DEVELOPMENT OF ROCKETS

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29102, 14 January 1960, Page 11

DEVELOPMENT OF ROCKETS

Britain’s Present Capability (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, January 12. A combination of British rockets could provide the thrust needed to put a satellite of nearly one ton into orbit around the earth or project a weight of 2001 b to the moon, Britain’s Minister of Aviation (Mr Duncan Sandys) said in London today. Addressing a Royal Aeronautical Society luncheon, he said the time had not yet come to decide whether Britain should undertake an independent programme of space exploration. Without a British ballistic rocket “we were not yet in a position to project satellites of our own,” he said. He added, however, that a combination of the Blue Streak rocket now under development and the Black Knight research vehicle with a small additional rocket stage “could if we wished provide the thrust needed to put a satellite of nearly one ton into orbit around the earth, or project a weight of 200 pounds to the moon-”

The Blue Streak, designed to travel 2500 miles is scheduled to be tested by Britain on the Woomera range in Australia. The Black Knight rocket has already been successfully fired there and has reached a height of 500 miles.

Referring to the tests of the Black Knight, Mr Sandys said: “It is worth noting that the first five firings were all successful —an almost unique achievement." The Minister also mentioned the firings in Australia of the Skylark, a research rocket which has made observations in the upper atmosphere, at heights of up to 100 miles.

He said: “It is too early to assess the practical benefits which may be derived from space exploration. “But, if past experience in other fields is any guide, they are likely to be far greater than can now be foreseen.”

The Minister, who was speaking only a few hours after the announcement of a second merger of leading British aircraft firms, held out hope for Government assistance for civil aviation. He said that if Government support for aeronautics through military channels was reduced “there is a case for making some increase in the assistance given on the civil side. That is what we are proposing to do. “I have recently been discussing this matter with the industry, and I hope shortly to make an announcement of our policy.”

Looking to the future, the Minister said there was little doubt that in the 1970 s longrange civil airliners, with a carrying capacity of a large Atlantic liner would be flying at two or three times the speed of sound.

Flying at these speeds, a single aeroplane in a year could carry as many passengers as an 80,000ton ocean liner in the same period of time. He also looked forward to the progressive cheapening of passenger fares and visualised the number of air passengers doubling in the next five to eight years. By 1980 it was possible that 10 times more people would be travelling by air. This would bring its problems and there would have to be major advances in air traffic control and the development of passenger aeroplanes which could land and take off vertically or nearly so. Because of the problems involved, he thought it unlikely that a ballistic rocket would be developed for carrying fare-pay-ing passengers.