FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1966
1966 - 1526.PDF
Official Organ of the Royal Aero Club First Aeronautical Weekly in the World Founded in 1909 THURSDAY 16 MAY 1966 Number 2985 Volume 89 Editor-in-Chief MAURICE A. SMITH DFC Editor i. M. RAMSOEN Assistant Editor KENNETH OWEN BSc OCAe AFRAeS Air Transport Editor H. A. TAYLOR Production Editor ROY CASEY Managing Director H. N. PRIAULX MBE In this World News Parliament, Management Air Transport National Gliding Contests Military Aircraft Procurement Sport and Business The Future of Eldo Open Days at the NGTE Letters Industry International Special Feature: VTOL Aircraft 1966 Spaceflight Defence Straight and Level issue 860 862 863 870 871 873 875 878 880 882 883 899 904 908 Hifle Transport Publications Ltd, DorsetHouse, Stamford Street, London SE1; telephone Waterloo 3333 (STD.01).Telegrams/Telex: Flight Iliffepres, 25137 London. Annual subscriptions; Home£6. Overseas £6 for one year; £12 for three years. Canada and USA $18 forone year; $36 for three years. Second Class Mail privileges authorised at NewYork. NY. Branch Offices: Coventry, 8-10 Corpora-tion Street; telephone Coventry 25210. Birmingham, 401 Lynton House, WalsallRoad, Birmingham 22b; telephone 021 BIRchfield 4838. Manchester, 260 Deans-gate, Manchester 3; telephone Blackfriars 4412 or Deansgate 3595. Glasgow, 123Hope Street, Glasgow C2; telephone Central 1265-6. Bristol, 11 Marsh Street,Bristol 1; telephone Bristol 21491-2. New York, NY: Thomas Skinner & Co(Publishers) Ltd, 300 East 42nd Street, New York 10017, USA; telephone 867-3900 © Iliffe Transport Publications Ltd1.966. Permission to reproduce illustra- tions and letterpress can be granted onlyunder written agreement. Brief extracts or comments may be made with dueacknowledgement. Investing in Space IN terms of contracts received, Britain is obtaining a poor returnfrom her investment in the European Space Research Organisation. Contributing 25 per cent of the funds of the organisation, she has obtained only 15 per cent of ESRO's scientific and technological con- tracts. France, by contrast, contributes only 18 per cent but has received 31 per cent of the contracts. These figures prove one of the key points put forward last week by the new National Industrial Space Committee—that a strong national space programme is essential for effective participation in international space projects. France's vigorous national programme is not just a matter of prestige: it has placed the French industry in a dominant position to compete for the international business, while Britain's national space budget is minimal. There are, of coursee, other valid reasons for Britain to pursue a more active national space programme; but the stimulus of the col- laborative programmes which must form the mainstream of Europe's space technology remains the most important reason of all. What went wrong ? The troubles of the European Launcher Development Organisation have been much discussed by Ministers and experts of late. But the real disagreements have consistently been camouflaged by the white- washing tact of agreed diplomatic statements. This week a senior rocket engineer close to the ELDO programme has finally blasted-off with accuracy and power against this diplomatic drag. "Our difficulties are never likely to be solved," Mr Val Cleaver told the European Space- flight Symposium at Brighton last Monday, "if these issues are always to be kept hidden, only to be referred to in public statements of such tact, discretion and diplomacy that they negate the whole principle of communication." In his paper (pages 875-877) Mr Cleaver replaces this negative "tact, discretion and diplomacy" with an engineer's blunt account of what really went wrong with ELDO. The confused political environ- ment, the absence of follow-on studies, continual uncertainty, ignorance of operational requirements, the agonsing lack of continuity—all these, he points out, make forward planning and the use of efficient manage- ment techniques quite impossible. The Council of Europe, also, is concerned at the past record and present status of Europe in space. A report earlier this month pointed out that the European space programme "is starved of resources, lacks urgency and appears to have no central focus of authority and drive." Mr Cleaver, rocket engineer, drove the point home with eloquence at Brighton. ELDO, he said (and we would widen the subject to em- brace Europe's space activity in general), ought to represent a shining example of European co-operation, helping to build the new Europe and enabling it to play its part in one of the most exciting technological developments of the late twentieth century. If things have turned out differently it has been because of a failure of imagination, a failure to have the courage of our convictions—a failure, perhaps, to have had any convictions at all. Europe should have done better. Much could be achieved if Britain's spending on space were to be doubled to about £35 million per year. But to complete the picture two further steps are essential— Britain must set up a single agency responsible for national space policy; and Europe must set up a comparable body to knit together the separate strands of a European space policy.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
