FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1813.PDF
622 FLIGHT International, 10 October 1963 Missiles and Spaceflight The IAF Congress was held in the impressive meeting halls of the UNESCO building in Paris UK-3 DESCRIBED AT PARIS CONGRESS WITH Lt-Col Yuri Gagarin as guest of honour at the final banquet on October 1, the 14th Congress of the Inter national Astronautical Federation was generally reckoned to have been one of the most successful IAF meetings yet held. Behind the glamour of the attendance of the world's first spaceman lay the solid foundation of five days' working sessions. A number of the papers presented at these sessions were reported last week; this article continues with extracts and summaries from a further selection of papers. UK-3 SATELLITE DETAILS The UK-3 International Ionospheric Satellite: Britain's First Spacecraft, by J. L. Blonstein British Aircraft Corporation) A comprehensive description of the design and construction of the UK-3 (S-53) satellite, and of the experiments which it will carry, was given in this paper. Between now and 1966, when the craft is scheduled to be launched into orbit by Scout vehicle from Wallops Island, five examples will be built. The first will contain mock-up equipment and will be used for structural and thermal testing. The second will be a develop ment unit, and the third a fully equipped prototype. Numbers 4 and 5 will comprise the flight unit and flight spare respectively. The paper first outlines the experiments to be carried by the UK-3 satellite. After reviewing the requirements issued by the Space Department of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, it goes on to describe the development of the shape of the satellite as in fluenced by such factors as power supplies, experiment compati bility, thermal control and structural strength. This is followed by a description of the structure and the reasons for adopting certain constructional methods. Mechanisms for the mounting and erect ing of the booms are detailed and other devices for damping and automatic balancing are mentioned. The application of standard ized mechanisms for separation and de-spinning also is shown. In the discussion of materials and finishes, the author emphasizes the British designers' dependence on United States informatioi at this stage and proposes an expansion of British testing programmes. After examining the installation of the satellite in the Scout launch vehicle and reviewing the payload capability of the rocket and life time of the satellite, he next explains the separation and deploy ment sequence. A short discussion on the stressing and dynamics of the satellite follows. Aspects of thermal control are examined, showing a dependence on body shape and the distribution of the solar cell array. The choice of internal finishes to ensure equable temperatures in the equipment is also discussed. The heat balance of the solar cells and of other externally mounted items is reviewed. A description of the electrical and electronic systems includes notes on the required power levels, the layout of the solar-cell array and the system and logic circuits for battery charging and control. Descriptions of the data-handling and transmission equipment are given, with the main emphasis on items newly developed to meet Among those present at Paris was Lt-Col Yuri Gagarin (right). In the group below are (left to right) Prof Georges Fleury, president of the French Astronautical Society; Academician Leonid J. Sedov of the Soviet Academy of Sciences; M Gaston Palewski, French Minister for Scientific Research and Prof E. A. Brun, president of the IAF ^P * ?d&W "•• \
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
