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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0296.PDF
302 FLIGHT, 10 March 1961 Missiles and Space flight . . . First photograph of the fully assembled three-stags Saturn space booster now undsr development at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville. Dummy second and third stages are fitted. In the foreground, for size comparison, are Juno 2 (left) and Redstone-Mercury launching vehicles CONTACT LOST WITH VENUS PROBE It was reported from Moscow on March 3 that radio transmissionsfrom the Soviet Venus probe which had been expected on February 27 had not been received. Nothing was received fromthe probe on February 27 by the large steerable radio telescope at Jodrell Bank—this was the first occasion on which the Jodrellequipment had been in full service and working to co-ordinates provided by the Russians—and it appeared almost certain as Flightwent to press that contact with the probe had been lost. Of the earlier attempts by the Jodrell Bank scientists to makecontact with the probe, it is possible, but not certain, that signals from the spacecraft were received on either February 17 or 22.Following the news of March 3, Jodrell's big dish was used in an attempt to track the probe for three hours on March 4 and forseven hours on March 5. On March 6 work was carried out to improve the sensitivity of the receiver, and it was hoped to resumethe efforts to locate the probe on March 7. CANADIAN SOUNDING ROCKETS Airframe components for 15 Black Brant 2 high-altitude researchrockets have been delivered to the Canadian Armament Research and Development Establishment at Valcartier, Quebec, byCanadair Ltd of Montreal. Aerodynamic stability tests of the airframe, carrying a Mk 1 engine, were carried out towards the endof last year. Black Brant 2 is designed to reach altitudes of more than 150miles in order to collect scientific data concerning the upper atmosphere and ionosphere by means of instrumented noseconeCanadian research in the upper atmosphere is concerned mainiv with phenomena which affect northern communications such a>aurora, solar flares and cosmic rays. The rocket is approximately 30ft in length, of which 15ft istaken up by the engine. Maximum diameter is just over 17in. Launching weight, including fuel and eleven-pound instrumentpackage, is approximately 11 tons. Research, development and assessment of tie rocket engine and propellant were carried out byCARDE scientists and technical officers, while Canadair designed and built the airframe under contract. BRITISH SOUNDING ROCKETS Proposals for "the routine measurement of the properties of theatmosphere at very great heights by means of small rockets which, it is hoped, can be launched from a site in the British Isles" wereannounced in the Secretary of State for Air's Memorandum on the 1961-62 Air Estimates. The Minister, Mr Julian Amery, statedat a press conference that the rockets would be of two types, one designed to reach 60km (37 miles) and the other 100km (62 miles).The first firings in this programme are not likely to take place before 1963, and the most probable sites are Aberporth and SouthUist. The planned frequency of launching is one per week for the lower-altitude rocket and one per year for the second type. In theformer series measurements will be made of temperatures, move- ments and composition of the atmosphere; while the higher firingswill be directed towards geophysical research and weather forecasting. A Polaris A-2 extended-range (1,500 n.m.) missile was successfullyfired from the trials ship USS Observation Island off Cape Canaveral on March 1. The missile, which met all test objectives, was the fourthsuccess in the first five A-2 firings. French reports dated February 23 stated that five Veronique rocketshad been fired since February 10 from the Sahara test site at Hammaguir. This included the rat-carrving launch of February 22. It was alsoreported that 30 further Veroniques were under construction for upper- atmosphere research. In a written reply in the Commons on February 13, the Postmaster-G»neral referred to the work of the Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill and said: "Much of the work on convenronal communicationswill be of great value in the development of satellite communications. More specifically, the research work on satellites includes highly sensi-tive receivers. large steerable aerial systems, and special transmitting and receiving technique*. Oerta;n aspects are also being studied jointlywith the Roval Aircraft and Royal Radar Establishments of the Ministry of Aviation." During the House of Commons debate on the Navy Estimates onMarch 2, the Civil Lord said "Further developments will make it possible to produce a version of Seaslug which w;ll be still more effec-tive than the Mk 1 system. The Mk 2 weapon will have greater ranee, greater height and a more powerful high-explosive warhead." Theimproved missile will be fitted to the two additional County-class destroyers which will be ordered within the next 12 months, and willbe incorporated into the four ships now building as a retrospective modification. According to a committee of the US House of Representatives, sitecosts involved in the deployment of ICBMs of Strategic Air Command are now nearly $100m (£35.7m1 higher than the oririnal contract prices.A connector at Ellsworth AFB (see FliVfcr for November 4. 1960, page 708) reported 119 changes in the Titan 1 launcher during thepast 14 months, adding more than $16m TO the overall cost, wh:le another contractor it an Atlas base said modifications had added 1,214drawings to the 355 included in the original contract. The committee's chairman concludes "Any way you look at this program, things are in Black Brant 2, the sounding rocket built by Canadair for the Canadian Armament Research and Development Estahlishment and described in a news item en this pagt. Length of the vehicle is approximately 20ft The Paris meeting of the proposed European Space Research Organiza-tion which was scheduled for March 2-3 (Flight, February 24) has been postponed. It was announced at the US Air Force Missile Test Center onMarch 1 that the first Titan 2 ICBM will be launched down the Atlantic Missile Range within 12 months. Last month the missile was chosento replace Titan 1 as the booster for Dyna-Soar, which is now scheduled to be launched by a Titan 2 in the calendar year 1963. First flight of the Blue Scout 2 four-stage rocket was made fromCape Canaveral on March 3. A successful firing to a height of 1,600 miles was achieved, carrying a 1721b payload designed to study radiationin space. Wrapped around a miniature ionization chamber was a quarter-inch strip of lucite, which absorbs radiation at the same rateas human skin. Instruments in the payload were intended to record electrons, protons, neutrons and gamma rays in the lower Van Allen belt. Early this month a small group of British journalists visited theDouglas Aircraft Company's missile plant at Culver City to see mock- ups of GAM-87 Skybolt and be reassured that the whole programmehas not fallen apart at the seams (as so many writers would have us believe). Douglas were given the go-ahead on May 5, 1959, and appearto be approximately adhering to the original schedule. The USAF project officer on GAM-87 has suggested that it will take three yearsto develop on the ground and two years to flight-test; mock-ups have already flown.
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