Fire Destroys Valuable lonosphere Records

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30561, 2 October 1964, Page 16

Fire Destroys Valuable lonosphere Records

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, Oct. 1. Important research records and specially-designed equipment were destroyed in a fire at the Auckland University’s radio research centre at Ardmore, near Papakura, last night. The records were from two years and a half’s study of the density and size of the ionosphere, using satellite signals. A senior research fellow, Dr. J. E. Titheridge, who has been in charge of the project, said today the records contained important new knowledge about the ionosphere. It was the only comprehensive information of this type obtained in the southern hemisphere, he said. It represented work by staff at Ardmore, Invercargill, and other stations. The research results were being prepared for publication, said Dr. Titheridge. They had been assisted by the National

Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States. It had cost tens of thousands of pounds to accumulate the material, but the loss could not be measured in terms of cash. The work done by his staff would start again. Four satellite receivers and other equipment, designed and constructed at Ardmore, would have to be rebuilt.