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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0301.PDF
FLIGHT, 4 March 1960 301 ftussiles and Spaceflight . . . SPACE-WORDS FROM WESTMINSTER THE main facts arising from the adjournment debate onspace research in the House of Commons on February 22formed a firm statement of what we would do with thesatellites which could—"if wished," as Mr Rippon put it—be launched by British rockets in the mid-1960s. The ParliamentarySecretary to the Ministry of Aviation was replying to points raised in a discussion on space research by F. V. Corfield(Gloucestershire South), Geoffrey de Freitas (Lincoln) and George Chetwynd (Stockton-on-Tees). Mr Corfield, speaking not as a scientist, not because he was"in any way attracted by the idea of space travel," but as a Member for a constituency in which engineering was of paramountimportance, asked this question: "Can we, as a nation which relies so enormously on exporting skills rather than materials, afford torestrict our participation in space exploration to the very modest contributions which have been sanctioned to date?" We neither could nor should attempt to emulate US or Sovietefforts, he continued. We should not be dazzled by their size, nor should we ignore them. "The position of this country today must depend as much asanything on the pioneering spirit of the past. I do not believe that we can afford to ignore the challenge of the exploration ofspace to our pioneering spirit of the present. I do not imagine that anyone would seriously suggest that the pioneers of the past—those who opened up the new world and the sea routes to the East, the inventors and scientists—foresaw even a fraction of thewealth and benefit that their endeavours, albeit subsequently, brought to mankind. ... I believe it would be equally foolishto determine our contribution to space exploration purely on the basis of cost on the one hand or on the commercial benefits whichare likely to be derived on the other." As far as the Western world was concerned, Mr Corfieldsuggested, co-operation should not be dominated by the United States, whose incentive he believed to be primarily military. Hedid not want to belittle American generosity in offering space in their satellites for British instruments, nor the value ofCOSPAR, but the US offer had been extended to all countries and the satellites involved were only small ones. References to "Britain's lead," whatever the subject under dis-cussion, are all-too-popular in parliamentary debates and, sur- prisingly enough, Mr Corfield managed to extract one, delicatelyqualified, in this context. Whatever the future of Blue Streak might be, he said, its development to date, together with thedevelopment of Black Knight, "must surely give us a lead over all other nations, other than the United States and Russia, in theability to place a satellite of our own in orbit." He did not believe that the cost need be "anything like as astronomical" as peoplemade out. Mr de Freitas weighed in with a relevant question. If BlueStreak and Black Knight were to be launched for development or RAF training in Australia during the next few years, would ourscientists be in a position to launch satellites with them? If not, what was the Government doing to put them in that position?Back to Britain's lead again, with a contribution to the debate by Mr Chetwynd which included the sweeping statement that"We must be in the van of scientific thought and progress upon whatever lines it takes us and at whatever cost." One of thefirst things that we should like to know, Mr Chetwynd suggested, was whether there was a conflict—a tug-of-war, perhaps—between the scientific advisers of the Minister of Science, and "the practical people in the engineering and productive sphereswho perhaps want to get on a little more quickly than the scientific advisers may think possible." Concerning Blue Streak, if it were not to be the great defenceweapon as first envisaged, we had a wonderful opportunity to cut our losses and to get something really worthwhile out of it froma scientific point of view. By analogy with swords into plough- shares, "It may be that we can beat something like a space satellitevehicle out of Blue Streak if it is not to have the military use which was first envisaged." Towards the end of his speech Mr Chetwynd said, "Theengineering capabilities have been stressed. A great electronics industry can be built up which will have tremendous exportPossibilities for us, as well as the worthwhile pursuit of knowledge tor its own sake. We cannot afford to be left out of this searchtorJfnowledge." The van-of-scientific-thought reference followed. The Parliamentary Secretary began his reply by discussing theok/fork upper-atmosphere sounding-rocket programme (described ro flight last week), mentioning that "over 20 successful experi-ments" had been carried out (but omitting to mention that several experiments per firing has often been the rule). Skylark, he said, ILL. LI u The use of Blue Streak and Black Knight as a satellite-launching com- bination was the prime subject of the Commons debate reported here. Above are shown two types of launching vehicle which might be used: left, Blue Streak, modified Black Knight and solid-propeUant third stage; right, Blue Streak and standard Black Knight. These illustrations are from the Blue Streak paper presented by G. K. C. Pardoe at the Commonwealth Spaceflight Symposium held in London last August A, first-stage separation; B, extra HTP equipment for separation and coasting control; C, fairing and support structure; D, paylood; E, final separation; F, nosecone ejected in halves at first-stage all-burnt. had certainly proved a relatively cheap and very reliable vehicle and, as for American interest: — "The House should know that the United States National Aero- nautics and Space Administration had made known its interest in purchasing four Skylarks. An invitation is being extended to the Administration's representatives to visit the United Kingdom to discuss precise requirements because each Skylark is, in part, tailor-made to suit the particular experiment that it is expected to undertake. . . "
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