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May 2007 |
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Contents Britain due to expand Moon and planetary
missions © Cranfield University 2007
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Britain due to expand Moon and planetary missions There have been several recent press releases that indicate increased UK space activity, with planned missions to both the Moon and beyond. In January, a consortium proposed two missions to the Moon. MoonLITE will launch four darts to the lunar surface on the far side of the moon, sending them into craters over a wide area and penetrating to a depth of 2m. The darts will carry a small set of instruments including seismometers to measure 'Moonquakes' which will enable research into the make-up of the lunar interior.
The second mission, MoonRaker, is designed to land on the lunar surface, either at the poles or the giant impact crater on the far side of the Moon, to study the lunar surface.
More recently, in April, the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and NASA signed an agreement to see how they can work together on future planetary and Moon explorations to utilise UK expertise in small satellite and robotic technologies. This will build on a long history of collaboration on NASA missions, as British technology has previously been used within the Stereo mission (studying the Sun) and the Swift mission (detecting gamma-ray bursts). Further information Britain plans first moon
mission - BBC, 10 January 2007 Images reproduced courtesy of the BBC Digitisation of ARC Current Papers completed This article was kindly written by Geoff Butler of the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust The Aeronautical Research Council Current Paper (ARC CP) series in the AERADE Reports Archive is now complete. Most of the series was added in 2005 but there were a small number of papers that were not available for digitisation at the time. Now, in a collaboration between Cranfield University Library and Information Service, Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST), Queen Mary University of London Library and the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (Dstl), the missing papers have been digitised and added to the archive. The papers and reports issued by the Aeronautical Research Council and its predecessor, the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (ACA), give a unique insight into the development of aeronautics in the UK and bring together the best of the research carried out in Government Establishments, Industry and Universities. Publications in the Reports & Memoranda series, which first appeared in 1909, were generally externally refereed and their standard is comparable with those of the most reputable archival journals. The CP series first appeared in 1950 to allow the rapid publication of data or other information of more immediate importance. The CPs were not externally refereed and were usually produced directly from the original report masters with a new set of ARC green covers. All the ARC papers could be purchased from HMSO and represented a rare example of a value being put on the output of research, although it must be said that the price charged was probably more closely correlated with the number of pages than the report content. Both the R&M and the CP series continued until the Aeronautical Research Council was disbanded, along with a number of other "Quangos", in 1979 during the first year of Mrs Thatcher's government. In all, there were 1391 CPs and well over 3800 R&Ms issued. A little under half of the R&Ms have been digitised and these are already available in the AERADE Reports Archive. Later this year, however, Farnborough Air Sciences Trust and Cranfield University Library and Information Service will be co-ordinating an effort to try to complete the digitisation of the R&M series. Anyone who is interested in participating or finding out more about this should contact John Harrington or Geoff Butler. Access the completed series of Current Papers and the partly complete archive of Reports & Memoranda via the AERADE Reports Archive. The UK Trident missile system replacement debate You may have heard about the recent furore regarding the replacement of the UK trident missile system and wondered what it was all about. We thought you might be interested in a few resources that provide an overview of the system, the policy and the debate.
What is Trident?
The policy and debate British official government publications
Key papers
Journal articles
Treaties The Internet Aviator is reborn as the Internet Aeronautical Engineer
The Internet Aviator has just undergone a thorough spring clean and is soon to emerge meaner, leaner and with a new name! Now known as the Internet Aeronautical Engineer, it is still the best place to go if you want to hone your Internet search and research skills and find out about key sites within the areas of aerospace engineering, air transport and defence. To put you in the picture, it is part of the Virtual Training Suite which is a series of free Internet tutorials that you can work through at your own pace. It was first written in 2000 and has just undergone a major re-write and update by Emma Turner, one of the original authors, and Anna Barefoot, both Information Specialists in aerospace and defence at Cranfield University. The main change is that the 'tour' section, which aims to provide a taste of the variety of sites within aerospace and defence, has been streamlined to include only the very best examples. In addition, the 'discover' section which provides hints and tips on how to search the Internet effectively has been updated to reflect the changes that have occurred in this fast-moving arena within the last few years. The 'judge' section has also been revisited, but still provides invaluable advice to make sure the sites you use are trustworthy. The 'reflect' section has been replaced by a number of 'success stories' which provide practical examples of how the Internet can be used. The updated tutorial is expected to be available by the end of Summer 2007 and we will place an announcement on our home page when it goes live. In the meantime, to view the Internet Aviator go to: http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/ Recent AERADE news features You may have noticed the news feature at the bottom of the AERADE home page. We aim keep it continually updated with links to major news stories and to significant reports that have recently been published in the fields of aerospace and defence. In case you missed them, we are repeating some of the main news we have featured in the past quarter. Breakthrough in EU-US aviation relations: EU transport ministers approve the EU-US first stage air transport agreement On 22 March 2007, European Union transport ministers unanimously approved the first stage air transport agreement between the EU and the United States of America.
CAA refers price controls for BAA's Heathrow and Gatwick airports to the Competition Commission The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published its reference to the Competition Commission, as required by statute, and accompanying regulatory analysis and proposals for two of BAA's airports designated for price control, Heathrow and Gatwick. Two key themes in the CAA's proposals are improving the quality of service to passengers and encouraging timely investment to improve each airport's infrastructure. Consultation on the draft Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations Order The main purpose of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations (RTFO) Order will be to deliver carbon savings of approximately one million tonnes per annum from the transport sector by 2010/11. This consultation has been published by the UK Department of Transport and responses to are requested by Thursday 17th May 2007. ESDU Engineer magazine
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