The HAD rocket
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The term ‘LAPSTAR’ is used fairly loosely In Fire Across the Desert and is quoted this way on page 403 and a number of other instances. Light Alloy Plastic (LAP) motors were developed in the UK in 1938 and the surplus motors were transported to Woomera after WWII when the Joint Project was set up in the late 1940's. The motors were used on the RTV series of rockets which were the first launched from Woomera. The propellant was extruded double base commonly known as cordite.
When Australia began to manufacture its own solid rocket motors at Maribyrnong in the 1960's in support of the Upper Atmospheric Research program, cordite as a rocket motor propellant was obsolete and we moved on to composite propellants consisting of aluminium powder, ammonium perchlorate, a rubber binder and a catalyst.; a better performance and longer shelf life.
The name LAP was retained from 1938 and the "star" was added as this was the profile of the propellant grain. Hence the name LAPstar.
Further notes provided by Bruce Henderson, 13 February 2006
