Industries Pool Resources

Press, Volume C, Issue 29452, 2 March 1961, Page 15

Industries Pool Resources

(Rec. 8 p.m.) > LONDON, March 1. France and Britain are to poo] industrial resources to study ways of using and developing space satellites.

A spokesman for the scheme said that within about five years, communications satellites could be in orbit to pick up and transmit international telephone calls at enormously ■■educed costs The announcement was made simultaneously ir Lor don and Paris by the British Hawker-Siddeley groun. which controls seven of Britain’s major aviation and missile companies, and the Societe Pour i’Ftude et la Realisation "Engins Ballistiques <SER. EB> groupins France’s major aircraft and missile interests, and formed bv the French Government. Three Projects

The two groups have already begun studying communications satellites one of British and one of French design which could carry conventional cable traffic across the world Apart from plans for cheapening communications. the groups are also considering navigation satellites, which would act as man-made stars for guiding ships and planes American experiments have

shown this to be a promising field A third project submitted already for study is an “antiorbital” defence weapon which, it is thought, may become of great significance in future plans for N A T O defence. Four main methods for dealing with attack satellites are being investigated: Projection of materials into its path to upset its mechanisms. Projectiles to damage it by impact Electm-maenetic or particle radiation The setting uo of electric or magnetic fields around the satellite to affect its contents The report also talks of advanced studies of new concepts for propulsion, structure and materials, design of light structures, and reduction in the size of electronic eouipment Sir Rov D^hson.’managingdirector of Hawker-Siddeley. said in London that joint evaluation was an essential first sten to anv Governmentsponsored air-space pro-

gramme involving Europe and the British Commonwealth “From an industrial point of view, we feel that initially an evaluation must be made of projects within the scope of Western European capability." he said. “It should be clear to all concerned that these feasibility studies open the way for a tremendously exciting and rewarding new era The studies have already been submitted to both the British and the French Governments”

The announcement emphasised that the Anglo-French link was only a start The door had been left open for air-space industries in other countries to collaborate Telephone Satellite

A press conference later was told inter-continental telephone calls costing about 6d a minute regardless of distance were feasible within about five years if the AngloFrench plan received Government backing. This estimate was given by a spokes-

man for the syndicate in London. He said that five or six satellites circling the earth constantly could, pick up and pass on about 50 million minutes of telephone conversations a year. An intercontinental dialling system was also feasible, he aid “The cost of the satellite, once in orbit, is of course nothing. You cannot service a satellite. And they may in the distant future, last up to 20 years each, in which case the cost would be lower ’ He said the main cost, of a “ground crew” and if transmission and reception to and from the satellite through “dishes” on the earth would be the major financial burden for maintenance.

This would mean a charge of about 6d a minute, against the present charge of £1 a minute for the average intercontinental call today He said reception would be better than present radiotelephones, and comparable with cable reception.

Physiologist Dead.— A noted physiologist, the emeritus professor Henry Priestley, died in Royal North Sho-e Hospital yesterday, aged 77. During the Second World War he was nutrition adviser to the Federal Government—(Sydney, March 1).