FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1248.PDF
1*J- "Flight" photograph Director of the Radio Research Station is Dr R. L. Smith-Rose (centre). His three Division heads are Dr H. G. Hopkins (left), Dr J. A. Saxton (right) and Mr A. F. Wilkins Space Research at Slough THE decision to expand the space-research interests of theRadio Research Station at Ditton .Park, Slough, andultimately to have some 50 per cent of the staff involved in this subject, is resulting in two major effects. On the one handsatellite techniques are providing a fuller knowledge in fields which have traditionally been studied by the Station, while inaddition there are now new fields to explore, new equipment to devise and operate, and new observations to be made and analysed. For many years most aspects of the work of the Station, whichis a Department of Scientific and Industrial Research establish- ment, have been concerned with the propagation of radio waves.The properties of the ionosphere have been studied, together with radio-wave propagation over long distances (including back-scatter techniques and fixed-frequency and sweep-frequency pulse transmissions), the physics of the ionosphere and a considerableamount of tropospheric work. Both atmospheric and cosmic radio- noise has been investigated. The use of artificial Earth satellites carrying radio transmittershas obviously opened up much wider possibilities in these studies. The ionosphere can be investigated from above, making even thehighest layers accessible, and also from "inside" in the case of orbits which pass through the ionized layers. Under the Director of the Station, Dr R. L. Smith-Rose,the RRS operates in three main Divisions, headed by Dr H. G. Hopkins, Dr J. A. Saxton and Mr A. F. Wilkins. EachDivision in turn comprises a number of smaller working groups, and it is one of Dr Hopkins' groups, led by Dr B. G. Pressey,which is concerned specifically with satellites and space studies. The new types of work which have come to Slough since theadvent of satellites are mainly concentrated in this team, although the influence of the new techniques is steadily permeating thework of the other groups also. At present Dr Pressey's satellite group contains approximately20 people, or about one-tenth of the total staff of the Station. Their main activities are: (1) the tracking of satellites, mainly byradio but also optically. The major facilities for this are three interferometer installations, operating on 20, 40 and 108 Mc/sat Winkfield, south-west of Windsor. (2) prediction of satellite positions, based on the Station's ownobservations, Russian and US data, and observations from Radio signals from satellites are here received and recorded for later analysis. Seated is Dr B. G. Pressey, head of the satellite group "Flight" photographs US * !r># 186 FLIGHT, 5 August 1960 SPACE SPECIAL individuals and observatories in Britain, other European countriesand as far afield as Woomera and Japan. As described in Flight of April 29,1960, these predictions are issued weekly to interestedobservers. The prediction service was assigned to Slough in October 1958; previously it had been handled by the RoyalAircraft Establishment and, earlier, by the Nautical Almanac Office. The men who make the predictions at RRS also studythe variations of orbits, and so obtain information on satellite lifetimes and air drag. (3) extracting further information from radio signals transmittedby satellites. From the Doppler frequency shift further tracking data can be obtained and, given the appropriate telemetry codesand calibrations—as were provided by the Russians for Sputnik 3 and the US for Explorer 7—the recorded telemetered data can beanalysed. Cosmic-ray intensities transmitted by both satellites were obtained in this way. (4) operating World Data Centre C for Rockets and Satellites.Slough is one of the three such centres established during the IGY to collect accurate positional observations, computed elementsof satellite orbits, reduced telemetry results and reports of investi- gations. The other centres are in Washington and Moscow, andeach centre issues periodically catalogues of data held. At present the "rockets and satellites" part of World Data Centre C consistsof the contents of a few filing cabinets only, sharing a large room with the many microfilm cabinets comprising the ionosphericsection of the centre. (5) carrying on the Station's main research programme, perhapsthe most important aspect of all. Some of this arises from analysis of the signals received in (1) and (3) above, and from comparisonwith theory and with optical observations, with the overall objec- tive of learning as much as possible concerning the propagation ofradio waves through the ionosphere from satellites. The most recent RRS development is the provision of a USMinitrack station for satellite tracking and telemetry reception at Winkfield, by agreement with the National Aeronautics andSpace Administration. This is now under construction. All equip- ment will be supplied by the USA and the station will be operatedby RRS personnel. Another facility which is planned is a 60ft diameter radio telescope. The present time is one of gradual transition at Slough, withnew ideas being grafted on to the old. Although not actively working on hardware for any of the British Scout payloads yet The satellite-prediction team keeps track of all artificial Earth satellites passing over Britain and provides orbital details for observers announced, the station has an obvious interest in the radio aspectsof such work. The past history of the station is not confined to its basicresearch and applied investigations, which have taken up approxi- mately equal amounts of effort, but has included continualcollaboration with a variety of other Government departments. This would clearly be called upon in any possible more-advancedBritish satellites which might be designed for communications, meteorology or navigation. In the immediate future, in connection with the reception oftelemetry from the first British Scout satellite, the establishment's sub-station at Singapore will be increasingly active. It is hopedto establish there a new site with interferometers operating initially on 20, 40 and 108 Mc/s.Up to the present time, the Radio Research Station has con- centrated on making good use of other countries' satellites, and hasnot seriously concerned itself with payloads. Within a year or two, the scope of space research at Slough may be quite different.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
