University of Queensland researchers from two entirely different disciplines — rocket science and zoology — are searching the South Australian desert this week in a bid to locate the payload and second stage rocket from the HyShot scramjet experiment.
With assistance from the Defence Department and The University of Queensland, the two UQ teams are conducting an extensive aerial and ground search in a remote region within the Woomera Prohibited Area, more than 500km north of Adelaide.
Their mission is to find a needle in a haystack — the 1.6 metre scramjet payload and the 4-5 metre second stage booster in a vast region of thousands of square miles.
"If we find it, we’re going to throw the scramjet in the back of our ute and bring it home," said HyShot team leader Dr Allan Paull of UQ’s Centre for Hypersonics.
"It’ll help us determine what happened during the first scramjet experiment last year. We’d like to bring back the Orion booster if we can manage it."
Scramjets are air breathing supersonic combustion ramjet engines which could revolutionise the launch of small space payloads such as communication satellites by substantially lowering costs.
The international HyShot consortium aims to provide the world’s first in-flight tests of the technology, validating experiments held in ground test facilities using scramjets.
Last October a flight anomaly meant the HyShot experiment could not proceed. While the first stage Terrier rocket fell 2km down range and was recovered, the scramjet and second stage Orion booster disappeared into the desert.
The payload continued to transmit data throughout the 10-minute flight and survived the impact. A Blackhawk helicopter on a training exercise was unable to locate it during an eight-hour search.
Telemetry data and other information have allowed Drs Allan and Ross Paull to calculate the detailed trajectory and refine their prediction of the likely impact area.
The UQ recovery expedition is unique and interdisciplinary — zoologists will search from above, while rocket scientists will search on the ground.
The zoologists conduct one of the world’s longest running aerial wildlife surveys and have volunteered their expertise to assist the HyShot team.
Kangaroo, crocodile and frog expert Professor Gordon Grigg, who is also a UQ Senator, was keen to help the HyShot team as he knew his group was in a unique position to assist.
"From kangaroo surveys, our team has years of experience conducting low level aerial survey work, as well as direct familiarity with the area where the rocket impacted," he said.
Professor Grigg and his UQ School of Life Sciences colleagues Lyn Beard and Dr Tony Pople survey nearly one quarter of a million square kilometres in South Australia every year, assessing the kangaroo populations there from a Cessna 182.
Later this year they will conduct the 25th annual survey of the South Australian Pastoral Zone for National Parks and Wildlife in South Australia, who use the data for kangaroo management. Professor Grigg and his colleagues use the data in a long-running study of kangaroo population ecology, now supported by an ARC Linkage grant to Professor Hugh Possingham, along with Professor Grigg, Dr Pople and others in The Ecology Centre within UQ’s School of Life Sciences.
When the two research groups met, they "got on like a house on fire," according to Professor Grigg.
"We have a lot more in common than you might imagine. We’re all scientists, after all, and if we have particular skills and experience which will help them, then that would be great. We would be absolutely delighted if we could help them find it," Professor Grigg said.
"We should be able to put in a systematic, saturation survey at very low level. Lyn and Tony are used to that country and can maintain a high level of concentration at searching for long periods, despite the heat and the instability of the aircraft in the convection turbulence you get near the ground. It might be a bit of a long shot, but I think it is well worth trying."
HyShot team members Dr Allan Paull, Dr Susan Anderson, Myles Frost and Dr Ross Paull will conduct the ground search and camp out in the desert, linked by two-way radio to Professor Grigg’s team.
Dr Paull said he couldn’t thank the zoologists enough for their help, and also The University of Queensland, through Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor David Siddle, for underwriting the expedition costs.
The DCSW (Defence Corporate Support, Woomera) who control the Woomera Prohibited Area, have provided much needed assistance for conducting the search.
Media: Further information, Jan King, UQ Communications telephone 07 3365 1120 or 0413 601 248. The researchers are out of telephone contact range but are expected to touch base with the University at some time during the expedition.
