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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0909.PDF
"Flight" photographs Symposium participants included, from the left, Air Marshal Sir Owen Jones, President of the Royal Aeronautical Society; Mr W. H. Stephens, Director- General, Ballistic Missiles, Ministry of Aviation; Mr H. J. Higgs of the Weapons Research Establishment, Australia, who spoke on Woomera facilities which could be used in a European programme; and Mr J. E. C/egg, also of the Australian Department of Supply Missiles and Spaceflight. . . (2) The Ten-nation Meetings of Scientists. In the meantime,scientists from ten European countries had met from time to time to consider the possibility of European co-operation in spaceresearch. A meeting was held in London in April 1960 at the invitation of the Royal Society. Scientists came from Belgium,Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The group meeting in London concluded, among other things,that the optical-tracking facilities for satellites in Western Europe were still insufficient and that the special advantages afforded bythe large population density and the good knowledge of the iono- sphere above Europe should be employed more fully by increasingboth the amount and the quality of optical tracking. Consideration was also given to the possibilities of co-operative projects inlaunching rockets or satellites. A further meeting of the ten-nation group took place in Parison June 23 and 24, 1960. At this meeting, Sir Harrie Massey of the United Kingdom was elected chairman of the group. It wasdecided to establish the secretariat of a study group, which consists of five members, in Paris; Prof Pierre Auger was appointed as theexecutive secretary. The five members of the study group were instructed to study: (a) The convening of an inter-governmental meeting to create apreparatory committee charged with investigating the possibili- ties of establishing a final project for a joint European pro-gramme in space research; (b) Terms of reference for a preparatory commission. (3) The Geneva Conference. Consequential upon the work of ProfAuger's study group, an inter-governmental conference on space research was duly held in Geneva, on the premises of the EuropeanOrganization for Nuclear Research (CERN) from November 28 to December 1, 1960. Eleven countries took part, the ten mentionedabove plus Spain, and with Austria as an observer. An agreement was signed to set up a Preparatory Commissionfor a European Organization for Space Research. Although the task of the Preparatory Commission will be to "investigate thepossibilities of establishing" such an organization, the actual creation of such an organization is clearly the ultimate aim of thegovernments concerned. The Preparatory Commission comprising representatives of the11 nations represented at Geneva held its first meeting in Paris on March 13-14. Sir Harrie Massey was elected chairman andProf Auger executive secretary. Working groups have been set up to consider programmes for the Organization and to examinelegal, administrative and financial matters. The Preparatory Commission held a second meeting in The Hague of May 17-18. (4) A European Space Launcher. There is the further question ofwhether Europe should endeavour to develop its own space launcher. As I explained earlier, the technological and commercialaspects of space are as important to our countries as the purely scientific.If we are not involved in the technological aspects of space we cut ourselves entirely from a new, and potentially rich, field ofengineering development. With this in mind the British and French Governments convened a conference in Strasbourg to consider theirideas for the development, through co-operation between European states, of space launchers for peaceful purposes. The Anglo-French suggestions had been discussed previouslywith delegates from Belgium, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden andSwitzerland, and observers from Austria, Canada, Greece and Turkey. Delegates expressed keen interest in the political, scientific,economic and technological advantages of such co-operation. These discussions will doubtless assist the Governments concernedin considering their response to the Anglo-French proposals. The latter provide for the establishment of a European organiza-tion having as its first programme of work the development of a three-stage launcher using the British rocket Blue Streak as its firststage, a French rocket as its second stage, and a third stage to be developed elsewhere in Europe. The organization will be em-powered to study other projects as the need becomes apparent. All the member-countries of the organization would be given anopportunity of participating in its scientific, engineering and other work, thus enjoying the scientific and commercial benefits thatcould arise from a development of satellite launchers for peaceful purposes. It is intended that the work previously done on BlueStreak and the related technology should be put at the organiza- tion's disposal for the purposes outlined above. For its part theFrench Government would also give to the organization the benefit of the studies carried out and investments made in the frameworkof its national programme. About £60m has already been spent by Britain in the develop-ment of Blue Streak, no part of which would be recovered from any country joining in its further development for peaceful purposes.The estimated cost of a three-stage European satellite launcher based on the existing work done by Britain is a further £70mspread over a period of five to six years, which would be shared roughly in proportion to national incomes. Furthermore, becausework on this programme is far advanced in the United Kingdom and because the bulk of the initial work would take place there,the United Kingdom Government is prepared to accept one-third of the cost of the first programme based on Blue Streak. It is not clear how many of the countries who attended theStrasbourg Conference will declare their willingness to support the Anglo-French proposals. However, a number of countries seemfavourably disposed towards the project and it is to be hoped that it will go ahead even though some countries may not find themselvesable to participate. I have no doubt that were the Anglo-French proposals to be rejected entirely by all the other countries, whichis very unlikely to happen, Britain and France together have suffi- cient resources to proceed with the project alone. However, onmany grounds, especially political, it would be a great pity if this happened.(5) Cost. Any worthwhile space programme must be planned courageously over a long period of time. The American NASA isplanning on a minimum basis to ten years. Reasonable continuity in the scale of effort and the provision of finance is essential ifscientists and technologists of adequate calibre are to be attracted and if significant scientific investigations are to be undertaken. There is a minimum scale of activity below which a space pro-gramme would not be worth the effort and resources of member- countries. Therefore it follows that, if member-countries are tocollaborate on space research, they must accept a minimum financial commitment as a base load obligation upon their resources,which they would pledge themselves to honour except in circum- stances of the direst financial stringency. Opinion diifers greatly as to what that minimum figure would be.For myself, I cannot see that minimum figure being much below £20m a year once a worthwhile programme got started. Initiallythe figure would be less. Delegates must be under no illusion that there is a cheap way of getting into space, but some ways may be lessexpensive than others. However, many of us hold the view that after a few years the commercial advantages of exploiting spaceare certain to be so compelling that further finance would be readily forthcoming. What was the financial return to Spain of ChristopherColumbus' voyages of discovery ? Europe must be involved in space. Co-operation between theEuropean nations is the only sensible and economic way of getting into space. Tsiolkovskii, the father of Russian astronautics, oncewrote: "The earth is the cradle of the mind, but one cannot live for ever in a cradle." Russia and America have left the cradle. It is time Europe did, too.
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