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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 0741.PDF
filGHT International, 4 May 1967 gS LAUNCHES AT ANDOYA During the period May 15 to June 15 ESRO will launch four ounding rockets from the Norwegian launching range on the island of Andoya. This range will be employed because the Lyloads to be orbited require the use of the more powerful Drawn rockets, which cannot be launched at Kiruna because of the safety regulations in force there. The first two vehicles wiU carry the D30 payload while the final two will carry theD34 payload. The former comprises the two experiments R4 and R91, while the D34 payload has the R4 and R79 experi-I rnents. Experiment R4, sponsored by Utrecht University, will measure solar X-ray radiation in the region 10 Angstroms to 60 Ang- stroms, using proportional gas counters. The results will pro- vide data on the solar corona, which is a possible source of X-rays. Experiment R79, sponsored by the Physics Institute at Bonn, is designed to investigate the composition of the upper atmosphere. The vehicle carrying the experiment will be launched simultaneously with a rocket carrying a similar pay- load and launched from Sardinia. This will provide information on the variation with latitude of the constituents of the upper atmosphere. Experiment R91, designed by the Max Planck Institute at Heidelberg, is similar to R79 in that it employs a mass spec- trometer to measure the abundance of atoms and molecules in a eiven mass range, thus providing information on the chemical composition of the upper atmosphere. Integration of payloads D30 has been done by industry (SABCA of Belgium) while that of D34 has been arranged by ESTEC. Both payloads weigh about 110kg (2421b) and will be carried to an altitude of 275km (170 miles). In both, the detectors of the R4 experiment are protected by an ejectable belt, which will be released at a height of about 60km (37 miles). The first rocket will be launched on or about May 15, the launch of the second taking place between 24hr and 48hr later. The first launch of D34 will probably take place on May 23, the second being about 24hr later. THE 23rd ELDO MEETING . The ELDO Council held its 23rd meeting in Paris on April 13 and 14, under the chairmanship of Ambassador A. Pater- notte de la Vaillee of Belgium. Subjects discussed included a progress report concerning the implementation of the ELDO programmes, the establishment of an industrial integrating group and preparations for a new session of the European Space Conference (which will take place in Rome on July 11-13), as well as various financial and administrative matters. The chairman of the Scientific and Technical Committee told the Council that the next launching in the development programme of EUROPA-1, designated F6/1, is scheduled for the beginning of July. The original plan for a firing in June had been revised owing to the loss of second-stage ground equipment in an aircraft accident at Karachi on March 7. The first stage of F6/1 (British Blue Streak) had arrived in Australia on March 21; the second (French Coralie) and third (German) stages were due to be flown to the launching site « Woomera during April. 1 The Council approved a recommendation of the Scientific F»d Technical Committee to use the first stage of the French ^amant-B launcher for sub-orbital flight trials under the "Pplementary or PAS programme. The final decision will e taken by the Secretary-General in the light of time-scales costs to be given by the French authorities. A total of:ou r such firings, beginning 1969, are planned to qualify the 'Pogee and perigee stages of the PAS system for their future 7* of Placing satellites into geostationary (24hr at a height1 36,000km) orbit. The four sub-orbital firings would be car- ™aout from the French Guyana base at Kourou. he meeting also examined a report from the Secretariat cerning the proposed creation of an industrial integrating L"P' Discussiom centred on, the text of the articles of asso- °f reference and a draft convention for 723 the Secretary-General will be empowered to sign an agree- ment with a view to the use of such a group's services. It was also agreed to name the ELDO launcher to be developed under the Supplementary PAS programme Europa-2. Under this programme the Europa-1 three-stage vehicle will be fitted with additional perigee and apogee stages which will permit the launching into geostationary orbit of 160-200kg satellites for telecommunication and other practical purposes. Te next meeting of the Council will be held on June 29 and 30. CHILBOLTON'S SATELLITE TRACKER The new Radio and Space Research Station at Chilbolton, Hants, officially opened on April 14 by Mr Anthony Crosland, Minister for Education and Science, incorporates an 82ft fully steerable dish-type aerial by AEI Electronics and costing £428,000, for use in satellite tracking and as a radio telescope •—the most accurate in Britain. Manned by a team of about six under the direction of Dr John Saxton, Chilbolton's aerial will give the Radio and Space Research Station of the Science Research Council a new tool for fundamental research on radio propagation and satcom studies. Other research fields that can be investigated with the new aerial include fluctuations during the important low-angle periods when non-synchronous satellites rise or set below the horizon; meteorological/propagation correlations which could result in mutual interference between space and terrestrial sys- tems; and phenomena resulting in fading of line-of-sight systems. Experiments so far planned with the aerial include a number of studies of microwave/ray-structure in the troposphere; scattering of microwaves by cloud, rain and snow; ionospheric experiments on Thomson scatter; sky polarisation; and the scintillation of qasars. Pointing accuracy of the aerial is better than two arc-minutes at wind speeds up to 30 m.p.h., and it is expected that this figure will be exceeded in practice by a comfortable margin; the aerial is fully operational in wind speeds of up to 60 m.p.h. Steering is by an AEI IEC58 on-line digital computer or through an auto-tracking system locking on to a radio source. Construction began in September 1964 and installation of the aerial was completed in July 1966. The new 82ft steerable paraboloid aerial at the research station at Chilbolton, Hants, opened on April 14 by Mr Anthony Crosland, the Minister for Education and Science (news item above) Li °n> in a erms °f reference and a draft convention for Qf ^ 8reement with this group, which is conceived as a means Tf118 co"ordinauon °f tne programmes. After being a special working group *#fuch will meet shortly,
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