Saphir (rocket)

VE 231 Saphir (French, meaning sapphire) was a French two stage sounding rocket.

It was part of the pierres précieuses (fr.: gemstones) program, that included five prototypes Agathe, Topaze, Emeraude, Rubis and Saphir, leading up to the Diamant orbital rocket.

Its codename, VE 231, indicates that it is a "Véhicule Expérimental" (Experimental Vehicle) with 2 stages, using liquid and solid propellant (code 3), and guided (code 1).

Saphir was used between 1965 and 1967 and had a payload capacity of 365 kg. The rocket could reach a maximum altitude of 1000 km and produced thrust of 280 kN at launch. Saphir had a launch mass of 18058 kg, a diameter of 1.40 m and a length of 17.77 m.

Saphir variants were designed to allow testing of radio-controlled guidance (VE231P), inertial guidance (VE231G), and warhead separation and ablative heat shielding of a re-entry vehicle (VE231R).

The Diamant rocket, which carried the first French satellite, Asterix-1, into orbit, was developed from the Saphir with the addition of a third stage. After the successful launch of Diamant, Saphir rockets were used to test technologies for France's burgeoning intercontinental ballistic missile development—as mentioned before, radio and inertial guidance, warhead separation, and ablative heat shielding of a re-entry vehicle.

Launches
Saphir was launched 15 times from CIEES, Hammaguir, from July 5, 1965, to January 27, 1967.