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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0605.PDF
FLIGHT International, 18 April 1963 581 Missiles and Spaceflight NASA and the Department of Defense signed an agreement making :he Air Force an active participant. Despite the magnitude of the continuation contract now awarded to Boeing, Mr NcNamara has said that it is his department's opinion that "events appear to have overtaken" the X-20; and there appear to be few experts outside the USAF who are prepared to go on record with the claim that the programme will be worth the estimated cost of $880m. It is also pertinent to note the improved performance of the M-2 vehicle conceived at NASA's Ames Research Center (Flight International, March 14 last), which appears to be structurally—and possibly aerodynamically—more efficient ihan the X-20. Meanwhile Boeing's Wichita division is about to convert the B-52C to carry the first flight X-20s under its inner starboard wing. PAYING FOR POLARIS HM Stationery Office published the White Paper Polaris Sales Agreement (Cmnd 1995, HMSO, price Is) on April 9. It gives details of the manner in which the Nassau agreement making the Polaris fleet ballistic missile system available to HM Government will be implemented. As previously reported, the Royal Navy is to have an initial force of four nuclear-powered submarines each equipped to fire a number (probably 16) of Polaris A3 missiles. The ships will be built in British yards, but the White Paper confirms that the navigation, missile handling and launching, fire-control, automatic checkout and communications systems will be purchased from the US con tractors currently responsible for their development and manufac ture. The major firms involved were listed in our preliminary de scription of the British submarines on February 28. As the Prime Minister announced in February, we are to purchase the Polaris A3 at the "common contract price" plus a surcharge of five per cent as our share of the research and development costs. Total payments to the US are unofficially estimated at about £50m for A3 missiles for the first four ships (each with guidance but without warhead), plus a similar sum for shipborne equipment. Payments will be made quarterly, in dollars, and will steadily increase in value as the amount of hardware on order rises. The period of maximum payments—unless a Labour Government takes office in the meantime, and "de-negotiates" the agreement—will be about the time the first submarine enters service with the Royal Navy in 1968. The United Kingdom will be able to incorporate all American modifications and improvements made to the systems which we are buying from the USA, but will pay all the costs incurred by modi fication or redesign of any part of the American shipborne equip ment which may be necessitated by installation in the British submarines. By the same token, the United Kingdom will retain full rights to any British improvements or additions to the fleet ballistic missile system. Personnel of the Royal Navy will undergo instructional courses with the US Navy and with the major American subcontractors for the systems previously mentioned. When this stage is reached, the Royal Navy will also be able to lease time on the Atlantic Missile Range in order to conduct test firings from the British submarines. The agreement provides for either of the two partners to withdraw from the agreement at any time; but if the United Kingdom does withdraw she will have to pay "such additional sums as will be due," as well as the usual commercial termination payments to the US subcontractors as is normally the case with any American or British weapon system terminated before completion (as was the case with Skybolt). Relay Success The National Aeronautics and Space Adminis tration announced on March 22 that the Relay 1 communication satellite had "successfully performed all of its experiments and missions," and that no radical change was expected in the design of Relay 2 (scheduled for launch in the third quarter of this year). Some redesign would be made in the satellite's electronic circuitry and voltage-regulating components, to eliminate the chance of Power drain which hampered its operation shortly after launch last December and again in March. (Spacecraft Log, page 585). Second stage of the Saturn I vehicle, the Douglas-built S-IV is the first large space vehicle to be assembled in a vertical position. Here seen at the final assembly tower at Santa Monica are the S-VI main body, aft skirt (upper right) and aft interstage section (lower right). The stage will be powered by six RL-I0A3 liquid-hydrogen engines, generating a total of 90,0001b thrust Northrop Supports Ranger Northrop Corporation has been selected by NASA to provide additional industrial support to the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, Pasadena, on the Ranger lunar spacecraft programme. The company is responsible already for two of the Ranger sub-systems—the attitude control and the central com puter and sequencer. Gemini Contract A prime contract worth $456.6m has been signed by NASA with McDonnell Aircraft Corp for two-man Gemini spacecraft. The company will provide 13 flight-rated Gemini spacecraft, one of which will undergo ground testing; 16 Gemini/ Titan II adapter modules and nine Agena target vehicle docking adapters. Other equipment to be supplied includes two mission simulators, one for Cape Canaveral and one for Houston; one dock ing simulator at Houston; and five boilerplate spacecraft for ejec tor seat and landing-impact tests. NASA Concentrates on Synchronous Satellites According to Dr Robert Seamans, Associate Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA is to concentrate its communication satellite research and development work on systems employing satellites in stationary or synchronous orbits. In testimony before a House of Representatives Committee, he stated; "We re-examined our communications satellite programmes quite carefully in the light of the creation of the Communication Satellite Corporation and the reoriented activities of the Defense Department. .. We have concluded that the principal NASA effort should be focused on the research and development problems associated with the synchronous-altitude class of communications satellite." The NASA view is that Telstar and Relay have demon strated the feasibility of medium altitude communication satellites, and that further development should be undertaken, with limited help from NASA, by the Communication Satellite Corporation. Date with Mars According to Prof Dmitry Martynov, director of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute in Moscow, the Soviet Mars 1 spacecraft will reach the planet on June 19.
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