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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 2175.PDF
976 FLIGHT International, 12 December 1963 The first extended-duration (500sec) test firing of a hydrogen-fuelled J-2 rocket engine for Apollo-launching Saturn vehicles was successfully completed on November 27 at the RocketJyne propulsion field laboratory in the Santa Susana mountains, California Missiles and Spaceflight ESRO CONTRACTS FOR UK In a written parliamentary reply on December 5, the Minister of Aviation stated that the Preparatory Commission of the European Space Research Organization "has placed contracts for two preliminary satellite design studies on the Ministry of Aviation." Mr Amcry added; "We are also to supply a number of Skylark sounding rockets." In the opening part of his statement the Minister gave details of the communication-satellite design studies carried out by the Royal Aircraft Establishment and other organizations. He stated: "My department is carrying out a programme of research into the technology required for the civil and military exploitation of space. This is supplemented by work carried out in industry. The pro gramme is currently being reviewed. "The design study of a communications satellite, which I announ ced in the debate on March 29, has been completed. Its implications are now being studied. Twenty separate systems including 15 types of satellite were considered in a co-operative study undertaken by my Establishment, the Post Office and industry. Discussions are in progress with Europe for British participation in a satellite communications system. These will be followed by talks with the United States and other countries. We are keeping in close touch with the Commonwealth ..." Solar Collector in Orbit The Allison Division of General Motors announced on November 22 that "an experimental Fresnel collector has successfully completed its first orbital space test." The state ment continued: "Four and one-half feet in diameter, the collector was launched into orbit earlier this month by the Air Force Systems Command's Space Division at Los Angeles, California. The collector, built by Allison under a $500,000 contract. . . completed its deployment on signal and remained in orbit for 30 days to test its ability to operate in space environment. Purpose of the project was to aid space research programmes aimed towards the effective use of solar thermal energy for the production of electrical power. While the purpose of solar collectors is to convert the Sun's heat directly into electrical power, no attempt was made to achieve this on the initial shot. . . A single-axis Sun tracking system kept the collector aligned with the Sun's rays for approximately lmin during each orbit. Despite this short interval, the collector built up an intense heat that was calibrated on a radiometer oriented to the face of the collector." The collector was described as "a flat electroformed nickel 'mirror' with an aluminized reflecting surface consisting of concentric peaks and valleys similar to a phonograph record." Equatorial Syncom Planned The launch of a Syncom communi cation satellite into a stationary orbit—synchronous, equatorial and circular—has been scheduled by NASA for "the second quarter of 1964." A thrust-augmented Delta launch vehicle will be used. At apogee on the initial, eccentric orbit the "kick motor" in the space craft will fire, placing the satellite in a circular orbit. The equatorial orbit will be achieved by two changes of the orbital plane—once as the third stage fires and again as the kick motor (fourth stage) fires. After moving into position at 180° longitude over the Pacific, Syncom will be "stopped" by gas jets aboard the craft. German Rockets Four experimental solid-fuel rockets, three oi which were single-stage and one two-stage, were fired from a site on the North Sea coast near Cuxhaven on December 5 bv a West GermanUrm known as the Weapons and Air Armaments Company- Maximum height (specified by the local air traffic control office) was 30km, but company officials claimed that the single stage vehicle could reach 80km and the two-stage version 120km. Herr Richard Stengler, general manager of the company, said that the rockets were designed for scientific research, but that tests wit military rockets would be held in about three months' time. Herr Stengler was reported also as having said that orders had been received for the rockets which had been demonstrated, and sen production had begun; that the firm had not yet applied for government permit to produce military rockets; and that the co pany had already tested rockets in foreign countries in order circumvent restrictions on West German rocket production imp°s by the Brussels Treaty.
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