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Aviation History
1973
1973 - 0052.PDF
Europe agrees at last New hopes for European co-operation as space agency is approved THE POSSIBILITY OF achieving a coherent and progressive space effort in Europe has become considerably more likely following agreement by European space ministers to set up a unified agency to organise all European space activities. It is intended that the new European Space Agency will be formed out of Eldo and Esro by January 1, 1974. Meanwhile, Germany and Italy have agreed to commit themselves to building the sortie lab for the US post-Apollo programme. The agreement came at the end of a one-day meeting of the European Space Conference held in Brussels on December 20. At this, the third attempt last year to reach some kind of agreement, ministers from 11 countries voted to accept the plan, first proposed last November by UK Aerospace Minister Mr Michael Heseltine. The establishment of a single space organisation has been under discussion for three or four years and the various objectives in the present plan have also been separately considered. This appears to be the first occasion, however, that all the proposals have been welded into a potentially workable plan. Pressures from the scheduling deadlines for post-Apollo participation and for Europa III clearly made such a plan more welcome to the ESC. These, however, had little to, do with formulation of the plan, which is stated to be directed more at eliminating wasteful duplication in space efforts before independent pro grammes become too established. The crux of Mr Heseltine's argument is the fact that the total space expenditure in Europe of $200 million, while only 40 per cent of that in America, shows a disproportion ately smaller achievement. The plan is based on the belief that satellites offer the biggest future for Europe in terms of commercial return and competitive standing with the USA. It was agreed at the meeting to aim at integrating all national programmes into a European space programme as far and as fast as reasonably possible. In other words, national space programmes would cease to exist. The idea, therefore, is for European nations to devote their entire civil space budgets (excluding Intelsat-terminal expenses) to a centralised space programme. A strong central management would be required and be expected to look at least five years ahead in planning the satellite programme. Scientific, technology and applications satellite projects would be prepared by the agency and voted on by the ESC. The key factor in the plan, however, is that member countries should be allowed to select the projects to which they would be willing to contribute. It is expected that industrial contract distribution will be based on the overall long-term requirements rather than project by project or in relation to contribution. It is believed that some interest was shown at the ESC meeting in the proposed British Geostationary Technology Satellite, planned mainly to test direct-television trans mission systems (Flight, May 11, 1972, page 699). Rationalisation of the various satellite projects, including GTS, was approved on the understanding that Esro's FLIGHT International, 4 January 1973 agreement of 1971 regarding applications satellite work should not be questioned. Selective participation is most suited to solving the question of post-Apollo and European launch-vehicle involvement. General approval was given for both projects to be carried out and managed within the common European framework, and participation should be decided later and independently by each country. Germany and Italy were the only countries to declare commitment to developing a European sortie lab and have subsequently notified Nasa of this. Their commitment is subject to a "break-clause" whereby they may extricate themselves at the end of the feasibility-study period next August if costs prove to be higher than anticipated. The British attitude is one of cautious consideration. Mr Heseltine is understood to have told the ESC meeting that if the new organisation is satisfactorily set up and if genuine attempts are being made toward integration of national programmes then the UK might be prepared to consider post-Apollo work later on, possibly by August. Britain's interest in the sortie lab is not so much in any technological return as in the development of management skills and technical credibility, and therefore improvement of competitive position with regard to US companies. On launch vehicles, it was resolved that Europa III should be dropped in favour of a French proposal for a simpler and less expensive vehicle. Again, participation would be ad hoc. France is still the only strong supporter of an independent vehicle, but Germany is reported to be regaining interest with the appearance of the new design. The new launcher, designated L.3S, was revealed only a couple of days before the meeting and is a three-stage vehicle with the same 750kg geostationary capability speci fied for Europa III (Flight last week, page 949). It is expected to be about 30 per cent cheaper to develop. The future of Europa II was not discussed at the meeting, and presumably it will be left up to the participating countries to complete the development programme. Eldo is to discuss the ESC resolutions in general, and the launcher questions in particular, in a council meeting at the begin ning of February. The agreements reached at the meeting represent little more than a principle rather than a firm plan. They are based simply on the general feeling that if some kind of umbrella of control can be established then progress is more likely to be achieved than under the previously existing dissent. UK officials consider it to be a reasonable step forward, but stress that there may still be a long way to go before such an agency is operating smoothly. MARINER 9 MISSION SUMMARY At the completion of its mission on October 27 the Mariner 9 spacecraft had circled Mars 698 times, producing data which, according to Nasa, have necessitated a revision of all previous ideas about the planet. Among the major observations of the mission was the fact that Mars is a geologically active planet with volcanic mountains and calderas larger than any on Earth, and that it has an equatorial crevasse 4,000km, 2,500 miles long and three to four times the depth of the Grand Canyon. There are also indications that free-flowing water may once have been present. Observations were made of the evolution of a "monu mental" dust storm that raged to an altitude of 50km- 60km, 30-35 miles above the surface, and it was realised that dust storms and cloudiness account for many of the puzzling variations of the planet's appearance over the years. These findings are considered to have laid the groundwork for America's next venture to Mars—the Viking launch in 1975—to search for evidence of life. MOLNIYA 2 LAUNCH The Soviet Union has announced the launch of the fifth in the series of Molniya 2 second-generation communication satellites. The spacecraft was launched on December 12 into a standard orbit at 470km X 39,200km, inclined at 65-3°, giving an orbital period of llhr 45min.
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