8chan/8kun QResearch Posts (2)
#4839626 at 2019-01-21 00:21:14 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #6177: The Super Blood Wolf Moon Edition
The UK's only rocket to successfully launch a satellite into orbit is to be unveiled in Scotland after a 10,000-mile journey back home.
The Black Arrow projectile had lain at its crash landing site in the South Australian outback for more than 48 years.
Over time it was damaged by extreme weather and vandalism, but then space technology firm Skyrora stepped in to return it home.
The rocket - described as "the most important artefact" of the UK's space industry - is to go on display in Penicuik, Midlothian, later this month.
We really hope the rocket will help to inspire current and future generations.
Daniel Smith, director at Skyrora, said: "This is quite feasibly the most important artefact linked to the UK's space history.
"While our engineers have been working on our own launches, our STEM ambassadors have been arranging all of this in the background.
"We'll be unveiling it in Penicuik later this month, not far from our headquarters and workshop in Edinburgh.
"With the UK Government aiming to make us a launch nation again, it seemed like the perfect time to bring Black Arrow back.
"We really hope the rocket will help to inspire current and future generations of scientists and engineers."
The UK Space Agency has previously announced £2.5 million of funding for a proposed vertical launch spaceport in Sutherland.
Developed and tested on the Isle of Wight, the Black Arrow programme completed four rockets between 1969 and 1971.
The third flight was the first and only successful UK-led orbital launch, but the programme was then cancelled.
This is said to have given the rocket "cult status" among the space community.
The Black Arrow's journey home saw it transported across land and sea - making the trip from the Australian desert to Edinburgh via Adelaide.
Skyrora has also commissioned a plaque to be placed where Black Arrow had lain.
Dr Graham Turnock, chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said: "Black Arrow is testament to Britain's longstanding heritage in the space sector which continues to thrive today.
"The Government's Spaceflight Programme includes a series of education and outreach activities which I hope will play a major role in inspiring the next generation of space scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs."
Skyrora successfully completed its inaugural sub-orbital test launch north of the border last year.
The company's next rockets, Skylark Micro and SkyHy, will allow its team to gain more valuable launch experience, with the latter capable of reaching the edge of space - a feat never accomplished by a private company launching from the UK before.
- Press Association
https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/british-rocket-which-launched-satellite-in-1971-returns-home-898928.html
#1504677 at 2018-05-22 13:03:30 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #1889 Kenya Awaits Edition
UK prepares to be excluded from Galileo
The UK is looking at options to develop its own satellite navigation system should the European Union (EU) make good on its intention to restrict the country's future involvement in the Galileo project following Brexit, the government said on 21 May.
Speaking at the inaugural Ministry of Defence (MoD)-sponsored Air Power Association Defence Space 2018 conference in London, the Minister for Defence Procurement Guto Bebb said that while the UK is keen to remain a part of the project into which it has already invested GBP1.2 billion (USD1.6 billion), contingency planning is underway for a national alternative system should that not be possible.
"When it comes to partnership, I should add that we're keen to remain a part of the Galileo project in which we were instrumental from the start. The threats that Galileo is designed to counter are shared by all of Europe, [and] so it makes no sense for the [European]
Commission to exclude us from this programme - especially when many of its key modules and software were developed and built by UK experts [...] We don't want that to happen.
"We want to work closely with our European partners on security, so we're still in discussion about the programme's future. But we're also making sure we're not limiting our own opportunities.
That includes looking at the possibility of an independent encrypted satellite navigation service, and the MoD is strongly supporting the Task Force led by the UK Space Agency [UKSA], to look at the alternatives."
Speaking at the same event, the head of the UKSA, Graham Turnock, reiterated the minister's support for continued UK participation in the Galileo project, while setting out some of the activities that his agency is now undertaking to mitigate against any national loss of access.