Monica is the designation of a small French sounding rocket. It was intended as a cheaper counterpart to the relatively expensive Veronique rockets.
Monica was a 3-stage rocket, with all stages burning solid fuel: the Melanie (burning Plastolite) for the first stage and Theodore and Oreste (burning Epictete) for the second and third stages. The first stage delivered 450 daN (decanewtons) for 3 seconds and the two upper stages deliver 50 daN for 15 and 5.5 seconds, respectively.
It was built in several versions (Meteo, Monica I to V, MD-01, Grannos), which were between 3.05 and 6.27 m long and had a takeoff weight between 62 and 154 kg.
It was launched several times between 1955 and 1962 at the CIEES launch site in Hammaguir, French Algeria, and the Ile du Levant site in France.
The Monica design process encountered a number of difficulties, leading to many failed tests and the early cancellation of the program in 1962. However, elements of its design were later incorporated into more successful ONERA test vehicles.
Versions Monica vehicles used different solid fuel rocket engines: +Monica rocket engine characteristicsStage / EngineLength (mm)Diameter (mm)Propellant mass (kg)Total impulse (daNs)Burning time (s)Melanie10651601531005"2Melanie"21701603062005Prosper118016023.5470010Theodore8151309.4180010Oreste4901303.66808
Monica vehicles had several versions, according to the rocket stages used: +Monica version characteristics TypeStages Length (mm) Total weight (kg) Payload weight (kg) Peak altitude (km) Monica IMelanie-Theodore-Oreste 3050 62 15 53 Monica IIMelanie-Theodore-Theodore 3375 71 15 103 Monica III"2Melanie"-Prosper-Theodore 4845 118 15 145 Monica IVAMelanie-Prosper-Prosper 5115 123 15 94Monica IVB"2Melanie"-Melanie-Prosper51151231594 Monica V"2Melanie"-Prosper-Prosper 6270 154 15 160
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