During both world wars the New Battery was put to action and afterwards it was chosen as the test site for a new type of technology.
From 1955 Saunders Roe leased the site and tested the rockets ‘Black Knight’, ‘Black Arrow’ and the satellite ‘Prospero’ here before they were launched in Australia.
Australian launch
The first rocket, known was ‘Black Knight’ was tested in April 1957 at the Highdown site and after further tests, the rockets were taken to Woomera in Australia for launching.
Black Knight was designed to test the effect of re-entry to the earth’s atmosphere on a missile and to develop the design of large liquid fuelled rockets. In all, 22 Black Knight rockets were launched.
From the Black Knight, the Black Arrow, which was designed to put a satellite into orbit, was developed from the late 1960s. In 1971 it was launched from Woomera along with the satellite ‘Prospero’ which was tucked into the nose cone. Sadly, within days of the successful launch, the British Government cancelled the space programme and the final Black Arrow rocket built was given to the Science Museum in London.
Rocket Week
23 – 30 October 2021, 11am – 4pm
To celebrate the launch of Prospero, the first British satellite launched after rocket testing on Highdown and the New Battery, 50 years ago on 28 October 1971, The Needles Old and New Battery is to have a ‘Rocket Week’. There’s children’s craft and drawing activities all week and on the anniversary, the 28 October, a tour by one of the original engineers who worked on the project of the rocket testing control room at the New Battery and the nearby Highdown Test Site. Have a go at re-creating toy models of the BLACK ARROW rocket which was built on the Isle of Wight and launched Prospero into space.
Discover the site for yourself
In the underground rooms of the New Battery, which were the nerve centre of this highly secret operation, there are models of the rockets Black Knight and Black Arrow, and the satellite Prospero. Some of the rooms have been recreated as they would have looked when the top-secret tests were being carried out.
