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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0907.PDF
ATTITUDE TORQUE CORRECTION SEPARATION INJECTION INACCURACIES ? O5 RAO/SEC MAXIMUM TOROUE DUE TO ATMOSPHERIC DRAG -3-4XIO-" LB/FT MAXIMUM TORQUE DUE TO (SUAVITY AT 4S» FLIGHT PATH ANGLE -2 78XIO-'LB/FT RADIATED POWER THRUST 3-7SXIO-0 LB WASTE POWER TOROUE 775X10"' LB/FT MAXIMUM TOROUE ;DUE TO SOLAR RADIATION PRESSURE. I3IXIO-* LB/FT FLIGHT, 6 My 1961 7 The forces affecting a satellite during its lifetime are indicated in this diagram from the paper "Dynamics and Engineering of Satellite Attitude Control Systems" by 8. Stewart and P. A. E. Stewart of the Advanced Projects Group of Hawker Siddeley Aviation. The operational requirements of an attitude control system, the authors state, include: (a) the correction of launch inaccuracies and turnover programme; (b) corrections required to counteract environmental forces; (c) the requirement to maintain coincidence with moving reference axes (to arrange for torques to maintain an Earth-pointing attitude in elliptical orbits, which is not required in circular, local- vertical-oriented missions); and (d) manoeuvres initiated by ground command sible. But what we did say, and repeat with conviction, was thatonce we believed that the only solution in this field was a united Europe, the experiences and methods gained by the United King-dom formed a large part of our common fund of knowledge and it would be our duty to support them and to prevent their dispersal." In Space Engineering and European Collaboration, Air CdeF. R. Banks, chairman of Hawker Siddeley Aviation's Aerospace Technical Services (ATS) Company, maintained that, although thescientist was the key man in astronautics, he should stick to science and let the administrator administrate. Money for space projectsshould be voted to cover at least a five-year period; and among the possible lines of investigation which could be tackled by Europewas the study of new fuels for launch vehicles and spacecraft— "Recent developments in large solid-fuel rockets are becoming veryinteresting indeed." The air commodore's reference to scientists was taken up by Mr Weinstein, who commented that scientistsdid in fact make good administrators in certain cases. Among the points made by Dr Arnold Frutkin, Director ofInternational Programs, National Aeronautics and Space Admini- stration, in his paper US Co-operation in Space Research, were the"guidelines" on which NASA's international programmes were run. He listed these as valid scientific objectives, single-agency spon-sorship in each country, full technical understanding before formal agreements, each nation paying for its own commitment, and freeavailability of scientific results. The NASA programme, Dr Frutkin emphasized, was "not inany way an alternative to what you are discussing." With the initiation of multi-national regional organizations such as thoseproposed for Europe and in Latin America, he said, the prospects for broad international co-operation in space research weremultiplying. He added: "The United States has welcomed these developments and made clear its willingness to enter into jointprojects with the new organizations on the same flexible basis as with individual countries." Mr A. V. Cleaver, chief engineer (rocket propulsion) of Rolls-Royce Ltd, had presented a comprehensive description of the Blue Streak propulsion system during one of the earlier technicalsessions of the symposium, and he returned to the platform on the discussion day, June 28, to outline The Implications of Not Having aEuropean Space Programme, One implication was that a large portion of mankind would have opted out of the future of spacetechnology, with the result that the progress of the subject would be retarded. Dependence on US launch vehicles—or those of anyother major nation—would mean that our policy was conditional on the continuation of initial agreements, while an independentprogramme would in fact lead to more effective co-operation be- tween Europe and the USA.If we opted out of space, Mr Cleaver argued, we might well opt out of other fields for similar reasons. Furthermore, newdiscoveries in space would trigger associated new developments in other fields. The implication was that, if we were backward inspace, we should be backward in other fields. A gradual but inevitable downhill slide for European science, technology and industry wouldbegin. A film of activities and facilities at the Weapons ResearchEstablishment, Salisbury, and the Woomera range was included in the presentation by Mr H. J. Higgs, WRE Representative, on Australian Contributions to a European Space Programme. Austra-lia had said she would make facilities available to a European space launcher organization, if formed, he reported. The first thingshe could offer was "another continent," with launching space: and other items included one of the best optical astronomicalobservatories in the Southern Hemisphere, and ambitious radio astronomical facilities, in addition to Woomera itself. The Austra-lian Government had contributed £80m towards Woomera to date and, for the purposes of the proposed European programme, thebase represented a capital asset of £3O-6Om. Over 4,000 people were employed there. A number of floor speakers at the symposium queried thewisdom of duplicating US and Soviet work on launch vehicles, arguing that the challenge of space exploration was so big thatany limitation of effort would hinder those trying to meet the challenge. Mr Cleaver agreed with one speaker who pointed outthat Blue Streak added nothing to propulsion technology which was not already known to the USA and Russia, but described therocket as "our entry fee into this field." THE CASE FOR A EUROPEAN PROGRAMME (Front the paper by David Price MP) WE are now in the space age, whether we like it or not. Ourpublic policies, in everything from defence to education,have got to be shaped so as to be able to accommodate the sudden changes in our human environment which will be the naturalconsequence of a rapidly expanding world. Viewing our affairs from the relative calm of the back-benches of one EuropeanParliament, I begin to doubt whether our leaders in Europe (or their democratic alternatives), grievously over-burdened with theworld of today, understand intellectually and emotionally how man's entry into space is already shaping the world of tomorrow. Mankind is obviously entering a long new phase of explorationand development, comparable to the conquests of the air and of the oceans, but vastly exceeding these in scope. The discovery of Africaand America and the sea route to the East in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries led to changes in European life so far-reachingas to amount almost to a revolution. How much more revolutionary will be the changes arising from man's discoveries in space. Viewedhistorically, Europe dare not stand apart from the space race. At the same time, we have to recognize that no European countrycan possibly hope to compete on equal terms of expenditure, and diversity of projects, with the USA and the USSR. However, toassume that therefore we in Europe can play no significant part at all in these new adventures would be a complete betrayal of ourdescendants, as indeed it would be of our ancestors. Leaving aside the ultimate implications that space exploration willhave for the future of mankind, astronautics presents the most severe challenge to applied science and technology. Any nation thatcontributes to it in an important way will derive considerable benefits, both from the direct technical standpoint (in terms ofwidespread general advances in technology) and from the accretion to its general power and influence throughout the world.No one could deny that Russia's success in space has increased her power in the world enormously. Apart from the militarybenefits of her success, it has established her undisputably as one of the two most advanced countries in science and engineering.Already this has had a marked effect upon her position in inter- national trade.Basically our decision as to what we in Europe ought to do about space has to be taken in the light of what role we think we can and ought to play in the world of tomorrow. Influence grows from power. Power is indivisible and space is an increasingly important ingredient in power. What are the possible courses open to European countries? There seem to me to be five:— (1) Do nothing (2) Enter space alone(3) Rely on the United Nations (4) Co-operate with the USA or USSR(5) Co-operate with other European countries. I intend to examine briefly the advantages and disadvantagesof these courses. (1) Do Nothing. The whole of my argument to date has been directedtowards proving that it would be a fatal error for Europe, as a whole, to stay out of space. I realize that for many countries theeconomic implications of entering space are frightening. Clearly if they had to choose between taking on so grievous a burden orstaying out of space, they would be forced reluctantly to stay out of space. For such countries, and they constitute the majorityof European countries, the only way of obtaining a share in space
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