Conference 7.286::space

From: [email protected] (ERCF08 Bob Gray)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: HOTOL engine for sale.
Date: 13 Oct 87 17:20:28 GMT
Organization: I.T. School, Univ. of Edinburgh, U.K.
 
    For those people charting the rapid nosedive of the UK's
credibility in space research, there were two more developments in the
last few days.  The following is a report on ITV's ORACLE news service:
 
    The Goverment has sparked off a major row by anouncing that no
extra money is to be spent on Europe's space agency.  Trade minister
Kenneth Clarke told ITN the agency was a "hugely expensive club" and
the goverment was "not persuaded" it should increase cash. 
 
    The European Space Agency supporters want Britain to increase
spending from 113 million pounds to 300 million pounds a year.  Tory
MP Sir Geoffrey Pattie said he felt Britain's partners would be upset
and shadow trade and industry minister Tony Blair warned of "short
termism". 
 
    In other words, the goverment's response to the charge that the
Britain spends too little on space research is that it is everyone
else who is spending too much.  They also produced figures showing
that this country is the ONLY country making a profit out of space. 
For a total Goverment expenditure of 116 million pounds the return was
300 million pounds in industrial turnover, and 600 million in
commercial and managerial support. 
 
    Yesterday (Monday) one of Britain's top space scientists anounced
that he would break the official seccrets act and his work abroad if
there was no more funding of research on it in this country. 
 
    Alan Bond is the holder of the patents on the design of the HOTOL
engine.  Up till now he has been developing the engine with some
goverment funding, but these funds are due to end soon.  Development
tests show that all the critical components do work.  This engine will
work if flown. 
 
    Mr Bond said he would offer his work to the Europeans first and
then to the Americans.  The Japanese would be next on his list.  He is
fed up with his work being wasted.  He wants to see his machine fly. 
Mr Bond was one of the scientists who built Black arrow, Britain's
independant launch system.  It was scrapped when it was proved to work.
 
    Good luck to him.  If I was on the jury at his trial for breaking
the official secrets act, I wouldn't convict him - but then I'm
prejudiced. 

	Bob.

    Too bad the space project couldn't be take out of the hands of all
    the governments in the world and become one organization. after
    that we could slowly take one thing at a time away from them until
    all they had to do is war. then the rest off the world would be
    united and the governments wouldn't find anyone to fight for them.
    and we would have our space program.

    Re .1
    
    Mr Bond would probably be better off putting Japan second on list
    instead of the US.  We went to the a moon a few times and figured
    that was sufficient.  We need the money for minesweepers anyway.
    Now if he wanted to work on SDI...
    
    						Mike
    
    PS. If he wanted to work in the most active space program, he'd
    have to defect.  :-(

    I tend to agree with .3. I think that he were to try to sell the
    Hotol engine technology, the Japanese would be the most likely
    candidates.
    
    As for defecting, there is a long history of the Brits selling jet
    engine technology to the Soviets (the British 'Nene' turbojet powered
    the first long range Soviet jet bombers of the 1950s)...
    
    gary

From: [email protected] (Alastair Mayer)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: HOTOL engine for sale.
Date: 19 Oct 87 20:14:45 GMT
Organization: Geovision Corporation, Ottawa, Canada
 
    In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (ERCF08 Bob
Gray) writes: 
 [..depressing stuff about the state of British support for
  space deleted ..]

>Alan Bond is the holder of the patents on the design of the
>HOTOL engine. Up till now he has been developing the engine
> [...]
>Mr Bond said he would offer his work to the Europeans first
>and then to the Americans.  The Japanese would be next on his
>list.  He is fed up with his work being wasted.  He wants to
>see his machine fly.
 
    I heard recently (at Worldcon in Brighton, I think) from someone
connected with British Aerospace that the Japanese are currently
working on *five* different approaches to air-breathing rocket engines
(or whatever you want to call HOTOL and the scramjets).  At least one,
probably two approaches they are taking are "disturbingly close to
what we're doing with HOTOL". 

    Sigh.  I wish Mr Bond well.  No point trying to offer the engine
here, though.  Canada threw away its aerospace industry when the Arrow
was scrapped. 

 Alastair JW Mayer     BIX: al
                      UUCP: ...!utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!geovision!alastair
 
    "What we really need is a good 5-cent/gram launch vehicle."

VNS MAIN NEWS:                            [Richard De Morgan, Chief Editor, VNS]
==============                            [Basingstoke, England                ]

    Education, Employment, Industrial and Commercial News
    -----------------------------------------------------

    BAe and GEC Avionics loose HERMES contracts with ESA after British 
    decision not to participate in space research.

  <><><><><><><>   VNS Edition : 1451     Tuesday 24-Nov-1987   <><><><><><><>

Re: .6

>    BAe and GEC Avionics loose HERMES contracts with ESA after British 
>    decision not to participate in space research.

Unfortunately this is not the whole story.  The ESA contracts for work on 
HERMES are different from previous ESA contracts.  They have a clause that
if the contract is terminated or is not continued all technical data, 
designs and the like produced during the contract period must be handed
over to the new contractor.  Predictably, some of the companies are
screaming - the report I read said that a company working on a simulator
was worst affected. 

The effect on the HERMES program will be negligible.  There are plenty of 
French and German companies ready to take over the work that was being done 
in Britain.

jb

    	According to today's Vogon News, Great Britain has dropped out
    of the plans for building a European manned space shuttle.
    
    	What effects will this have on the European shuttle project?
    
    	Larry
    

From: [email protected] (M.S.Bennett  Supvs= Prof Pendry)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: British national space activity
Date: 19 Jun 90 13:24:24 GMT
Reply-To: [email protected] (M.Sean Bennett)
Organization: SEDS (UK)
 
    Note - Due to problems with character sets, read 'pound' for $.
 
                                National Ciriculum
				==================
 
     The keynote  address  to  the  March meeting  of  the 
Parlimentary  Space Committee was given by Robert Jackson MP
Parlimentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Education and
Science. 
 
     He includes amongst his  responsibilities a DES  contribution of
some  $45 million to the  space programme,  the great majority  of
which  is deployed  on European Space  Agency projects.  This amounts 
to  more than  25 per  cent  of Government civil space spending. 
 
     Parliamentarians and industrialists  pressed the  point that 
insufficient attention was being  paid to the  education benefits  of
space as  a source  of inspiration, as a  broadly based  scientific
and  technological training  which provided an entry point into a wide
variety of career patterns, and as an  area of science which offered
the widest ranging theoretical and practical problems. Members
observed that  whereas applications  for aerospace  related courses 
at Universities continue to increase  - typically 15 applicants  for
each place  - engineering as a whole found it difficult to attract
students. 
 
     While emphasising the autonomy of higher education institutions
and of the Research Councils,  the  Minister  was  sympathetic  to 
this  view  and  to  a suggestion that an increase in University
training in Space Technology at  both Undergraduate and Postgraduate 
level could  be a valuable  investment for  the country. He would also
discuss with the Secretary of State the possibilities of including
space related matters in the national curriculum for schools. 
 
     The Minister empasised that his department continues to exercise
the  most rigorous judgements on space spending. Priority would
continue to be given  the the ESA's science programme to which  the UK
contributed 25 milion per  annum. UK pressure had led to the recent
major review of the scope and costs of  ESA's Horizon 2000 science
programme  and he was encouraged  by the suport now  being given by 
other  countries for  the  improvment measures.  Other  DES  intrests
include Earth observation,  which involves  a contribution of  some 7 
million next year. In  this area the  UK attaches  a particulary high 
priority to  the Polar Platform project. However, he was sceptical
about the commercial  rewards of ESA's microgravity programmes. 
 
     The Commitee  also took  intrest  in a  British  company's
success  in  an international competition for  a race to  Mars in 1992
to celebrate the  500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage to America. 
 
     The race will be between solar powered spacecraft representing
Europe,  US and Asia and employing vast sails  (280 meters diameter
when unfolded but  made of material only  thosands of an  inch thick) 
which will be  propelled by  the pressure exerted by sunlight - light
particles or photons. 
 
     The Cambridge Consultant' design has  been selected as the best 
technical solution from world-wide contenders. The  race and the
technological  challenge is likely to hold all the inspirational
appeal of space which the  Parlimentary Space Committe was
recommending to the Minister  
 
                                 ESA meets PSC.
				 ==============
  
     On 3-4 May,  in Paris,  the Parlimentary  Space Committee  (PSC)
met  with officials of the European  Commission and the European 
Space Agency (ESA)  for discussions on space policis and  plans in the
light  of 1992 and the  changing European political scene. The 
Committe, chaired by  Michael Marshall MP,  with member of both Houses
and leading space industrialists, met with Mr. Joan  Majo of the
Commission's telecommunications Director General (DG13), and with 
Prof. R. Luest, Director General of ESA, and all of his Programme
Directors. 
 
     PSC members came prepared to hear views coloured by the
differences in the policies of  the two  Administrations,  since the 
Commission had  appeared  to challenge ESA's previous sovereignty in
civil space R&D. Instead, the PSC  came away convinced of the enormous
potential in close co-operation between the  two Administrations, for 
the development,  exploitation and  commercialisation  of both space 
communications  and  Earth  observation.  the  PSC  also  gained  a
first-hand account of the practical impact  of the UK's declining
share in  ESA programmes. 
 
     In his prsentation to the PSC, Mr. Majo advocated the cause for
change and for a new framework for Eurpean space. The Commission's
proposals for achieving this were  set  out  in the  document  "The 
Community and  Space:  A  Coherent Apprach", which was issued in 
1987. ESA had proved  to be a highly  successful Agency for civil
space co-operation in the past, but the need had emerged for a shift
from scientific and research  goals to more commercial objectives 
geared to meeting market and  user demands and  improving European
competitiveness  in the space field. The Community was best placed to
meet this need. 
 
     Community resposibilities also included the overall co-ordination
of space R&D, and the  focus of space  intrest in the  developing
dialogue with  Eastern Eurpoe. The  Commission was  also axious  to
improve  co-operation between  the civil and military space sectors,
not only for strategic advantage but also  to bolster the Comunity's
industrial strength and competitivness. 
 
     In their presentations to PSC, Prof. Luest and his team stressed
the  fact that Europe's great acievements in space communications,
Earth observation  and science stemmed first and foremost from the
co-operation built up around ESA. 
 
     On the UK's contribution to ESA, it was emphasised that Britain
had bee  a major and successful  partner in  the past,  and the 
decline in  our share  of activities from  14% to  6% over  the past 
6 years  was a  matter of  profound regret. The  UK  had  been on  the
 point  of dominating  the  Eurpopean  space telecomunications market 
through its  major  share of  ESA's ECS,  MARECS  and OLYMPUS
satellites, only  to put its  position at  risk by pulling  out of 
new Agency programs too  far and  too quickly. Prof.  Luest cited  the
UK's  meager share of 1% and 6% of the 2 new ESA telecomunications
satellite programmes, and questioned the  UK Government's  assumptions
about  the maturity  of the  space communications market. 
 
     By contrast,  the UK's  support for  ESA's science  and Earth 
observation programmes was applauded as a major factor towards their
spectacular success. 
 
     Although ESA's  convention specifically  ruled  out collaboration
 in  any military applications,  Prof. Luest  was convinced  that
member  nations  would support a  major  role  for  the  Agency in 
any  European  programme  for  the verification  of  conventional 
disarmament  from  space,  both  in  terms   of technologies and the
use of ESA Earth observation satellites. 
 
     Prof. Luest was convinced of ESA's  ability to meet all future 
challenges without any fundamental change in its charter or
organisation. He welcomed  the extending dialogue with the Commission.
Whereas it was often claimed that ESA's industrial policy of ##juste
retour## was a major source of potential  conflict with the Single Act
and future relations with the Commission, he himself  could foresee no
such problem. The awarding of industrial contracts by the Agency  on
the basis of national  contributions has been  effective in promoting 
European competitivness, and since ESA's business is R&D and upstream
of the market,  it does not conflict with Single Act rules. 
  
    For further Information please contact:
 
    Michael Marshall MP
    House of Commons
    Whitehall
    LONDON
 
    Tel: 071 219 4698
 
    Or send stuff to me to pass on to him (cheaper if in the USA!) at: 

                               [email protected] 

  For what it's worth, the pound symbol (�) is the compose sequence "L-"

John

Article: 2586
Newsgroups: sci.space.policy
From: [email protected] (Peter Card)
Subject: Dounreay Space Port 
Organization: Joint European Torus
Date: Thu, 9 Jun 1994 09:55:19 GMT
 
Taken from AEA times - the UK Atomic Energy Authority newssheet.
 
Plans to site a rocket launch facility for small satellites at
Dounreay was(sic) given a further boost this month. 
 
A report by space consultants ESYS Limited, chosen by the Caithness
and Sutherland Enterprise to conduct an initial market assessment of
the project, found that the potential exists for carrying out a
demonstration satellite launch in Northern Scotland. 
 
"Although it is still early days, we are very excited about the
concept," explained David Harris, business director for defence and
manufacturing.  "There is a real remand in Europe for such a facility,
which it is hoped would launch small, lightweight(less than half a
tonne) polar orbiting satellites" 
 
These satellites would be used to monitor such enviromental concerns
as deforestation and ozone depletion, support telecommunications and
carry out space science investigations. 
 
In the view of Roger James, manager responsible for the exploitation
of the Dounreay estate, the site is well suited to geographically ,
"offering a launch corridor over the sea in a direct line to the North
Pole". 
 
He added, "We have much of the high-tech support infrastructure
services neededand such a venture could create more jobs. The response
from the local community is generally one of positive interest in what
would be an entirely new area of activity for Caithness." 
 
According to ESYS the possibility of such a venture should be
investigated further. The studies proposed include a more detailed
assessment of the latent Eutopean market for a lauch facility. 
 
:
 
me again...
 
By way of background, Dounreay, in Caithness , Scotland, is as far
north as it is possible to go in mainland Britain, without going 10
miles up the road to John O Groats, after which you get your feet wet.
It is the site of the UKAEA's Prototype Fast Reactor, which was shut
down last month. This appears to be one of the schemes being
investigated for utilisation of the site in the post fast reactor age.
You have to admire the originality of the conception. 
 
Across the Pentland Firth are the Orkney islands. I presume that the study
allowed for Orkney in their launch corridor assessments. Probably ...
 
Sea communications are good, and historically, heavy , perfectly safe,
well shielded, nuclear consigments have been regularly delivered to
the Dounreay site via the port of Scrabster. Rocket stages and
payloads could presumably be brought in by sea in the same way. As the
report hints, the soon-to-be-unemployed Dounreay workers constitute a
useful pool of highly trained staff, albeit in a slightly diffrent
line of work. 
 
At the moment this appears to be at the PR puff stage. I have trouble
overcoming my natural cynicism, but it is intriguing.
-- 
__._____.___._____.__._______________________________________________________
__|_. ._| ._|_._._|__| Peter Card, Joint European Torus, Abingdon OX14 3EA
    | | | |_. | |    | [email protected] or CIS 100010,366 
    | | |  _| | |    | "This space reserved for spontaneous witticism" 
  ._| | | |_. | |    | "This space intentionally left blank"
--`--~'-+---+-+-+----+-------------------------------------------------------
- Disclaimer: Please note that the above is a personal view and should not 
  be construed as an official comment from the JET project.