Apr 15 1975
From The Space Library
The Council of the European Space Research Organization met and approved appointment of directors proposed by ESRO's Committee for the soon-to-be-established European Space Agency. When ESA became operational at the end of May, the new directorate would include Roy Gibson (United Kingdom) as Director General, Andre Lebeau (France) as Director of Planning and Future Programs, Dr. Ernst Trendelenburg (West Germany) as Director of Scientific and Meteorological Programs, and George Van Reeth (Belgium) as Director of Administration.
Directors already in office who would continue after the establishment of ESA were Bernard Deloffre (France), Director of the Spacelab Program; Prof. Gianni Formica (Italy), Director of the European Space Operations Center; Ove Hammarstrom (Sweden), Director of the European Space Research and Technology Center; Dr. Walter Luksch (West Germany), Director of Communications Satellite Programs; and Prof. Massimo Trella (Italy), Technical Inspector. (ESRO Release, 21 April 75)
Flight Research Center announced the award of a 30-mo cost-plus fixed-fee contract, valued at $13 million, to Rockwell International Corp. to design and build two subscale model aircraft for NASA's Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology Program. The two-phase contract called for an initial 60-day effort for detailed program planning; upon satisfactory completion of phase 1, NASA would approve the final design and fabrication.
The two vehicles were scheduled for delivery to FRC late in 1977 for flight-testing, using the Remotely Piloted Research Vehicle test technique [see 3 March] developed by FRC. Air-launched from a carrier aircraft, the vehicles would be flown through maneuvers by a ground-based pilot using TV, telemetry, and radar. (FRC Release 7-75)
The Air Force Systems Command announced the award of a $100 000 contract to Aero Co. to study the feasibility of using parafoils half the size of a C-5 aircraft's wing to recover remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs). RPVs were currently retrieved by recovery helicopters, a reliable but expensive system affected by weather conditions. The parafoil, part of an AF effort to find cheaper ways to land RPVs, was a high glider which, when deployed like a parachute, would take on an airfoil shape and descend at a rate of 1 m forward for each 0.3-moss in altitude. Under the terms of the contract Aero would design and build two 12- by 24-m parafoils for testing scheduled to begin in May. (AFSC Release O1P 81.75)
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