The Royal Society's formative role in UK Space Research

Notes and Records of the Royal Society

Volumn 64, Issue SUPPL. 1, 2010, Pages

  Pounds, Ken ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Ariel satellite; Gassiot committee; Harrie massey; International geophysical year; Skylark; Space science

Indexed keywords

EID: 77955606289     PISSN: 00359149     EISSN: 17430178     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1098/rsnr.2010.0039     Document Type: Article

References (17)

1. H. S. W. Massey and M. O. Robins, History of British space science (Cambridge University Press, 1986), at p. 42.
2. I recall spending several cold overnight vigils with UCL colleagues operating a photomultiplier tracking device to time the transits of the Sputnik booster rocket.
3. The Gassiot Committee was originally established in 1871 to supervise the running of the Kew Observatory, which had recently been inherited by the Royal Society from the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
4. Other motives of the Ministry of Supply, namely the perceived benefit to staff morale in working with the Royal Society and an aid to graduate recruitment, are mentioned in M. Godwin and M. D. Kandiah, Skylark sounding rockets 1957-72 (Centre for Contemporary British History, Institute of Historical Research, London University, 2005), at pp. 14 and 35.
5. Published in a special issue of Reports of Progress in Physics, volume 9 (1944).
6. H. Friedman, 'Direct measurement of the Solar X-radiation', Annls Geophys. 11, 60-65 (1955).
7. Godwin and Kandiah, op. cit. (note 4), at pp. 29 and 40.
8. I worked on the grenade experiment during my first year as a PhD student, developing an on-board infrared detector to record the grenade flashes during a daytime launch, when ground- based cameras would not function. That was a valuable early opportunity to gain experience in the special needs of space research, a training element of the Skylark programme that was to benefit many other budding space scientists over the following 20 years.
9. 'A Discussion on the results from the first Anglo-American satellite, Ariel 1, and related observations', Proc. R. Soc. A 281, 437-583 (1964).
10. Contributions to ESRO were GDP-based but limited to a maximum at the suggestion of the UK, whose share would otherwise have been 33%.
11. It is interesting to note that only in 2009, 45 years after the creation of ESRO, did the UK finally host an establishment of the European Space Agency.
12. Hansard, 12 May 1959, cols 1047-1050.
13. Godwin and Kandiah, op. cit. (note 4), at p. 14.
14. Godwin and Kandiah, op. cit. (note 4), at p. 15.
15. From 1953 to 1956 I was reading for a BSc in the Physics Department at UCL and knew nothing of the plans for the IGY, etc., pursuing - with undergraduate single-mindedness - a healthy mix of social, sporting and academic activity. In the event it may have been some aptitude for cricket that led to a subsequent career in space science. In May 1956 I captained the student team in the annual cricket match and had the temerity to bring an early end to Professor Massey's innings, with a successful shout for LBW which was granted by his fellow Australian, Eric Bishop. I did sometimes wonder whether the offer of an Admiralty scholarship to study for a PhD in UCL's newly formed Rocket Group was influenced by the Prof's wish to have me in his XI!
16. Friedman, op. cit. (note 6).
17. A UK space innovation and growth strategy 2010 to 2030 (Department of Business Innovation and Skills, London, 2010).