Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T22:51:16.504Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Space Programme for Europe ?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

A. V. Cleaver*
Affiliation:
Rolls-Royce Limited

Extract

I felt very honoured when asked to give this lecture in memory of one of the leading figures of the period which saw the greatest British achievements in aeronautics. The contrast between the technical situation of those times, and the uncertainties of today, immediately sprang to mind, especially in regard to British achievement (or lack of it) in space.

So also, very naturally, did those occasions in the 1940's when I used to visit Mr. Chadwick to discuss the propeller problems of various Avro aircraft, both real and projected. During the course of these sessions, we often discussed future propulsion trends, including the relative merits of piston and turbine engines, propellers and jet propulsion, and so forth. I cannot honestly recall that the question of space flight ever came up, although it probably did, because propulsion is even more of a fundamental problem for flight in space than it is within the atmosphere, and even in those days I was what the Americans call “a space cadet.”

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1964

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The Ninth Chadwick Memorial Lecture given before the Manchester Branch of the Society—on Wth March 1964.

References

References

General

1.Clarke, C. Arthur.The Exploration of Space. Various Editions—Temple Press, Pelican, Harper, etc.Google Scholar
2.Sutton, G. P.Rocket Propulsion Elements. Wiley, N.Y.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Bragg, S. L.Rocket Engines. Newnes, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. The Commercial Application of Missile/Space Technology— A Report by the Denver Research Institute, University of Denver, Sponsored by NASA (1963).Google Scholar
5.Stephens, W. H.European Co-operation in Space Vehicle Development. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Vol. 68, May 1964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Auger, prof. P.Space Research for Smaller Countries: Part 1, The French Programme, and Part 2, The European Programmes. Two Part Article in New Scientist (London), Vol. 16, Nos. 318 and 319, 20th and 27th December 1962.Google Scholar
7.Eurospace Report Proposing European Space Programme, Published 8th April 1963: Sumarised in Flight International, 11th April 1963.Google Scholar
8.Maher, L. E. Aerospace Applications of Rocket Engines. Paper Presented at B.I.S. Symposium on Aerospace Vehicles on 13th November 1963. To be published.Google Scholar
9.Astronautics and Aeronautics, Vol. 2, No. 1, January 1964: A Publication of the A.I.A.A. (N.Y.).Google Scholar
10.Lane, R. J. Recoverable Air-Breathing Boosters for Space Vehicles. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Vol. 66, No. 618, June 1962. (See also other papers on the Economics of Astronautics.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Spaceflight, Vol. VI, No. 1, January 1964: B.I.S. (London). Paper by Shepherd, Dr. L. R. (p. 21), and letter from Cruddace, R. G. (p. 28).Google Scholar
12.Gatland, K. W. Space Technology in Western Europe. Journal of the Royal United Services Institution, Vol. CIX, No. 633, February 1964.Google Scholar