French Rockets Fired In The Antarctic

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31306, 28 February 1967, Page 1

French Rockets Fired In The Antarctic

All four Dragon rockets fired 220 miles into space from the French Dumont D’Urville base in Adelie Land at the end of January were successful, said Mr J. Katsufrakis, an American exchange scientist, who spent six weeks at the Antarctic base as an observer.

In Christchurch yesterday Mr Katsufrakis said the firings were part of an ionospheric physics ex-

periment to measure electron density and temperatures.

The four 25ft, two-stage, solid-fuel propellant rockets were fired from a pad at the French base. The first went up on January 26, the rest within 17 hours during a solar storm.

Mr Katsufrakis said the French, who had since dismantled their locket equipment and returned home, would repeat this type of research next summer from the French sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Island.

“My purpose at the French station was mainly to observe the rocket facilities, the launching support equipment, the firings, and the data collected,” he said.

Probably next summer the Americans at McMurdo Station will conduct an atmospheric rocket programme on a year-round basis using Nike-Cajun rockets. Mr Kat sufrakis said these rockets had almost identical perperformance to the French Dragon rockets. The French team had already fired their Dragon rockets in Norway and Iceland for similar research. Four experiments were conducted with each rocket, he said. The Dumont D’Urville base on Petrel Island was small but its scientific equipment was as modern as any in the Antarctic, said Mr Kat-

sufrakis. Upper atmosphere studies were mainly carried out from the base although some biological studies were made with the Emperor penguins at a nearby rookery. Twenty-seven French scientists will winter at the base. In 1969 France plans to establish a station 500 miles inland from Dumont D’Urville.

He said that next astral summer the French would fly

in for the first time to their base. A four-engined, skiequipped Breguet 941 S would make the flight from Melbourne by way of Macquarrie Island. A second Breguet would be used for search and rescue.

A French Air Force officer was in Melbourne making arrangements for the flights, he said. The planes would be able to land not far from the base on the Astrolabe Glacier. A wheeled runway would be made on Governor’s Island not far from Petrel Island. The terrain around the French base was so rough that all cargo unloaded from the supply ships had to be transported by an Alouette helicopter, said Mr Katsufrakis.

The photographs show the rocket being wheeled out along the railway lines to the launching pad by the French research team, and a view of the scene seconds after blast off.