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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1654.PDF
758 FLIGHT, 16 November 1961 Missiles and Spaceflight US MRBM FOR NATO? Announcements by the US Department of Defense and Air Force on November 7 state that a study contract will be let for a medium- range ballistic missile intended for use by the European members of NATO. As might be expected, the weapon will have a solid pro- pellant, and be intended for deployment on mobile launchers cap- able of being driven along any highway or reasonably firm ground. Range will be of the order of 1.000 miles. Use of strategic weapons of this nature appears to run contrary to the spirit of the original North Atlantic Charter, but there is American pressure to introduce them. Modifications of both Polaris and Pershing have been con- sidered for this purpose, but the November 7 announcement implies an entirely new weapon. No contractor has been named. X-15 NEAR LIMIT? Since the inception of the programme, the design speed of the North American X-15 has been broadly given as "4,000 m.p.h." On November 9 Maj Robert White, USAF, flew one of these aircraft at a speed provisionally calculated at 4,093 m.p.h., at an altitude of between 90,000 and 100,000ft. This speed, which represents a Mach number of almost 6.2, is the greatest speed yet attained by a vehicle A pre-launch picture at Cape Canaveral of the four-stage Scout used in the November I attempt to place a communications payload in orb.I in order to test the Project Mercury tracking network. As reported last week, the launch attempt was unsuccessful fully controlled by a human occupant (the man-carrying space capsules so far launched have been controllable only in attitude). During the descent one layer of the right-hand windscreen crazed, but the shattered panel remained in its frame (the same thing hap- pened to the left windscreen on October 11). After landing back at Edwards AFB Maj White said that he expected the windscreen to be modified before altitudes greater than 250,000ft are attempted towards the end of this week. HAWKER SIDDELEY SPACE RE-SHUFFLE A reorganization of the astronautics group of Hawker Siddeley Aviation has been announced by the company. The group has been placed under the direction of Mr G. K. C. Pardoe, chief engineer (weapons and space research) of de Havilland Aircraft, and will be led by Mr Geoffrey Coates, assistant chief engineer (space research). Mr Coates is being transferred to de Havilland from the HSA. advanced projects group. As reported in last week's issue, the former head of the astronautics group, Dr W. F. Hilton, was dis- missed by Hawker Siddeley at the end of last month. An HSA press release states: "Astronautics is now passing from the purely theoretical phase into one in which the practical engin- Mr Pardoe Mr Coates eering problems will form an increasingly large part of the pro- gramme . . . This reorganization will enable the practical back- ground of a well-known guided weapons team to augment the facilities at the disposal of the astronautics group. The company will continue to give active support to the aims and objectives of the British Space Development Company." The French National Assembly last month approved the establish- ment of a new French centre for space studies, to co-ordinate the work of all existing French space-research organizations. A new small solid-fuel rocket motor, named Atmos. has been pro-duced by the Aerospace and Defense Products Division of B. F. Goodrich. Designed as a booster and upper-stage propulsion unit foratmospheric soundine, Atmos is stated to be capable of carrying 8-12Ib payloads to 300,000ftT Next year's congress of the International Astronautical Federationwill be held in Sofia, and Buenos Aires is in prospect for 1963. This was decided at plenary sessions at last month's IAF congress in Washington,when Prof J. Peres of France was elected president of the Federation in succession to Academician Leonid Sedov of the Soviet Union. General Curtis LeMay, US Air Force Chief of Staff, said on October26 that "tomorrow's space systems may use an altogether new kind of armament . . . war in the future may waged and decided without aweapon being applied against an Earth target." He said that the United States would be very naive if it did not "expect and prepare for" a warin space. Aerojet-General and Rocketdyne have each received a ten-monthcontract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to investigate unconventional concepts of engine and vehicle designfor a liquid-fuel rocket stage of 2m-24m lb thrust and weighing some 2,000 tons. Liquid oxygen/hydrocarbons and liquid oxygen/liquidhydrogen would be the propellants. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans toacquire approximately 13,500 acres in south-west Mississipi as a static test facility for Saturn and Nova-class launch vehicles. The site islocated in Pearl River county about 35 miles from NASA's Michoud plant in New Orleans where large booster stages will be manufacturedfor the Apollo and other programmes. Six or more test stands capable of handling boosters of 1.5m-20m 1b thrust may be built. An Aerobee 100 rocket was launched from the sea off Point Mugu,California, on October 25 by the US Navy. It was reported to have reached a height of about 5,000ft. Fourteen Delta launch vehicles, incorporating DM-21 Thor boosterseach generating 170,0001b thrust compared with the 150.0001b of the earlier DM-I8 Thors, are to be built by Douglas for NASA under a$19m contract. This follows an earlier order for 12 Deltas. US nuclear reactors for spacecraft are to be flight-tested in 1963-65,according to the chairman of the US Atomic Energy Commission, Mr Glenn Seaborg. The present schedule calls for flight tests of the 500WSnap-lOA reactor by late 1963; the 3kW Snap-2 by 1964; and the 30kW Snap-8 by 1965. The Italian Defence Minister has stated that Italy hopes to launch anEarth satellite in about 18 months' time, in co-operation with the USA. A Defence Ministry spokesman added that the launching would befrom a platform built in international waters in the area between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. Cosmic-ray and meteorological experi-ments would be carried. Cossor Radar & Electronics have supplied under MoA contract fiveaerials and associated synchronization equipment for the War Office trials establishment, guided weapons, Royal Artillery, at Ty Croes,Anglesey. The equipment comprises five circularly polarized helical aerials, operating in the regions of 100, 200 and 400 Mc/s, together withequipment for slaving them to the bearing and elevation readout from a master-tracking equipment. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has no re-quirement at present for an equatorial launch site. This was stated by Dr Arnold Frutkin, Director of International Programs of NASA, inWashington last month. Proposals for such sites had come to NASA from many countries situated on the Equator, he stated, but it seemedthat the utility of equatorial sites had been grossly exaggerated. Even if an equatorial orbit were required—as, for example, in certain com-munication satellite applications—this could be achieved by "dog-leg" launches from Cape Canaveral.
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