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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1715.PDF
FLIGHT International, 30 August 1962 341 McMichael Radio cosmic-ray analyser Blue Streak assembly by de Havilland Aircraft at Stevenage THE major space project on which British industry is working at present is the Blue Streak first stage of the three-stage launch vehicle which is to be developed by the European Launcher Development Organi zation. Some 2,000 people are working on this programme—de Havilland at Hatfield and Stevenage, Rolls-Royce at Derby, Ministry of Aviation scientists and engi neers at Farnborough and Westcott, and joint teams at the Blue Streak test site at Spadeadam, which is run by Rolls-Royce for the Ministry. The industrial team responsible for the original Blue Streak weapon comprised de Havilland Propellers, prime contractor; de Havilland Aircraft, airframe; Rolls- Royce, propulsion; and Sperry Gyroscope, inertial guidance system. Agreements with Rocketdyne and Convair were negotiated to draw on experience obtained with the US Atlas missile. When the Blue Streak weapon was cancelled and its "civil" space role began to be discussed, Sperry and a number of other contractors whose pro ducts related solely to the missile version withdrew from the programme. Static firings of Blue Streak have been carried out at Spadeadam since early in 1961, and flight tests are scheduled to begin next year at Woomera. The complete LLDO vehicle, incorporating a French second stage and a West German third stage, should be ready for initial flight tests from Woomera in late 1965 or early 1966. Another industrial move in the field of space was the formation in February 1961 of the British Space Development Company under the chairmanship of Sir Robert Renwick. BSDC member-companies com prise Associated Electrical Industries, Associated Television, British Insulated Calender's Cables, Decca Radar, Hawker Siddeley Aviation, Plessey, Pye, Rank Tele vision and General Trust, Rolls-Royce, Elliott-Automation and C. A. Parsons. In March 1962 BSDC announced the result of its first 12 months' deliberations—pro posals for a Commonwealth communica tions satellite system which, the company u ,rged, the Government should take steps right away to establish. In the European field, also, space-inter ested companies had been getting together. The result was the formation of Eurospace —an association of companies whose im mediate task comprised the setting-up of some 18 main working groups whose studies will shortly be reflected in firm recommen dations to governments. A prominent part in the technical work of Eurospace and of the British Space Development Company has been taken by Mr Geoffrey Pardoe, chief engineer (weapons and space research) of de Havilland Aircraft. This year has marked the entry of British instruments into orbit with the launch of the first joint US/UK satellite Ariel from Cape Canaveral on April 26. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center developed and produced the satellite structure, but the scientific experiments aboard were the result of British industry/university team work. Industry participation included work by McMichael Radio (cosmic-ray analyser), G. and E. Bradley (storers for electron density experiments); 20th Century Elec tronics (X-ray counters and Lyman- alpha detectors), Pye Ltd (memory storers for electron density and temperature ex periments and mass spectrometer), and Bristol Aircraft Ltd (X-ray spectrometer and extra-high-tension generator). Many other companies are carrying out space work under Government contract and for universities whose experiments are being developed under DSIR grants for flight in Black Knight and Skylark rockets and future joint satellites. Bristol Aircraft are currently working on equipment for the Meteorological Office experiments which will be included in the second joint US/UK satellite. In the report on communication satellites prepared by the RAE for the GPO (Flight International, August 16, 1962) compli mentary reference was made to the work of the Plessey Company in the development of silicon solar cells, large numbers of which would be required if and when a British communications satellite system is deve loped. Bristol Aerojet 200,000ft meteorological rocket with steel or glass-fibre motor case Pye "card" for UK.-I Ariel before potting in Araldite and embedding in Eccofoam
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