Observatory statement

Press, 17 April 1982, Page 3

Observatory statement

Parliamentary reporter

Negotiations are continuing between New Zealand and the United States for an agreement to govern a United States Naval Observatory transit circle station in the Black Birch range, overlooking the Awatere Valley, Marlborough. The Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Cooper) confirmed yesterday that the agreement would be made public and said also that he believed the purpose of the station had been clarified satisfactorily. He issued a statement by the United States Naval Observatory which was in response to a New Zealand Government request for fur-

ther information as a result of allegations that the transit circle observatory was mainly for military purposes.

“The transit facility will be part of a world-wide programme, the results of. which will be freely available to the international scientific community and to all nations who wish to use the date for navigational purposes,” said Mr Cooper. “Such data will, of course, be of interest to military as well as civilian users, as are many other types of data used in navigation,” he said.

The statement said the station’s first purpose concerned basic astronomical

science, although more accurate star positions might have important practical applications in the future. “The project has not been conceived for military pur-

poses,” the statement said. “No military tasking will be applied to the data-collection process. Whatever use is made of data gained from the project will be of data that have been made available to the world scientific community. “The facility itself would be open to inspection by scientific observers from New Zealand and elsewhere," said the statement.