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Aviation History
1981
1981 - 1525.PDF
Looking down on the Sun INTERNATIONAL Weekending 23 May, 1981 Number 3789 Volume 119 ISSN 0015-3710 Published In association with Aeroplane Monthly and Airports International by IPC Transport Press Ltd, Quadrant House The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS, England. World's first and only comolete aeronautical weekly © Copyright IPC Business Press 1981 Founded 1909 Second-class postage paid at New York, NY, and additional entries. Editor David Mason Assistant Editor Tom Hamtll Defence Editor Graham Warwick BSc Defence editorial Mike Gaines Production.Editor Philip Jarreit Sub-editor Graham Cowell Technics! Editor David Velupillai BSc Technical editorial Richard Whltaker BSc Air Transport editorial David Learmount General Aviation Cliff Barnett, Ian Parker BSc News Ian Goold, Julian Moxon BSc Art Editor Colin Paine Layout/Sub-editor Dennis Baldry Technical Artists Frank Munger, John Marsden Keeper of Records Chris Kjelgaard BSc Pictures Stephen Piercey US Publishing Consultant Warren H. Goodman, Spring Valley Road. Ossinlng, New York 10562. Telephone: (914) 941-0605. Publishing Director Martin Morgan Editor in Chief J. M. Ramsden Advertisement Representative Michael Elmes Advertisement Production Howard Mason Overseas advertisement representatives: at back of this issue Telephone: 01-661 3320 (Advertisement Sales) 01-661 3267 (Advertisement Production) 01-661 3321 (Editorial) Telegram/Telex 892084 BISPRS G US Advertisement Sales Managor Herb Salazar, IPC Business Press, US Advertising Sales, 205 East 42nd Street, New York 10017. Telephone: (212) 867-2080. Telex: 238327. Subscriptions Manager A. Walden Telephone: England (0444) 59188 (UK and overseas subscrip tion rates can be found in this issue) Selling price in Eire subject to currency exchange fluctu ations and VAT. L*P-J International Business Press Associates [ABCI Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation NEXT WEEK ISIiKliliBj^ljfJ • Our annual World Missile Survey pro vides comprehensive facts and figures on the latest guided weaponry. • J. M. Ramsden enumerates and expands upon the ten commandments vital to flight safety and especially applicable to operators of fast-growing airlines. E UROPE and Nasa are in the middle of a struggle to save the International Solar Polar Mission (ISPM)—a plan to observe the Sun's polar regions from outside the plane in which most planets lie. If they are suc cessful, we will learn more about the Sun and how it affects us on Earth. But if they fail, it may be a serious blow to future co-oper ation. The space agencies gave the go-ahead to ISPM in March 1979, each agreeing to develop and build a spacecraft, but with Nasa also providing a Space Shuttle launch, an interplanetary boost stage, radio-thermal generators, American experiments, tracking and data analysis. Launch was scheduled for 1983, with the craft using Jupiter's gravity as a slingshot to take them out of the ecliptic plane. The probes would have arrived above each of the Sun's poles several years later, at about the same distance from them as we are on Earth. But earlier this year Nasa was forced to make cuts in its budget for 1982, and reluctantly chose ISPM as one of its targets. Nasa estimated the total cost of ISPM at around $300 million, and planned to save roughly $200 million by not developing its spacecraft. The remaining $100 million would be used to honour its commitments to ESA — American experiments aboard the European craft, tracking and so on. The Shuttle launch had slipped several years by then, but would still be given to Europe under separate funding. Nasa's unilateral decision to cancel the American craft came as a severe disappointment to Europe, which had already spent about $70 million at 1980 prices on its craft and a further $30 million on experiments. Europe was particularly worried by the reduced scientific benefits of a single-craft ISPM — the original mission called for one probe to pass over the Sun's north pole while the other flew over the south pole. Two craft could thus detect whether a change in the Sun's behaviour was a local phenomenon or an overall varia tion. ESA member states pro tested against Nasa's action through their embassies in Wash ington DC, and have since re ceived a sympathetic hearing from the US Congress and State Department. There are now only two ways in which a two-craft ISPM can go ahead. ESA's proposal is that Nasa buys a craft similar to the European one being built by prime contractor Dornier. This would cost Nasa roughly $45 million, and is probably the cheaper option. The other option is for America to develop a much simpler craft than that originally planned. TRW was prime con tractor for Nasa's ISPM craft and could probably produce a cheaper version for around $100 million. Both options lose the solar coronagraph experiment, but that is not critical. All things being equal, Nasa would prefer to buy American rather than European, so as to get a better industrial return for its money. But with the Euro pean option apparently much cheaper, the question is really whether Nasa will buy from Europe. Nasa will be guided by the US Government's Office of Management and Budget on which course it should adopt, and the new top management at Nasa will have to become in volved. Hopefully, one of the two - craft options will be accepted. D.V. IN THIS ISSUE World News Air Transport Defence General Aviation Business Private Spaceflight Avionics Industry International Propulsion COMPOSITES IN AIRCRAFT CONSTRUCTION CAE: CANADA'S SIMULATOR GIANT Letters and Rogerword 1524 1527 1532 1537 1538 1543 1546 1547 1548 1551 1556 1560 Front cover: Ten per cent of the McDonnell Douglas F-18 Hornet's structural weight is made up of carbonfibre composites. The increasing use of these new materials is the subject of a feature in this issue.
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