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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1112.PDF
112 FLIGHT, 22 July I960 Missiles and Spaceflight At present the McDonnell GAM-72 Quail (GE J85-7 turbojet) is the only self-contained vehicle in the West for the provision of a variety of countermeasures for strategic bombers. It is now coming into SAC service, and three were fired from a B-S2 down the Gulf from Eglin on June 24. As far as is publicly known, our V-bombers have to rely entirely upon internal ECM systems and conventional "chaff" 300' ri WAITING FOR THE WORD Answering questions in the House of Commons on July 11, theMinister of Aviation said that the only factor which was delaying the Government's decision on a British space research programmewas the desire to consider the matter very carefully before entering into an important long-term commitment. He went on to give astrong hint that the decision would in fact be favourable. "I very much hope that if we substantiate the fact that important com-mercial advantages are to be gained industry will be able to play its part, and will be prepared to do so." NAME AND OVERHAUL FOR JODRELL BANK The Jodrell Bank experimental station of Manchester University,home of the 250ft steerable radio telescope which has played such an important part in the tracking and data reception from Sovietand US satellites and space probes, has been named the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories. The Nuffield Foundation initiallygave £200,000 towards the construction of the radio telescope, and more recently helped to clear the outstanding debt on the instru-ment by a further gift of £25,000. This was in addition to £25,000 given by Lord Nuffield personally. At present the radio telescope is being completely overhauled.Jodrell Bank contact has now been lost with the US space probe Pioneer 5, and certain other research programmes are beinginterrupted so that a detailed inspection can be made. It is expected that work will be resumed during August. SPACE AT CRANFIELD A one-year course at postgraduate level in space technology hasbeen instituted by the College of Aeronautics, Cranfield. The first course in this subject begins next term, on October 10, and willinclude lectures, laboratory demonstrations and research projects. Students will specialize in one of the Departments of the College—aerodynamics, aircraft design, aircraft economics and production, aircraft electrical engineering, aircraft materials, and aircraftpropulsion—and will attend general lectures in other Departments. The course will lead to the Diploma of Advanced Engineering. -.LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM REFLECTOR SHIELD AGAINSTLIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM 14'0 CYLINDER (3) 30'° 0 TO MARS AND VENUS Two highly interesting technical treatises, each dealing with thesubject of interplanetary travel, were made public in the USA recently. The first of these described a large nuclear-poweredspaceship capable of sustaining a crew of eight on extended space journeys. Designed by Krafft Ehricke and his associates atConvair, the manned interplanetary vehicle was intended to make "leisurely" explorations of the surface and atmosphere of Marsand Venus in the 1970-71 period. In his paper, presented at the ASME meeting in Dallas, Texas, Mr Ehricke outlined a pro-posed Venusian mission which could be completed in somewhat more than a year's time. Approximately 295 days would berequired to reach the planet with an oversize multi-stage rocket which would stand over 460ft high on the launch pad. The crewquarters (or "life support system") would be situated on top of the tall rocket, far removed from the nuclear reactor. Several com-partments would be employed for the crew. One of these would be an emergency unit, offering refuge to the crew should they requireits extra-heavy shielding during transit through the radiation belts or upon encountering a solar flare. For reconnaissance of Venus a further capsule would be carried.A small satellite was envisaged which could house part of the crew and be released from the mother vehicle near Venus. This smallspaceship could descend to the outer fringes of the planetary atmosphere, there to release a further series of small instrumentedpayloads which could penetrate the dense, and rather mysterious, Venusian cloud cover. After spending about 24 hours in thevicinity of the planet, the crew would reunite for the 223-day return trip. The same basic vehicle would be employed for the Mars mission,although a somewhat shorter journey was contemplated. To reach Mars would require approximately 138 days, after which a landingwould be made and a 34-day surface exploratory mission con- ducted. The estimated time for the return trip was 175 days.Outlined in a monumental 810-page report prepared by scientists and engineers at the Lincoln Laboratory of MassachusettsInstitute of Technology was an unmanned vehicle intended to obtain high-resolution photographs of thesurface of Mars. The small, table-sized vehicle was to follow a trajectory whichwould carry it within 20 miles of a pre- selected point in space some 4,690 milesabove the surface of Mars. Photographs taken from that height were expected toresolve the question whether Mars har- boured an intelligent culture. Even ifthere was nothing more than surface vegetation—as is generally supposed today—the nature of the Martian canals could finally be deter-mined by the MIT vehicle. A hypothetical flight plancalled for a launch on June 17, 1962. A "slow" trajectory, re-quiring 3.2 years, would carry the vehicle on a 1.5-million-milejourney. Radio messages would 221,000LBS. HJ -LIQUEFACTIONUNITS INSTALLEDIN SHAFT REFLECTOR SHIELDAGAINST NUCLEAR ENGINE LEAVETARGET PLANET ARRIVEEARTH Possible liquid-hydrogen storage provisions for prototype nuclear-powered, manned recon- naissance vehicle for Venus and Man (from the paper "A System Analysis of Fast Manned Flights to Venus and Mars" by K. A. Ehricke, reported above) (3) 30'° • - . . CONCENTRIC REFLECTOR SHIELD 'IS.
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