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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 1409.PDF
1086 FLIGHT International, 28 Decembe Dish of the giant jet Propulsion Laboratory radio antenna in the Mojave Desert, Calif. Looking past the Moon at Mariner 5, speaks to and listens to the Venus-bound spacecraft as it tracks it. At right above, control room of the antenna Spaceflight an interplanetary weather map. Such a map would chart the snakelike magnetic forces extending outward from the Sun and the curving high-speed "wind" of charged particles streaming from it. NASA has said that this would enable scientists to predict the paths of solar radiation and warn astronauts of imminent radiation hazards. Besides mapping radiation deep in space, Pioneer 8 is expected to give scientists a new look at the long, comet-like magnetic field which trails Earth's night side by about 3.5 million miles (5.6 million km). Called the magnetosphere, the Earth's magnetic field protects man from deadly radiation and is believed to have allowed the evolution of higher forms of life on Earth. It is not spherical in shape, but deformed and stretched-out by the force of the million-mile-an-hour solar wind of charged particules blowing against it. Pioneer 8 is expected to pass the magnetosphere about two million miles (3.2 million km) from Earth, to determine its size and shape more accurately. It was reported from Goldstone, Calif, on December 16 that the probe obeyed commands from the NASA Deep Space Network station there and "flawlessly executed a 40° turn." A spokesman for Ames Research Centre in northern California said that completion of this manoeuvre meant that Pioneer 8 was in a permanent cruise condition and should be able to return data for several years and "out as far as around 200 million miles from the Earth." DIOSCURES PROJECT Under the heading "Dioscures satellites could be operational in 1973" our French contemporary Air et Cosmos refers to its description of the Dioscures project (December 2 issue) in the following terms: — "Sponsored by CNES (the National Centre for Space Research) and by SGAC (the Civil Aviation Administration), this system, featuring two geostationary satellites intended for aircraft location and air-to-ground communications, could be operational in 1973. At present, Dioscures is thought to be the only detailed project for a specialised satellite network for these purposes. "Oceanic control centres using this system could locate air- craft within two nautical miles, leading to a reduction to 60 n.m. or less in lateral separation, and to ten minutes in longitudinal flight. Primarily intended for use in the Atlantic area, the system could, however, apply to all other oceanic and desert areas. On the north Atlantic, 200 aircraft are expected to be flying simultaneously at peak hours in 1973. "Average operating cost of the Dioscures system would be about NFl,000 (about £8 10s) per transatlantic flight, assumir a lifetime of three years for the satellites and that aircraft £ half their time over the North Atlantic routes. CNES actively engaged in detailed cost studies. The satellites wi be located within ten metres (approx 33ft) by laser telemetr ground stations. "Assuming 200 aircraft flying at the same time over North Atlantic, the Dioscures system would, under the wo conditions, call for controller's action once in five minutes "Two projects are under consideration. One would be stal ised by rotation and the other by inertial wheel and magne coils. Research for the Dioscures [project] benefits from we already accomplished for Project Saros, a communicatic satellite scheme which has now been superseded by the Frani German Symphonie project, as well as for the Eole proji (meteorological balloons drifting in the upper atmosphere a located by satellites). Tenders for major subsystems ha already been invited from French manufacturers. A devek ment contract for the aircraft antenna is to be announced an early date." GUIDANCE AT GOVE Referring to telemetry, the ELDO technical summary of firing from Woomera on December 6 ("F6/2 Analysis," Flig December 21, page 1046) said that "at the downrange stati at Gove, good telemetry signals were received from the thi stage." Gove, in the north-east corner of Arnhem Land (the near town is Darwin, 400 miles to the west, while Alice Springs 800 miles to the south), was selected as the site for a guidan station because it is due north of Woomera, which is miles away. At Gove, a computer installed in a caravan forms an integ part of the downrange guidance system and telemetry static In addition to this computer, the guidance system consists a guidance command transmitter and a guidance interferome developed by Manufacture Beige de Lampes et de Matei Electronique in Belgium and a telemetry system from Hollai the origins of this equipment reflecting the international ch aoter of ELDO. The computer is a Control Data 3200, scientifically orient for real-time application. Peripherals include two magnetic ta units, a paper tape punch, and reader and two typewriters. input and output. Because of the absence of roads, the equipment was taken Gove by ship, and barges, chartered from Darwin, transfer! it from an offshore anchorage. Control of the guidance system is centred in a large tra portable van equipped with central guidance and team lead* consoles. Nearby in support are two similar vans—one houst the computer and the other the power distribution and a conditioning plants. The interferometer comprises five aerials, laid out in
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