Study of re-entry to atmosphere

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32702, 3 September 1971, Page 16

Study of re-entry to atmosphere

Four night flights will be made out of Christchurch in the next few days by a military version of the Boeing 707 to test experimental optical measuring equipment used to study the re-entry into the atmosphere of such items as space vehicles, satellites and missiles.

Mr E. Cotton, leader of the group doing the research—the Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachussetts Institute of Technology—said in Christchurch yesterday that the study was of re-entry physics. Christchurch was selected as a base for operations because the late winter stratosphere was lower at this latitude than it would be neat the home base of the aircraft, which is Honolulu. - He said that the research was being done for the United States Air Force. It will not be a continuous study series such as that of

the auroral conjugate point research which will be undertaken with a similar type of aircraft from Christchurch later in the month which ia coming here for a fourth visit. This particular research is being carried out by the Los Alamos, New Mexico, Scientific Laboratory. Mr Cotton said that the Boeing was based at Honolulu where the Massachussetts Institute of Technology had a field site. He said that the team of civilian scientists in the aircraft hoped to get sufficient data on the performance of the optical measuring equipment from the one series of night flights from which some definite conclusions could be drawn.

For the sake of the experiments, bright stars and planets will be used as objects there being no objects due to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere in this part of the world at present. The last mission involving a study of the atmospheric re-entry of space objects in which the team and its aircraft was involved was in observations made in the Pacific last month when Apollo 15 returned from its moon mission.

Yachting. The successful British team in the Admiral’s Cup championship la likely to be sent to Sydney tor the Southam Cross series in December, R. Mundle. the yachting correspondent of the national dally the “Australian” reported from London.