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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 2252.PDF
Hotol rescue bid attempted by Chris Drewer Alan Bond, designer of the engine for Hotol, is attempting to assemble the financial back ing needed to continue devel opment of the horizontal take-off space launcher. Bond, an ex-Rolls-Royce employee now working for the UK Atomic Energy Authority, believes he can keep Hotol an all-British venture. "Funding for the next phase of the project is at a very substantial level," he maintains. British Aerospace and Rolls- Royce are reviewing their stance on Hotol, and neither has any knowledge yet of the financial support which Bond claims to have drummed up. The UK Government last month decided not to back the Hotol project which Bond believes could put satellites into orbit at one-fifth of the price of the Space Shuttle. Rolls-Royce, owner of the patents for Hotol's reusable air- breathing rocket engine, sees only a small market for less than 20 launchers. Such a small batch will not, according to Rolls-Royce, be sufficient to make the project a viable commercial venture. The total outlay necessary to develop Hotol has been estimated at up to £6 billion. Conceptual studies for a hori zontal take-off satellite launcher were started in 1984 by a part nership of Rolls-Royce and British Aerospace. Alan Bond, designer of the innovative engine Hotol, worked part-time with the partners on the vehicle. The Hotol proof-of-concept phase which finished last year was funded by both the Department of Trade and Industry and the two partners. Since completion of the first phase, the Hotol project has been kept alive by private fund ing from British Aerospace and Rolls-Royce, in the hope of receiving government funding for the second phase. British Aerospace currently has 100 engineers involved with the Hotol project and expects this level of commitment to continue for the foreseeable future. The three-year second phase of the Hotol programme would include rig testing of key components at an estimated cost of £6 million. The third, demonstrator, phase would include construction of full-size hardware. The key to Hotol is a power- plant which operates in air- breathing mode, switching to stored liquid oxygen at high altitude. One difficult design problem is the attainment of good performance as the quan tity of atmospheric oxygen falls with increasing altitude. SAS plays dating game Aerolineas Argentinas and Scandinavian carrier SAS have signed a co-operation agree ment which could lead to SAS owning up to 40 per cent of the South American airline. The respective boards of directors are to meet to decide details of the proposal, but no decision has to be made before December 15. SAS refuses to confirm it paid a $60 million deposit to the Argentine Government for a stake in the national carrier. Aerolineas Argentinas and the Argentine Government, which has announced plans to privatise the airline, first approached SAS to form a study group to consider co-operation between the two airlines. Work ing groups were set up last February. SAS is keen to establish links with other carriers on all the continents that it serves. Scan dinavia is too small a market place for the airline to survive against the developing mega- carriers, it says. SAS is therefore trying to develop hubs through which it can transit passengers. SAS refused to say whether it is also bidding for a slice of Chilean national carrier Lan- Chile, which is also to be privatised. Tenders for the first stage, to reduce the state hold ing in LanChile to 40 per cent, are required by November 18. Bidders must commit to increasing their stake and reduc ing the Government holding. SAS's bid to buy British Caledonian last year was thwarted by British Airways, but SAS chief Jan Carlzon has said the company will continue to look for partners. Booster in miniature Japan will launch a quarter-scale model of its H-II launch vehicle on September 6. The TR-1 experimental single-stage rocket will test the H-II configuration of a central core stage and strap-on boosters. The vehicle is 14-3m long and has a diameter of Im. NEWS IN BRIEF I The Tactical Air Command and the Pacific Air Forces of the replace their Vast visual approach systems with pulse- light approach slope indicator Plain) rysii.-r* Phc USfl" eval uated Plasi with other systems at Williams AFB (Arizona). firs:, aroiracj was cotnpftKd with that of the ccnaventional instrument landing system, IJSAF instructors preferred Pksi 'V) f signif,., nt rra.gJn Four units have been installed by USAF Strategic Air Command at the Pittsburgh AFB (New York), involving two units placed at each cad of the runway. Plasi systems are in use in IS coOTttri.es excluding-' the USA, .••'•' -.. . -.' •• "I V*i lfiternati©iiuf §' wiUebody- aircraft maintenance centre has finished i;s first complete Boeing 747 overhaul. The work included structural modifi cations :o the flightdeck and the tail section m'mkommoAmc rest quarters for eight '• crew - ir«eia- bers on long sectors. The aircraft t?as- rolled: out invraM- July. The cos£ of the' overhaul was £1 -2 . iisiilioH, compared with .ti-5 million when the aircraft- was overhauled tf STJuM in* 1979-' The/centre ©peaeti fat 1985,' since when 4S Aiwtiset. have' undergone BiaiiittiKsree there. '••'.. • - 10 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 27 August 1988
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