Scrapbook 2: Jul 1962 — Lunar water, Nike-Zeus, Stevenage, Skybolt
Military Manned Satellite Reported
Forces Eye Larger Space Role
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times said the Defense Department is embarking upon a man-in-space program “to prevent military control of space by the Soviet Union.”
In a dispatch from Washington, the Times said “after years of reluctance and opposition, the department has finally accepted the need for a military space program aimed at control of space as well as its exploration.”
Until now, the U.S. space program has been largely a civilian effort.
The Times said the Defense Department now “has decided that the Air Force should develop the technology for a manned satellite capable of inspecting and destroying a hostile vehicle in space.
“Beyond this decision, the department, at the urging of the White House and the National Aeronautics and Space Council, has undertaken a six-month study to draft an enlarged military space program.”
The decision, itself, the Times said, was reached “after years of reluctance and opposition.”
‘Major Change’
Defense Department officials were said to prefer to view the decision and study “as only a modification of its past position on military activities in space. However, in the opinion of high Administration officials and industry observers, the decision signals a major change in direction leading to significant enlargement and purpose of the national space program.”
The Times said “with increasing vigor, Air Force leaders have been urging for the past three years that space is a new area for potential military operations. They have contended that the United States must embark upon a vigorous military program, including a man in space if it is to meet the potential threat of Soviet control of space.”
Scientist Suggests Moon May Have Plenty of Water
CLEVELAND (AP) — The possibility that the moon may have an abundant water supply — including geysers and subsurface glaciers—was suggested here by an internationally known lunar expert.
Dr. Zdenek Kopal, British astrophysicist, said the moon’s water supply may be so great that if squeezed out it could cover the lunar globe’s surface to a uniform depth of 984 feet.
He told space scientists attending a lunar missions meeting of the American Rocket Society that his conclusions were reached deductively, based on known facts about the composition and behavior of celestial bodies.
Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, and a lunar water supply would greatly simplify the supply problem of setting up a self-sufficient moon base with its own air supply.
In adding his support to those in the controversy who believe water is present on the moon, Kopal said there is a possibility the earth’s smaller companion may have a permafrost several hundred feet deep.
Ice close to the lunar surface, he continued, could form glaciers covered by dust and debris. He contended such glaciers could take the form of domes or minor bulges numerous astronomers have observed in certain regions of the moon.
Kopal agrees with the widely accepted theory that the moon was formed by an accumulation of tiny particles of cold matter in space drawn together by the mutual pull of gravity.
His theory contends further:
These particles contained volatile compounds, including water, locked within their crystal structure. A relatively high proportion of water has been found in stony meteorites.
Internal Heat
When the moon was formed, spontaneous disintegration of the radioactive elements present heated its internal temperature until its interior glowed “much like the inside of a terrestrial blast furnace.” This heat broke the solid-state bonds holding the water in crystals and liberated it as superheated steam.
He gave this concept of how lunar steam might behave:
“Along any cavity or crack temporarily formed in the crust, it should be able to escape under its own pressure toward the outer and cooler layers, where it should condense into the liquid phase and eventually freeze in the subsurface layer. . . .
“Suppose that in an extreme case it may erupt in occasional spurts as a geyser. No such phenomenon has, to be sure, so far been actually observed on the moon, although it would be very difficult to detect — virtually the only reasonable chance of detection being along the bright edge of the moon, when sunlight scattered on dispersing gas molecules could be seen against the dark background of the sky. . . .”
The first flight of a powerful new Polaris missile, designed for a 2,500-mile range, was termed a partial success yesterday. It was launched from a ground installation at Cape Canaveral, Florida.—Reuter.
MISSILE FIRED AUTOMATICALLY
EXTREME ACCURACY
By Our Defence Correspondent
The American Army has pressed for production of the Nike-Zeus to be authorised. There are severe critics, particularly in the Air Force, of the missile’s effectiveness.
To intercept intercontinental missiles the system depends on immensely powerful radars and high-speed target interception computers. There are “acquisition” and detection radars, “discrimination” radars, to tell warheads from decoys, and target-tracking radars.
The Nike-Zeus, on the basis of computer calculations about the ICBM’s speed and course, is fired automatically. Its range must be of several hundred miles. Its accuracy needs to be phenomenal, since its target travels at four or five miles a second.
NEW TOWN IN DANGER
CANCELLING the Blue Water missile could mean that 1,500 workers in Stevenage New Town, Hertfordshire, lose their jobs.
Last night Mr. Martin Maddan, Tory MP for Hitchin, said the Government had given no thought to providing other work.
The British Aircraft Corporations English Electric factory at Stevenage, which employs 4,500, starts laying off workers within a fortnight. Mr. Maddan said the factory may close completely in a few years unless more Government work immediately replaces the Blue Water contract.
“It is monstrous that the Government—which have a great responsibility towards this new town—should treat Stevenage in this way,” he said.
BRITAIN must review her defence policy at once to avoid wasting millions of pounds a Labour MP said yesterday.
Mr. G. W. Reynolds, MP for North Islington, told a Labour Party Summer School at Holmbury St. Mary, near Dorking, Surrey, that the money saved could be more profitably used on conventional arms and improving social services.
America was abandoning Thor missile sites in Britain. And he thought, in two years the B47 bombers would be unnecessary because the U.S. would then have 200 Polaris missiles and 400 Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles as an effective deterrent.
Cost of Skybolt
“America herself will not need the Skybolt. Will she in fact continue to develop it if the U.K. remains the only potential customer?”
Skybolt was meant to extend the life of the V-bomber force. The Government proposed to adapt 24 aircraft to carry two each. He believed the changeover, missiles, and maintenance for three or four years would cost £80million to £90million.
Mr. Reynolds said that perhaps only six of the 24 would reach their target. For “this colossal amount of money . . . to my mind, this presents neither a credible independent deterrent force, nor any worthwhile contribution to the Western deterrent.”
A FIERCE, new political row over the American rocket Skybolt is on the way between the Government and the Labour Party.
Skybolt has been ordered by the R.A.F.
The row will show whether Britain is going to stay an independent nuclear Power or shield under an American H-bomb “umbrella.”
Labour leaders are planning to open the attack on Skybolt at the party’s October conference.
It will be the climax to a general onslaught on Defence Minister Peter Thorneycroft’s missile policy.
Labour leaders believe Skybolt will repeat the British “Blue Water” missile story—too much money for too little effect.
Mr. Thorneycroft is hoping to get about 400 Skybolts at a cut-rate of £150 million.
It was this “defence-on-the-cheap” line which provoked a strong attack on him by the Tory Backbench Defence Committee just before the House of Commons dispersed.
Independent
The R.A.F. is relying on 1965 delivery of the weapon to carry on as an independent nuclear force.
But Labour’s defence experts think it inevitable that America should take over completely on the nuclear missile front, while Britain devotes more money to conventional forces.
Labour M.P. Mr. Gerald Reynolds, who acts as Mr. George Brown’s Parliamentary Private Secretary, spoke about Skybolt at a Labour Party meeting at Dorking, Surrey, yesterday.
He said that a “colossal amount of money” would be spent on adapating 24 V-bombers to take Skybolt.
“America herself will not need the Skybolt. Will she in fact continue to develop it if Britain remains the only potential customers?
“Mr. Thorneycroft should act now and stop the possible waste of millions of pounds,” Mr. Reynolds added.
MOSCOW, Monday.
MR. KHRUSCHEV claims that Russia has anti-rocket rockets which can “hit a fly in outer space.” He made this boast to 14 American newspaper editors in the Kremlin recently. The report of the meeting was published to-day.
He also claims that Russia has a “global rocket” which is immune to all anti-aircraft or anti-rocket defences. “We know about such things,” he went on, “because we have our own anti-rocket rockets.”
The Russians first announced that they were developing an anti-rocket rocket two years ago. The first claim that it was successfully in service was made by Marshal Malinovsky, the Defence Minister, at the 22nd party congress last October.
The “global rocket” was first mentioned by Mr. Khruschev in March. It is still not clear what exactly he means by it.
It may be a satellite which can be brought to earth at any point in its orbit. It may also be an extremely long range inter-continental missile.
NO SURPRISE
Promising prototype
OUR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT cabled last night: Mr. Khruschev’s talk of an accurate anti-missile missile and of global rockets caused no surprise in Washington. The American Air Force, which has heard both claims from Russian leaders before, declined to comment.
The official belief is that Russia probably does not yet possess an effective defence system against missiles. It is conceivable that she has developed a prototype which has shown promise in tests.