadian National Research Council, and a number of aerospace companies. Attention is given to a BBX vehicle description, BBX flight results, and the BBX flight capabilities