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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 2248.PDF
FLIGHT international, 13 August 1964 267 perigee rose 120km each month. Unfortunately the satellite was lost after only four months when its transmissions ceased, and its present position is unknown. Explorer 14's perigee, rising at a slightly greater rate, had climbed to over 2,600km before the payload became unobservable in March. Launched last winter into an unusual orbit with a very low perigee and an apogee equal to 51 per cent of the distance to the Moon, the first of NASA's Interplanetary Monitoring Probes (Explorer 18) eclipsed previous satellites with a perigee rise of 280km per month. Even the higher of the Soviet Elektron payloads and their rockets are not exempt from this effect. When the Russians had successfully manoeuvred their two Polyot craft, they stated that the orbital inclinations had been altered by 0.5° and 2° respectively. Explorer 14, however, increased its inclination by over 8° without using an ounce of fuel—although admittedly it took 14 months to achieve this. Explorers 12 and 18 show smaller increases while Elektron 2 and its rocket show a decrease. In spite of high initial values, the periods of these satellites are slowly falling, but the variations in eccentricity make lifetime estimates very uncertain. Spacecraft subject to luni-solar perturb- ations might be expected to survive for centuries, although a reversal of an orbit's orientation might drop the perigee into dense parts of the atmosphere and bring the satellite down within a year. ELEKTRON PROGRESS The following progress report on the Soviet satellites Elektron 3 and Elektron 4, launched on July 11, was given by Tass on August2. "The scientific space stations Elektron 3 and 4 continue their successful study of the upper layers of the atmosphere in extra- terrestial space. By 1300hr Moscow time on August 1 the space station Elektron 3 had completed more than 184 circuits of the Earth and had passed through the inner radiation belt more than once. By the same time the space station Elektron 4, moving in a very elongated elliptical orbit, had completed more than 24 circuits of the Earth and had passed more than 48 times through the zone of the outer radiation belt. "According to the telemetry the flight instrumentation of both stations is functioning normally. The established temperature and pressure are being maintained on board. Fifty communication sessions have been held with Elektron 3 since its launching, and 19 with Electron 4. Valuable scientific information has been obtained about the functioning of the spaceship systems. Further radio communication sessions with Elektron 3 and 4 and the reception of scientific information from them will be carried out in conformity with the programme." Cosmos 36 Launched On July 30, the Soviet news agency Tass issued the following communique: "Another artificial Earth satellite, Cosmos 36, was launched in the Soviet Union today. The satellite carries scientific equipment to continue the exploration of outer space under the programme announced by Tass on March 16,1962. The satellite has been placed into orbit with the following elements: initial period of revolution, 91.9min; apogee, 503km; perigee, 259km; inclination, 49°. Apart from scientific instrumentation, the satellite carries a radio system for accurate measurement of orbital elements; and a radio-telemetric system for relaying to the Earth data on the operation of the instruments and scientific equipment. The equipment installed on the satellite is functioning normally." ASSET No 3 The third in the US Air Force ASSET programme of spacecraft structural-test experiments was successfully carried out on July 22. The 6ft hypersonic glider was launched from Cape Kennedy by an ex-RAF Thor with a Delta upper stage. Apogee was 44 miles, and the experimental craft glided 1,650 miles down the Eastern Test Range to impact east of the Leeward Islands. ASSET No 3 weighed 1,1501b (about 1001b heavier than earlier examples) and carried 104 instruments to record re-entry temperatures and pressures during the 13min flight. The first ASSET flew successfully last September, but sank before it could be recovered; the second shot, on March 24, was marred by a rocket failure. Pluto Development Ends The US Atomic Energy Commission has abandoned its development of the compact, high-powered nuclear reactor intended to power a ramjet engine in the Pluto low-flying missile. According to Washington reports, this decision followed a marked lack of Defense Department interest in the project, on which some ?200m had been spent over the past ten years. Ikara, the Australian-developed anti-submarine guided weapon, will equip two Type 12 frigates to be built in RAN dockyards as a long-term replacement for the destroyer HMAS Voyager, lost in a collision on February 10. Other GW ships to join the RAN in the next few years will be three destroyers of the USN's Charles F. Adams class carrying Tartar SAMs. US/Dutch Rocket Programme The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research have agreed a joint programme of sodium-vapour experiments using Nike-Apache sounding rockets to be launched from an equatorial site at Coronie, Surinam, in November. OUT OF ORDER The year 1964 promises to be the most active year yet for satellite launchings. Half of the space firings in any year are not usually achieved until July-August, which suggests that this year's final count—probably between 76 and 84—will easily surpass the 1962 total of 72. The increasing pace of launching has resulted in the first non-sequential assignment of an international designation. Over a dozen times in the past, two shots have taken place on the same day, often a NASA satellite from Cape Kennedy and a USAF firing from the Western Test Range in California. Although Tiros 3 and Midas 3 were fired only about lhr apart, until last month every spacecraft designation had strictly followed the chronological order of launch. When Elektrons 3 and 4 were orbited, however, US radar tracking stations in Europe apparently missed the launch at about 21.50 GMT on July 10 and the lower spacecraft was detected only when its passages crossed the USA several hours later. Even if the launch was observed, this information had not reached California by 23.15 GMT, when the USAF launched a Thor-Agena and designated it 1964-37, the number which should really have been given to the Soviet launch. The Elektrons were sub- sequently numbered 1964-38 and this "mistake," although realized by now, will probably remain as it stands. ESRO at Kiruna An agreement was signed in Paris on July 29 between Sweden and the European Space Research Organization covering an eight-year renewable lease for land near Kiruna, in Lapland, for ESRO's sounding-rocket launch site, plus land for tracking and radio stations. Space tracking ship "General H. H. Arnold," based at Cape Kennedy, is equipped with radar and telemetry instrumentation and also carries Areas meteorological rocket launchers and a complete weather station
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