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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0437.PDF
FLIGHT International, 21 March 1963 All "NASA's most reliable booster"—the Douglas Delta—was honoured at a ceremony at Cape Canaveral recently. Here speaking is Mr C. R. Able, vice- president and general manager of Douglas Missile and Space Systems Division: in the background is Delta no 17; in the foreground a model of the Ariel satellite. Delta's satellite-launch record to date is one failure and IS consecutive successes Missiles and Spaceflight CABINET RECOGNIZES SPACE A recent decision by the Cabinet to go one step further than the completed RAE/GPO feasibility studies into the field of communi cation satellites will be translated into the award of project study contracts to industry and/or Government departments within the next few weeks. This was made known by a Government spokes man on March 12. The project studies will be concerned with a specific design of communication satellite, and will include estimates of the cost of developing and producing the spacecraft. If a decision to go ahead is taken, development and production contracts would follow later. In broad outline the type of communication satellite system envisaged is that proposed in the RAE/GPO studies (Flight Inter national, August 16, 1962), i.e., a system of satellites in circular, equatorial orbit at a height of 6,000-9,000 n.m. It is assumed that the European Launcher Development Organization's three-stage vehicle would launch the satellites, and this in turn presupposes a near-equatorial launch site. A site in the Seychelle Islands is under consideration. The announcement of the award of the project study contracts will probably be made by the Minister of Aviation. Last week Mr Amery discussed communication-satellite affairs with Sir Robert Renwick, chairman of the British Space Development Company. On March 29 a Private Members' motion on the subject of a possible Commonwealth communication satellite system will be debated in the House of Commons. Mr Farey-Jones, Conservative Member for Watford, will call attention to "the urgent necessity fer the provision of a British and Commonwealth telecommunica tions satellite, the preservation of existing design staffs, and the confidence in the future of British scientists." NATO NUCLEAR FORCE There is now no doubt that the US is anxious to promote a multi lateral nuclear force among some, or all, of the members of NATO. The reason seems to be the fear of the emergence of national "deterrents" like the French Force de Frappe, which appear in Washington to pose severe political and military problems. By attracting NATO countries to a multilateral force safeguarded by American veto such a threat may be avoided. The US President's "special envoy," Mr Livingston Merchant, and a staff including Rear-Admiral John M. Lee—styled "special assistant" to Mr Merchant—held discussions on this topic with H.M. Government in London oa March 12 and 13. The original proposal for such a force came from Bonn; this was disclosed by the West German Defence Minister, Herr von Hassel, on March 7. He said in a Press conference at the end of his talks with Mr Merchant that he estimated the cost of a NATO fleet of Polaris-carrying surface ships at $500m (£ 178.5m) annually over the next ten years. On the same day a Press conference took place in Washington at which a senior officer of the US Navy presented the official American view for the first time. He was obviously given "a very hot potato" to handle—apparently at fairly short notice—and it soon became clear that the force was in no sense the brain-child of the US Navy but a goal presumably set by the Department of State. He did at least drive home the fact that a force of Polaris-carrying surface vessels would be a second-strike weapon to be used only after a nuclear exchange by other delivery systems. Each ship would be of about 10,000 tons, and could carry up to 32 Polaris A3 launch tubes (plus many more missiles if a reloading capability was thought desirable). If only 16 launch tubes were carried, the cost per ship might be £25m to £35m. NATO nations might choose to build as many as 25 such vessels, and they "could avoid constant tracking by Russian submarines and planes by operating in shel tered waters like the mouth of the Clyde, the Irish Sea and the Gulf of Corinth." They could "lose themselves among the 3,000 genuine merchant ships operating daily in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean." Crews of these ships would comprise men from at least three countries; and, contrary to the original concept, they would not be divided into national groups. The overall control system, at both political and operational levels, has yet to be determined. US TRACKING STATIONS IN AUSTRALIA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is to establish a deep space tracking facility some eleven miles southwest of Canberra, a manned spaceflight and scientific satellite tracking station at Carnarven in Western Australia, and a smaller station at Darwin. The deep space facility, to be located in the Tidbinbilla Valley, will be an additional unit of the deep space network which at present contains stations near Woomera, South Australia; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Goldstone, California. It will be used in connec tion with the US programme of space exploration to the Moon and the planets. Its function will be to track spacecraft on their journeys into space and to receive telemetered information from instruments aboard the spacecraft. The station will include an 85ft diameter parabolic antenna, and will be operated by Australian personnel under contract to NASA. The stations at Carnarven and Darwin will be involved in Project Gemini and, in addition, will be used in connection with the forthcoming Eccentric Geophysical Observatory and Orbiting Astronomical Observatory scientific satellites.
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