JPRS ID: 8251 FRANCE: NUCLEAR, MISSILE, AND SPACE DEVELOPMENTS

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• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00850R000100010058-6
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• Document Page Count: 26
• Document Creation Date: November 1, 2016
• Sequence Number: 58
• Content Type: REPORTS

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~ t

29~JANUARY i979 FDUO N0. 4S2 i OF i
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~OR OFI-iC1NL U5E U(VLY
,
JPiIS L/8251
29 J~nuary 1.979
FRANCE: NUCLEAR, MISSILE, AND SPACE DEVELOPMENT~
- FOUO No , 452 ~ ~
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BIOLIOCRAPNIC DA?A i� Nepon No. ~ 3. Recipienc'c AcceReion No,
SHEET JPRS L/$2S1 '
. ~te~n~ ,utue
- S. cpott �te '
" ~kANCI;: NUCI.EAR, MI55IL1;, AND S.~ACC DEVCLOP;II:NTS, 29 Januarv 1979 _
FOUO No. 452 6� =
, Authw(~) 0. Petfaming (kgania~tion RcEK, ~
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ib. A stna~
The serial report contains information primarily from French major daily newapapers
and pertir.ent specialized journals un French nuclear, miasile, and space technology, ~
reaearch and development. .
r. 1Cey ~ord~ aod nxumeot Aoalr~i~. 7~. D~~cripcon
r_
Franc~
Weapons
Aeronautics -
_ Missilea �
Nuclear Technologq _
- 17b. WenciEier~/Open-Eaded Tera
17e. COSATi FieW/Cuoup 16D, 18I, 19F, 22B
- la. A~ail~bilitp Statemeet 19.. Secucitr Clas~ (Thia ~ 21. o. of P~6es
- For Of~'icial Use Only. Re~oK) 22 _
Limited Number ::c Copies Available From JP~S. ��~l~r .ss et~ u, p~,�
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JPRS L/8251 `
_ 29 January 19 79
- FRANCE: NUCLEAR, MISSILE, AND S~'ACE DEVELOPMENTS -
- FOUO No. 452
,
C~NT"ITS PAGE =
WEU Pro ses Establishment oF Meteorolagical Sa.te.llite Syetem
~Pierre Le,ngereux; ATR & COSMOS, 2 Dec 78) 1 ;
_ Dete~ile on Missile Regiment Provided
(J. G. Michel PatPnotre; TAM, 23 Nov 78) 3
Nuclear Attack ~ubmarine U~ider Construction
(AIIt & COSMOS, 3o Dec 78) 7 -
Radioactive Waste Vitrification P1ant Discussed `
(Xavier W~~eger; LE MONDE, 27 Dec 78) 8
Details oP EUropea.n Spe,ce l~gency~ s 1979 Budget Provided
~ (Pierre Iangereux; AIR & COSMOS, 23 Dec 78) .......o....... 12 -
~ Mobile Telemetry Station for Aria.ne Tracking Delivered -
(Pierre Iangereux; AIR & COSMOS, 23 II~ec 78) 16 =
- Mechanical Qualification Tests oP APPLE, I~EOSAT 2 Reported
(AIIt & COSMOS, 23 IIpc 7$) 18 _
~ ~
Briefs -
- Ariane Motor Te~ting 21 -
Intelsat Maritime Satellite Decision ~ 21
_ -
' a - [III - WE - 151 FOUO] -
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H'Ok OHI~ ICIAI. U5l: ONLY -
WEU PROPOSE~ ESTABLISEIIdENT OF METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITE SYST@i
_ Paris AIR & COSMOS in I~rench 2 Dec 1�S p 5.2
- [Article by Pierre LangereuxJ
- (Text) 'The a~sembly of the Western European Union (WEU), which held its
- 24th regular meeting in Paris on 20-23 November 1978, adopted two resolu-
= Cions cancerning European space activities. One concerns applicat~.ona
= eatellites (recomroendation 326) and the other, meteorological predictions
by satellite for civil and military use (recommendation 328).
= The latter recommendation is pa~ticulgrly important since it proposes n~~thing
- lESS than establishment of a European organization, Eurqmetsat. to be re-�
- sponaible �or e~cploiting operational civil meteorological s~tellites and
- settinR up a European system of military meteorological satellites posaibly
= linked to NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization]. ~
Establishment of Eurometsat Organization
-
- The WEU assembly notes "that it is o� vital importance to establishment of =
~ meteorological forecasts in Europe to be able to have available approprtate
= data related to conditions on the surface and upper atmosphexic layers ubove
the North Atlantic, North Africa, and Central Africa" and it is convinced
that it is time "to urge users (national meteorological services of European -
` countries) to go to the operational phase of a European Meteosat system." -
~ For this reason the WEU "encourages the European meteorological se'rv'~~ces -
_ and institutes to establisl? an organization responsible for launching the
_ operational phase of a European system of ineteorological satellites,
= Eurometsat, similar to the Temporary Eutelsat system set up by the ~uropean
Posts and Telecommunications administrations."
i Meteorological Satellites in Polar Orbit -
- The iJEU also deeply regrets that "the system covering the North Atlantic has
_ been reduced to four stations and that American m.~teorological ships have -
been repla~ed by Soviet meteorological ships." It directs the attention of ~
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- the member couneries Co "the nece~sity for oUtaining more reliable, yet
_ profitable, meteorologicul information about Che North Atluntic as well =
_ as North and Central Africa by increasing the number of observaCion posta
in Chose regions, t~e North Atl~ntic in particular, by installing a network
of ocean buoys, automatic meterological data gaChering by specially equipped -
_ aircraft, and aetting up a system of ineteorological satellites in polar
orbit." ~
~
Military Meteorological Satellites
The WEU is also "awar,E that it is not possible in Europe, for political
reasons" (because of rar~icipaCion by Ch~ neutral countries, Sweden and
- Switzerland, in Meteosat) to have thesame meteorological and oceanic -
_ satelliCes shared by civil and military agencies, as is the case in the
United States. It nevertheless "considers it necessary that Europe pro-
_ vide itself with a aystem of mi~.itary meteorolof4ical satellites."
Under these conditions the WEU recommends that the Union's Council "give ~
its acCive aupport to setting up, for purposes of defense, a syaCem of -
meteorological sat~llites, pos~ibly linked to the American national satellite
program and that of NATO, and combined with an appropriate network of mobile
ground stationa."
- The assembly also recommends that Che WEU council "in,vite the member countries -
to test [he presently existing tneteorological coordinatton at the military
level by undertaking more frequent exercises to verify the implementation =
of the recommendations formulated by the metearological group of the NATO =
military committee."
Establishment of Worlwid~ Telecommunications Networks ~
, In anoeher field the WEU council ts td "call upon the European Space Agency -
(ESA) to study the establ.ishment of a more highly d~veloped worldwide tele-
communications network capable of gathering, at one and the same time, the
data from meteorological satellites, teledetection satellitea, and enviroa-
= mental surveillance satellites" for the purpose of forestalling the great
' scourges of mankind, such as drought, famine, natural catastrophe, pollution, ~
_ and energy shortage, or at the very least to ~eploy the resources ezabling
the effects to be attenuated.
_ 1'he WEU also ca11s upon the ESA "to study the fe3sibility of conetructing a i
small prototype of eolar satellite to provide electricity." -
~ The WEU asks the ESA to provide the funds necessary for these two studies,
_ and to provide, at the next meeting of the Agency's council, information
on tne status of the development pro~ect complementary to the Spacelab
- oa~biting laboratory. _
_ Th~e WEl1 council is in addition called upon "to ela~ornte a policy defining
the medium and long term ob~ectives of the ESA as well as their financial
impacC and to have 3rawn up a long term budget assuring the existence of a -
study group responsible for defining a coherent program."
" C~PYRIGHT: Air & Cosmos, Paris, ~978
11,706 2
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DBTAILS OY MISSILE REGL'*tENT PROVIDED
~ Paris TAM in French 23 Nov 78 p 15 -
[Article by Lt .T. Michel Patenotre: "Doing One's Military Service in
_ the 3rd RA [Artill~ry Regiment]"] _
_ [Text] The 3rd Artillery Regiment, installed in the I~imilly
_ camp in the heart of the chalky Champagne, was in 1973 the
firs~ regiment equipped with PLUTON tactical nuclear mis-
- siles. The mr~jor part of its personnel--900 out of a total
of 1,100--conaieta of drafteea, a situation unique in the -
world as regarde araftees' participation in the meaning of -
_ nuclesr weapons. -
Furthermore, the very apecial character of t?~ese weapons does not trauma-
tiae the young gun+aera who serve in the 3rd FA. Carrying out iateresting
~ duties and being Antrusted with reaponsi~+il~,ties is an excellent way to -
make the time go fast, especially since Ma.'.lty is 40 kilometers from
Chalons-sur-Msrne or Troyes; town big enough to offer divereion. "The -
only criterion which leads us to asaign a duty to regular personnel rather
than to recruits," Lieutenant Colonel Mureau, aecond in command, tells us, ~
- "is Craining time. There i.s really just one example--the PLUTON vehicle _
crew, in which the nec~ssity of lengthy crew training prevents the draftees =
from having a place. L~etywhere else, and especially in the missions of
equipment and installations security, which are priority ones in peacetime,
they take part as enlieted men or non-commissioned officers."
At the Same Rhythm
Yok, a magnificent Besuce shepherd, enters the shed where the special
_ PLUTON equipment is kept, exposed; he goes around each vehicle and ends
by discovering a man, whom he attaeks and does not let escape. An order `
rings out; Yok rel~.ases his prey and returns docilely to sit at the feet
of his handler, Gunner Schwartz. "When the dog group was created," he
tells us, "I volunteered to become a dog handler, for I alread~ had exper- -
ience in training my own German shepherd. Yok and I have lived at the
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same rhythm eince I took l~im in charge at Suippea: 1 day out of 6, we do
~ surveillance rounds of the se~sftiva zone, and the reet of Che Cime goea
Eor training and care of varioue kinde." This duCy ie abeorbinR, but does
not prevent weekend leaves, for one of Che aix dog handlera ~akes charge
af all the animals on weekenda. ~
Gunner Schwartz does not complain ~bout his lot: "'One du~s not expect Che
same thing from a military dog as a'civilian' dog, buC the training method
ie unique, and I wi11 have learned someChing," he tells us.
. The Technology Scared Ue a Little _
= The eignale by which the order to fire arrives are of very epecial impor- -
. tance, and the radio sets are their esepntial carriere. Each of them has
rec~eiving and transmitCing equipment ar?d a generator eet, and operatea
with relative autonomy, served by a ragular-army noncommiseioned offfcer,
two operators, end a draftee operatar-driver. "At the beginning~ the ~
_ technology ecared ua a little," artillery sergeant Pariss~ operator~ ad-
mits, "but pract~ce, the uee of,what we learnPd in the elementary t~chni-
_ cal certificate school, and especially what we have had to eeach to those -
who have taken on their duties after u8~ have given ue confiderice." He ~
_ admite that when hs: arrived in the 3rd RA 10 monthe ago~ he did nat think -
that he would be a noncommiesipned officer today and have euch responsi-
bilitiea. -
= To a Thousandth of a Degree
~ The preciaion of the impact depends on the precieion of the shot's aterting ~
. position, which ie not difftcult eo understand. To comprehend the con- '
atrainte which thie entails ie more difficult. Each PLUTON battery com- '
prises, in addition to two firing sections and one PC [Control Station]
section, a r~conaissance section~ whose miseion is to indicate to each
gun Che place where it ie to eet up in firin~ poeicion, and then, Qace -
the poBition is aet, to determine ite position and orientatioc~ as exactly
- as poseible. �
Gunner'Thomaeain is a gyrotheodolite crew member: with his inexrument, he
must know how to determine the azimuth of a point with a precision on the
order of one-thousandth of a degree. Hie chief recognizee that he has
incomparable ekill. Modeetly~ he points out that "in civilian life, I
am employed by a aurveyor." .
He has become a noncommissioned officer~ but this does not interest him;
h~ refers the uoe of precision inetrumente and perfection of ineasurement ~
to officering dutiea--why not? -
Theee are three exan~plee of draftees to whom very real responeibilitiee
have been ~ntrusted.
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~,OR OI~ 1~ ICIAL U5~ UNLY
In 1 day, I meC at least 10 of them whom it is impossible Co r~lk about
- here. Doubtle~sly a highly teclinical r~~imei~C, as the I'LUTON regiments
- can be. Is it ~icher itt ~obs wh�Lch some like to call "noble7" More prob-
" ab1y, each peraon finds, when he does his military service, the satisfac-
~ tion which he wante to take the trouble to seek out, and is entrusted with
= the responsibilities which he knoiis how to show himself worthy of.
- 'Shere is also an eff~rt by the officer corps, but ae Lieueenant Colonel
- Prevot, chief ~f ataff, says: "When ot~.e aasigns inCerest~ng duties to Che
_ drafCees, they are very aware of them and take it Co heart to do a good
~Ob.~~
~
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rs[. , ~ r"~`+
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~ .~."lr t.-, ,.?7 ty~
A PLUTON vehicle of the 3rd RA in firing position
5
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- i~Ult ui~i~ Lc:lnl, USt~, UNLY =
_ _
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KG' J . -
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Arrillery sergeant Pariss, radio operator
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- Gunner Thomassin is a gyroCheodolite crewman.
COPYRIGHT: 1978 -"TAM' Magazine des Armees _
' 11267 -
- ~ CSO: 3100
- 6
- � FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY ~
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NUCI,EAR ATTACK SUBMARINE UNDER CONSTRUCTION
i
Par~.s AIR & COSMOS in French 30 Dec 78 p 91 ~
[Text] The first i:uclear attack submarine of the French Navy is now under
- construcCion by the ~CAN [Naval Construction and Weapons Directorate] in
_ Cherbourg. The acr_ompanying photograph, taken in Cherbourg on 18 December
1978, shows the hull of the first "SNA" [nuclear attack submarine] com-
pletely assembled and the first assembly units of the second "SNA" (on the ~
right). The 4th Plan, running from 1977 to 1982, calls for the construc-
_ tion of four such attack submarines. This program ia Che responsibility of =
the DTCN [Naval Shipbuilding Technical Directorate]. The submarines are to
be armed with eo~pedoea and also with Aerospatiale's Exocet SM-39 missile
- that fires from under the surface. -
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COPYRIGHT: Air & Cosmos, Paris, 197$ -
CSO: 3100 7
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RADIOACTZYE WASTE~VITRIFICATIL?N PLANT DISCUSSED -
Paris LE MONAE in French 27 Dec ~8 p 10 -
[Ai�ticle by Xavier Weeger]
[Text~ Since 28 June of this year the first industrial-scale
continuous vitrification plant for continuous processing of
nuclear wastes has be~n in operation at the Marcoule Center -
: for Nuclear S~udies, in the Gard. Managed by COGEMA (The Ge- _
- neral Nuclear Materials Corporation), it has been in operation -
for more thar~ 2,200 hours, and has turned more than 50 cubic
meters of dissolved fission products from spent fuel repro~cessing
. plants into glass. `
Reprocessing, during which most of the '~unburnt" u~-anium is re-
covered and plutonium is produced, yields l.iquids wlr~ich are
_ hi~hly charged with disso'lved or suspended wastes. 2'hese par- -
. ticles are extremely radioactive, and emit such heat that the
solutions have to be kegt in special~holding tanks, where they
. are constantly.cooled and stirred. _
_ Storage of that sort can only be te,nporary, although it ca*.: be
_ kept ~tp for a very few decades. The hard fact is that it is
altogether out of the question to use this kind of storage for
products whose level of radioactivi~y r~ill remain potentially
- hazardous for hundreds of ~?ears (see LE MONDE 1$ March). Hence -
- the intensive efforts now under way all over the world in
search of intermediate (seve~al decades) or permanent solutions
to the ~torage question.
In the opinion of a good many internatiAnal experts, vitrifica-
tion is, right now, one of the most pr~omising solutions around,
- and France, where the Atomic Energy Commission teams have been -
_ working on the problem for more than 1$ years, has something of -
- a head start i~n the field. The German Federal Republic and
Great Britain are in f act keenly interested in the French pro-
cess. The Marcoule vitrification plant (A.V.M.) is the first
inatal'lation of i~s kind in operation anywhere in the world.
8
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'1'h~; ~~urpo�~, oi' vi.t-rii'ication, as c~f other processes of L-he same
_ LY1,c, i~ to "Lrap" t'~ Hr~ion products and trace ~.mounts of heavy -
4l~~mcr~t; y, i r~clucii~~~g uranium plutonium, and L-he other Lrans~ura-
~~i.um elements which reproce~sing has not completely eli.minated,
~n:;ide :a~i atoniic '~tructure sL-rong enough L-o resist attack from
_ Lt~~;m or anyt-liic~~; elsc: the ide~~ briefly, is to impri~on thes~
:;~.il~;.ta~ices inr~ide matcrials that will withstand water~ tempera--
_ Lur~: cht~~tges, ~Lc. `
- '1'hc~ initial studie:~ cociducted by the AEC centered on synthetic
- c;l~yst,all.ized mineral~ such as feldspars or artificial mica.
- 'i'hcy very 5wfft:ly ran up a~ainst a twofold di�Ficulty: experi-
ms.nt:;~ rnade it clear L-hat they wou~.d have to develop a,g ma~xy cry-
sta~1'zed mater�ial~ as there were substances ~o be �fixed." _
'I'hi.~ would, among ot-her drawbacks~ t?ave posed very large prob-
. l~.ins wheii it came to pr~ce~sing on an industrial scale. Fur~
tt~ec�m~re1 these substar~ces~ despite their intrinsic hardness~
pr~,serited v~ry large surfaces for exchange with L-he outside (it
i s t}~rou~h sucti surfacc:s that atoms might mig~rat~e; therefore
i.t i~ imperative to keep them as small as possible).
Vc:i~y yuickly, the French tea.ms explaii:., they discoveredy in the
~:uurse o� these experimenta with synthetic minerals, that mate-
rials of a vitreous type (whi~t~ appeared as by-products in the
_ pc�E:paration of the synthetic minerals) in which the atoms
:ir~e not arranged in a regul~r g~ometric system, as the crystal-
li~~c substances are offered the most promising features. Spe-
- cifically, their exchange surfaces with the outside are small,
t,}~ey are very strong, and their charact~ristics alter very lit-
tle with age.
'1'a prove this last point, the Marcoule teams set up artificial
- abing experiments~ some of which subjected glasses to massive
flows of radiation, and others in which large amounts of radio-
active substance$ with short half-lives were incorporated into
tt~e ~lass. In the space of a few week~~ ti~ese glaases were
subjccted to as much radiation of all kinds as the~- would nor- ~
~na1Ly Ket in several centuries. Some of the M�rcoule glasses
wl~ic}i were "doped" witlh curium thus achieved an a~e greater than
10,000 ycar~. The purpose of these experimen~s was to study
phetiomena which can ~,ccur: possible crystallization, what be-
comes of gsseous }~elium "manufactured" by alpha radiation (over
1,000 years, each liter of glass "produces" around 100 cc of
h~;liwn measured at atmospheric pressure only a few frac-
tions of Nhich actually escape from the material). -
T1?e great stabil~tty of glasses is explained primarily by the
_ f'act that thc clements to be isolated, fission products and
hc~vy elements (Known as actinides) are not merely surrounded
by tt~e material; they actually become part of it. Two pilot
plants built at Marcoule, called "Gulliver" (rrhfch ran from 19b1
9
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FUR ()i~}~ICTAI. Uti~ ONLY
to 1y6.5) and "Yivcr'~ (lyb9 to 1y~3) gave the teams a chance to
- L-ry out variaue mixes for the special glasa thay were ~fter. -
(Shut down in 19~3, the Piver pl.an is going to be brought back
inta servi.ce ~hortly for vitri�ication teat~ on aolub~ons of `
- �ission products From reproces~ing of fuels fro~a the Phenix "
~ fast breeder reactor.)
' The glasges produced by A.V.M., the firr~~ continuaus process
plant, contair~ arowid one-third of tihe elements from the sol.u-
tions to be vitrified; the rest consists essentially of silicon
- and borates, which are r~sponsible for the formation of the vi-
treous system. Other elements (sodiwn and calcium chiefly) are
added; t�heir role ia to "open up" the vitreous system ~o that
the foreign bodiee can get into it.
The A.V.M. is a relatively small plant-. The central cell~ where -
tl~e m~in operations take place, covers only a little over 100
- ~square meters of floorspace, and is 3�5 meters high. -
In the initial phase of operations, the solution �or vitrifica-
tion moves continuously, at a rate of around 40 biters pQr hoar,
into a slightly tilted cylindrical "calciixator," which revolves
at a speed oF 30 rpm; the calcinate left after evaporat�ion of
the volatile products flows by gravity into a metal m~elting f.ur- .
_ nace, heated by induction and kept at a temperature o� around
- 1,'100~C, where it is mixed, little by little, with fritted glass
containing silicon, boron, and the system modifie:~s. When the
furnace is full, about every $ hours, on the average, t.he glass
plug inside the furnaae is melted. The 100 to 150 kilos of mol- _
ten glass flows into a steel container. After three pourings,
the container is sealed with a welded cover, cleaned tsnder a -
jet of water at high pressure, then removed from the celt and
transferred through a special airlock into a transporter which
puts it into a storage pit that is cooled by circul ating air. -
It can stay there for several decades.
As in all nuclear installations of this kind, which handle hi~hly
radioactive materials, a number of devi~ces take care of recover-
ing all gaseous e�fluents or dust, and recycling or filteri~g
them. ~
The A.V.M.~s central cell is shut up behind thick walls of rein-
forced concrete Nith lead-glass windows. It is designed through-
out so that all routine operations such as maintenance or emer-
gency situations such aa accidents can be carried out by remote
control or robot handling. The installation, which was to all
- intents and purposes operational at the begi.nning of 1977, got
its first de3ivery of radioactive solutions onl~ in the sumraer
of 1978� The Ceater used that time for a full dress rehearsal
of every imaginable situation. The f~urnace plenum must be re- .
placed every 1,200 hours: the first operation was perfo~rmed
r~rithout difficulty in mid-November.
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'I'h~ Marcoule experts are very cunfident of the design oF their
prace~s and of the: future of their pl~nt, which cos~ some $00
rnillion fr~ncs and employs 18 people. Within the ap~ce of a�ew
months~ it has vitrified $0 cubic meters of solutions of fission _
producLs, rc;presenting more th~n a year of productinn for ~11
L-he reactors ~n tlie site. mhe te~ms are already a~ work on com-
p].etion of install~tiona at the vitrificatiion p1an~ at La Ha~ue,
where tt~o or three line+s of the same design as bhe one at Mar-
coule will complete the new reprocessing installations. The
- ~lasses turned out there, containing waste from ligh~ water reac--
tors instead of those from graphite-gas reactors~ will be markedly _
morc: radioactive. T~ make sure that the internal temperature of
~ ttie gl~ss blocks does not rise too high (which would lead to de-
vitrification)~ they wi11 mosti probably be stored for 4 or S
- years in water before being buried in pits like the ones at Mar- -
- cotxle.
~isa
C50: 3100 _
11
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~OR OFFICIAL USE ONLY -
AETAIL5 OF EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY'S 1979 BUDGET PROVIDED
Paris AIk b COSMOS in French 23 Dec 78 pp 40-41
[Article by Pierre Langereux) -
(TextJ The 1979 budget of t1:e European Space Agency (ESA) amounts to a _
little more than 3 oillion francs in funds for disbursement and about 2.4 -
billion franca in cocamitments for prograc~s underway.
The 1919 budget of the ESA in fact provides 540.3 MUC [milliona of account-
ing unite] (or 3,054,900,000 million francs) in funde for disbursement and
, 424.7 MUC (or 2,4a1,~00,000 franca) in fund commitments. This year (1978) -
the ESA had available 576 MUC (3,256~700,000 francs) of funds for disburse-
ment and 742 MtJC (4,195,300,000 francs) of fund commitments �or its activ-
itiea.*
More than 80 percent of the funds for disbursement in th~ 1979 budget have
already been approved by the ESA Council and the directing committees for
European programe.
~ The funds approved up to the present cancern the Meteosat meteorological -
satellite program, the telecommunicatic~ns satellites (ECS and MARECS A 6 B)
and telecoumwnications technology satellite (ASTP) program, the Ariane
[Ariadne] ~auncher program (including utilization support), the Spacelab
orbiting laboratory program, and the Earthnet network. In connection with _
the Earthnet network of ground receiving stations for the data ~frmn the -
American teledetection satellites, a resolution by the Council is enabling
this program, Which is now optional, to continue, but it is planned in the
near future that the Earthnet program will become a mandatory ESA program
in vhi~h all the member countries wi11 participate.
*Editor's note: The 1978 and 1979 funds are not direetly coIDparable because
the value of an accounting unit has changed. In 1979 the accounting unit is ,
worth 5.65412 francs texcept for the budgets for the Ariane and the expenses
- of Kourou), srhile in 1978 the a~ccounti.ng unit was ~rorth 5.57942 francs.
. 12
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BuJgets Nnt Yet Approved
Amon~ tl~e on-going ptcograma for which funding has not yet been apprnved by
thn Council (in whole or in~ part) there are the Spacelab utilization pro-
gram, the Agency's gpneral budget, nnd th~ scientific pro$rams budget.
The B5A Council, which met in Paris on 12-13 December 1978 did not succeed
in approving the 1979 funding of Che general budget an~ Che scientific '
programs budgeC, Italy taking exception to the rule used by Che ESA for =
- conversion of currencies (which penalizes countriea with high inf.lation).
Failing to obtain the unanimous vote required for appxoval of those budgets
- in toto the ESA therefore had to resort to the procedure of "douziemes
provisoires,"* as had already been the cnse during the entire year 1978 for
- ehe same reasons. The Council thus approved 3.4 "twelfths" for the general _
budget and 3.2 "twelfths" for the scientific programa budget, corresponding
respectively to 36.8 MUC and 14.1 MUC (the "twelfths" being calculaCed upon
the basis of funda authorized in 1978 under the heading of direct expenaes,
which were respectivly 129.88 MUC and 52.88 MUC for those two budgets). The
_ total amounts planned in 1979 are 7.14 MNC for the general budget and 77.8
rNC for the scientific programs budget.
It ie hoped that a formal deciaion on the budgets not yet approved will be
reac}~ed at the next meeting of the~ESA Council which will be held in Paris
on 27-28 February 1979.
New Programs
In addition, the ESA has ~lso planned on 25.3 MUC (143 million f~ancs) in
funda for disbursement and 201.4 MUC (1,138,700,000 francs) in co~aitments '
for n~w programs, some of which have been approved and some not yet approved, -
but whose budgets have not been adopted. Theae concern the ECS phase 3A -
_ programs, the Sirio 2 satellite program, the direct television satellite
pro~ect (H-SAT or its succeseor). and the first European demonstration mis-
sion (DM1) aboard the Spacelab. There maq posaibly be added the supple-
mentary development programs for the Ariane launcher and the Spacelab, -
_ which are going to be submitted to the next meeting of the Council.
The Council at ite December meeting gave a favorable reception to the ESA
_ propo8als concerning European projects for further development of the Space-
lab and teledet~ction. Thia project contemplates, in particular, placing
experimente aboard the Spac~~lab and construction of a European teledetection
satellite equipped with a radar with synthetic aperture and uaing a plat-
form of the SPOT type or one derived from rhat of the French satellite.
*["douziemes provisoires," literally "provisional twelfths," is the pro- ,
cedure ahereby the Agency, in thc absence of an approved budget, is suthor-
ized to apend each month one twelfth of the total expended under the pre-
_ ceding year'e budget.)
13
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Sirio 2 Satellite
The ESA Council aC ita December meeting approved the European ECS phase 3A
- operational telecommunicationa sate111tes pro~ect and the Italian Sirio 2
ecientific satellite pro~~ct which t~ave now become Agency programe. Now-
ever, the final pattern of participation in these new programa has not yet
_ been establiehed. -
The ecale of participation in the Sirio 2 program should be decided at the
next ESA Council meeting. Italy, ~which is proposing this pro~ect, will
participate to the extent of 74.95 percent and will guarantee an additional
Italian contributi~n of 4.3 percent in the event that the contributions of
the other member countriea are inaufficient. Switzerland and the United
Kingdom have also agreed--aub~ect to government approval--to participation -
in the Sirio 2 to the extent of 4.40 percent and 1.83 percent, reapective-
- ly. France and Germany had also contemplated participating in the program -
- to the extent of 6.11 percent each. Provisiunal participations of the
other member countriea are as follows: Austria and Spain, 0.61 percent each;
Belgium, 3.30 percent; and Denmark, 2.08 percent.
- The tot~l coat of the Sirio 2 program is now estimated at 21.16 MUC (119.6
million francs) but eome eatimaCe that it may reach about 40 MUC. The fund-
_ ing covers only the development of the satellite and the expenses of main-
- taining the program. As a matter of fact Sirio 2 will have the benefit,
in the spring of 1981, of a free launching by the European Ariane launcher
- Which ~ill serve to launch the MARECS B maritime telecommunications satellite
- and to test the SYLAA Ariane double launch system.
Four ECS Satellites
The dec~ision concerning the scale of contributions to the ECS phase 3A pro-
gram is supposed to be reached at the next meeting of the telecommunications
directing committee which will be held in Paris on 1-2 February 1979. But
the December Council meeting has enabled the price for launching the program's
satellites with Ariane launchera to be fixed right now: the price of a
single launching (one satellite) is set at 24.44 MUC (135.6 million francs);
_ the price of a double launching (two satellites) should be lower than that
of a single launching.
Under these conditions as soon as the resolution concerning thia, phas~ 3A is
approved by the program's directing committee it w~ll be poasible to execute
the agreement between ESA and the acting Eutelsat organization reaponsible -
for exploiting the ECS satellites for the account of European posts and
telecommunicaCions adwinistrations. The ECS program now comprises four
satellites--ECS 1--4--~srhich will be launched betWeen 1981 and 1983 by Ariane -
rockets and constityte the first European space communications netvark.
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H-5A'T Deferred -
- On the other hand the E5A has put o~f until ehe next Council meeting ics deci-
yion concerning construction o~ a~uropean direcC television satellite. The
principal interested member countries, Frnnce and Germany, have noC been -
nble to agre~ on the saeellite's misai4n: Bonn wnnts to develop right off
an operational satellit~ whereas Paria up to now is proposing t~ construct
an experimental satellite Pirat. The Council has concluded that Che H-SAT
pro3ect atudy effected this year by the French-German Eurosatellite group
had been properly managed but it was neceasary ~or the two moat concerned
countriea Co submit a new joint proposal to the next Council meeting. In
the meantime limited funds (300,000 accounting units) have been provided
to maintain the pru~ect team.
Funda for disbursement (CP) and commitment funds (CE) of tNe ESA for 1979
Status Program Funda
= CP CE
_ Meteosat development 11.5~ 2.2
Meteosat exploitation 8.2 5.4
Meteosat 2(launching L03) 3.2 3.6
- Telecommunications, phase 2 14.4 6.6 _
Programa under- ECS 8atellites 31.8 18.9 -
way (budgeta MARECS A satellite 17.0 8.3 -
approved) MARECS B satellite 10.8 6.1
Technolo~y? program (ASTP) 3.4 4.6
Spacelab program 117.1 90.5 -
Ariane launcher development 143.0 100.3 -
Ariane utilization support 20.0 0.6
Earthnet network 4.9 S.2
Aerosat remainders (program abandoned) 0.2 0.3
Programs under- Spacelab utilization (FSLP) 5.6 2.5
way (budgets not Agency's general budget 71.4 144.4
- approved) Scientific programa budget 77.8 26.2
- Total programs underway (exluding domestic taxes) 540.3 MUC ~24.~ MUC
ECS phase 3A program
Sirio 2 satellite
New programs Direct television satellite (H-SAT)
(budgets not DM 1 Spacelab miesion and poasibly
- approved) Supplementary Ariane development
Supplementary Spacelab development _
Total ne~+ programs 25.3 MUC 201.4 AtUC
Editor's note: 1 accounting unit (1979) = 5.65412 ~rancs
COPYRIGHT: AIR b COSi~S, Paris, 1978
11706
CSO: 3100
15
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FOIt OF'FICIAL U5~ ONLY
MOBILE TELEMLTRY STATION FOR ARIANE TRACKING DFt.~VERED
Paris AIR & COSMAS in French ?3 Dec 78 p 41 _
[Article by Pierre Langereux~
(TextJ The Starec firm (SFIM group) has delivered, to the Toulouse Space
Center of the CNES [National Center for Space S~udiea], ti~e Stella 35 mo-
_ bile telemetry station intended for the tracking network, in South America,
of the Ariane [Ariadne] rocket (photo).
Conatructed in record time--less than 10 montha following notification of
contract award--the Stella 35 is a station traneportable over the road 'or
_ by railway or sir. It will be initially installed near Bel.em, Brazil, -
to complete the network for reception of band 5(2,200-2,300 megahertz)
telemetry eignals of the Guiana Space Center of the CNES. It will operate
along with the other three telemetry atationa--Stella 43-also constructed -
by Stalrec, which will be inatalled at fixed locations in French Gu~ana
(Cayenne and K,ourau) and in Brazil (Natal) as down the line stationa of
the tracking network.
The Stella 35 mobile telemetry station is equipped with an antenna 4 meters
in diameter moveable in elevation and azimuth, whose gain is greater than
35.5 decibels and whose quality factor is equal to or greater than 10.5
decibela per degr~e Kelvin up to 2.5 degrees elevation; the directional
_ precislo'a ia bettpr than 0.3 degree (roat mean square value). The anten-
na operatea in left or right circular polarization in accordance with four
trackin~ modea (ob~ective deaignation upon the ephemerides drum sutomatic
tracking With aeparation measuring receiver~ or manual aiming by position
or velocity). It usee the same primary aource and separation measuring
. system as the 10-weter Stella 43 antenna. The Stella 45 antenna
Was constructed ~rtth Starec as general contractor and participation of
CSEE (servo system aad console bay) and Bell Telephone Manufacturing Com-
pany of Belgium (eeparatian measuring receiver).
~6
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_ N'Ok c1N'N'ICIAI, USM: pNI,Y
-
f. u ' _
- ~ -,t,.
* ~ ~ ~ .
.
! x~
4F i
~ ~1 11~' t
. C'
. ~ ~
. x t ~St . . _
: i , �~r i
~ . . - ~ ..i~:
_ ~ `
f, ,
~ ~ ~~~r 1
' ` ` ~ w
.
_ I
~t.
N~'y,~:,_iF:~�~~':~'~'~4!
`S E" ~r . � -
_ . ~i'~+�o~
~~.~.r~.^.'^MS/s? . . uw~ . . . ~
COPYRIGHT: AIR 6 COSMOS, Paris, 1978
11706
CSO: 3100
17
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I
i
~OIt OFFICIAL U5E ONLY
M~CHANICAL QUALIFICATION TESTS OF APPLE, METEdSAT 2 REPORTED
_ Paris AIR & COSM05 in French 23 Dec 18 pp 42_43 _
[Text~ The mechanical qualification Cests of the payload which will be
launched by the European rocket, the Ariane [Ariadne] at the time of the
- third test flight firing (L03j planned for May 1980 have ~ust been concluded
_ at ttee Toulouse Space Center of the CNES [National Center for Space Studies].
Theae teats were performed upon dynamic mock-ups of the satellites which
w~,ll conatitute the payload. These satellitea in their launch configura- ~
tion were placed upon a powerful electro-acoustic exciter (170 kilonewtonsj -
wh~.ch subjected them to longitudinal and tranaverae vibrations correspond-
ing with the principal flight streases. The teats were performed by teams -
from SOPEMA [Company for Specialized Environmental Testing Servicea] for th~
~ account of the European Space Agency (ESA) with participation by teama from
European, French, and Indian pro~ects responsible for different parts of "
this payload.
The L03 payload, inatalled in the nose of the launcher, in fact comprises
three satellitea mounted one above the other (and upon the equipment compart-
ment of the racket at the top of the third atage). Theae are, from bottom
- to top in the photo opposite):
--the Ariane Technological Capoule (CAT) of about 200 kilograms uaed for
all test flights;
- --the first Indian experimental telecommunications satellite--APPLE-rof
about 620 kilograms built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO);
and
--the second European meteorological satellite--MET~OSAT 2--of about 700
kilograms built in France by AEROSPATIALE [National Industrial Aerospace
Comp~ny] and Mntra for the account of the ESA.
_ The APPLE and METEOSAT 2 will be the first tWO satellites placed into
Reoatationary orbit by the new European launcher. The tiriane will firat
place the t~ro satellitea (and the CAT) into a transfer orbit of 200-36,000
kilometers iaclined at 9.5 degrees Which Will then be transformed into a
circular orbit at the geosynchronous altitude by the apogee motors of each
satellite. The CAT, in coatrast, trill remain in the transfer orbit.
18
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ThQ whole o~ this L03 payload compriain~ the CAT plus the APPLE plus the _
' INET~OSAT 2 is about 6.5 metiera high nnd weighs 1,574 kilograma.
Thr ensemble ox the L03
- pnyload in launch configura-
tion during tests at Toulouae;
_ from bottan to Cop: :he CAT
_ cupsule, the APPLE saCellite, _
and the METEOSAT 2 eatellite. ~
` ~
...i..i..~-~~ , .
i t~y;
~~x- ~ - .
' :i~ 1
.4
r~ . t?'t -
~ -
.
~
. , -
1 F~,,, �
~ ,
~ ~ - -
19
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, _
- , r. ~
. \
- ~ ~
- � ~
_
' ~
I
,
- Th~ three saCellites of the L03 payload separated: METEOSAT 2 stabilized _
by rotation; APPLE (eolar panela deployed) stabilized about three axes;
andl the CAT capsule. Thie is the firat illustration of the Indian AFPLE
sa[ellite. _
COPYRIGHT: AIR ~ COSMOS, Paris, 1978
11706
GSO: 3100
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I'OIt UT'I'ICIAL USL ONLl
BRIEFS
ARIANE MOTOR TESTING--The CNES [National Center for Space Studies] and -
- SEP [European Propulsion Company] have concluded their inquiry into the
causes of the exploaion which occurred on 28 November at Vernon, Department
of ~ure, during the bench Cest of the Ariane [Ariadne] rocket third stage -
motor. The inquiry disclosed that the explosion was due to accumulated
, hydrogen gas around the motor. This has led to modification of the bench's -
torch which normally burna the hydrogen to prevent dangerous accumulatio~,i of ~
the gas. As for the cause of this abnormal accum~.i?a*ion of hydrogen, it -
is said to be due to the delay (0.4 second) in ignition of the moCor. 7~'hat
delay is itself caused by the hydrogen gas in~ection in the vicinity of the -
igniter. This device, now eliminated from flight motors, is still used~ on
- the bench test motar. Additional tests are nevertheless going Co be p~~r-
�ormed with a flight motoX to detei^mine the operating margins of the s,ys-
_ Cems providing the ignition sequence. But this is not going to hinde~.: con- -
tinuation of the testa of the rocket's propulsion units; the next ben,ch
firing of the third stage propuleion unit in "battleship" configurat:Lon
thus remaina planned for 20 December. [Text) [Paris AIR & COSMOS ~,n FYench
23 Dec 78 p 43] 11706 ' -
INTELSAT MARITIME SATELLITE DECISION--The Board of Governors of Intelsat has
postponed until its next meeting in the end of January 1979 its decision con-
cerning installation of an additional payload in three Intelsat 5 satellites
for maritime liaisons (in addition to the international liaisons provided
- by these satellites). However, funds have been allocated to Ford Aerospace,
constructor of the Intelsat 5~ satellites, in order to retain this option ~
until the next meeting o� the board. Let us remember that most of the coun-
tries which use maritime telecommunications by satellite (except the United
States), joined in the Pre-Inmarsat Joint Venture, recently expressed their ~
- preference for a mixed system comprising three European MARECS satellites
and three Intelsat S satellites equipped with a maritime freq~encies channel
to replace the MARISAT satellites of the netwark now exploited by the United
StaCes. Comsat Ceneral Corporation, principal stockholder 3n the MARISAT
syatem, has propoaed to the Joint Venture a hybrid MARISAT 2 system utilizing
- the four LEASAT satellites leased from the U.S. Navy and two 24ARECS satel- ~
lites. Comsat Ceneral Corporation is to present its pro~ect at the next �
Itunarsat meeting to be held in London this week and to the next meeting of
the countries of the Joint Venture planned for mid-January at Brighton,
Great Britain. [Text] [Paris AIR & COSMOS in French 23 Dec 78 p 431 11706
CSO: 3100 E~
21 ~
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