50 years of space science at Leicester

SL_1306

Kindly contributed by Barry Giles

Skylark_SL-1304

Kindly contributed by Barry Giles

Here is a place-holder for text on Ariel-VI.

Jonathan McDowell (CfA) has kindly provided a list of Leicester rocket flights. You can find this at the following link:

Leicester Sounding Rockets

(if you are interested,  Jonathan’s Space Report pages are a mine of information about the history of space exploration as well as up-to-date space news)

If anybody spots any inaccuracies please let Jonathan know directly (contact details on his webpage).

mostly courtesy Jo Pounds

Leicester Mercury cuttings on related space matters

1965 One of the largest meteorites seen to fall in Britain lands at Barwell on
(Dec) Christmas Eve. Subsequent examination suggested it originated in the
‘asteroid belt’ between Jupiter and Mars, and is part of the debris of a ‘failed
planet’.

1968 Apollo 8 successfully orbits the Moon setting the stage for the first Moon
(Dec) landing. A by-product is the historic picture of the ‘blue-green’ Earth
seen above the lunar horizon.

1969 Apollo 11 achieves the first Moon landing. Live broadcast of the landing
(21 July) was watched by 600 million people around the world.

1969 Kettering Grammar School team continue their remarkable success in
tracking Soviet satellites with the spaceship Cosmos 297.

1970 Moon dust returned by Apollo 12 is sent to Loughborough University for
analysis. They find tiny glass beads which are interpreted as evidence of heating
by meteoric impact.

1970 The world watches as Apollo 13 is brought safely to Earth after an
(April) explosion damaged power and oxygen supplies in their spacecraft en route
to the Moon.

1971 An exhibition of space hardware developed at the University tours village
libraries in North Leicestershire (a small preview of the NSC, to come 30
years later!).

1972 A Leicester firm of consulting engineers win a contract with the European
Space Research Organisation to provide more precise control of space
rockets.

1973 The first manned space science mission carries out detailed observations
of the Sun from the Apollo Telescope Mount, attached to Skylab.
Leicester University scientists assist in the mission.

1973 The US NOAA-satellite provides the first global observations of the
Earth at night-time using infrared cameras.

1973 Pioneer 10 flies close to Jupiter after a 2-year voyage deeper into space
(Nov) than any other man-made object.
(In 2001 Pioneer 10 became the first man-made object to pass beyond the
heliosphere and into interstellar space).

1974 The European Space Agency (ESA) is formed to give Europe a
capability for competing with the USA in space research. UK Minister
for Technology, Michael Heseltine, is a prime mover.

1976 NASA’s Viking spacecraft lands on Mars to carry out the first search for
(July) evidence of life.
(In 2003 the British Beagle 2 mission will continue that search, using more
sophisticated equipment).

1981 The US Space Shuttle, Columbia, has its maiden 36-orbit flight. Margaret
(April) Thatcher sends her congratulations to President Reagan.

1983 University astronomers discover 2 comets and an asteroid using infra-red
detectors on board the Dutch/UK/US IRAS satellite.

1983 Pioneer 10 passes by Neptune, now 11 years into a journey through the
solar system.

1984 Leicester Mercury invites readers to suggest tokens from Leicestershire to be
taken into space by astronaut Jeff Hoffman in his forthcoming flight on the
US Space Shuttle.

1985 Dr Jeff Hoffman, former researcher at the University, makes his first flight
(12 April) on board the US Space Shuttle Discovery, taking several mementos from
Leicester into orbit. These include a pennant from the Lord Mayor’s Rolls
Royce, a beer mat from the Wheel Inn in Oadby and two union jack flags.

1985 Jeff Hoffman and fellow astronaut David Griggs undertake an unplanned
(17 April) 3-hour spacewalk in an attempt to rescue an 85 million dollar communications
satellite.

1985 Halley’s comet makes its scheduled re-appearance in the night sky over
Leicester, the first time since 1910 (when thousands watched from Victoria
Park – reported in the Leicester Daily Mercury of 23 May 1910).

1986 US Space Shuttle Challenger is destroyed in an explosion shortly after
(28 Jan) launch from Kennedy Space Centre. All 7 on board are killed, including the
first civilian to fly on the Shuttle, history teacher Christa McAuliffe.

1986 UK Government sets up British National Space Centre to lead an increased
effort in space research. KP on Management Board.

1988 Secretary of State for Education Kenneth Baker visits the University to formally
(Oct) launch plans for the Leicester Centre for Space Science.

1990 Hubble Telescope put into orbit by the Space Shuttle Discovery and hailed as
(April) the most important advance in optical astronomy since Galileo.

1990 38 undergraduates enrol at the University on Britain’s first degree course
(Oct) specialising in Space Science and Technology. The course was over-
subscribed sevenfold and is co-sponsored by leading companies including
British Aerospace, Marconi and Logica.

1991 Helen Sharman, a chemistry graduate from Sheffield, becomes the first
(18 May) Britain in space, when she is launched in a Soyuz capsule from the Baikonur
cosmodrome en route to Russia’s MIR space station.
(Dr Sharman reported on her experiences at a space conference in Leicester
on 17 November 1991. In 1998 she became a Trustee of the NSC, resigning
recently to start a family and new career).

1992 Images of the Big Bang radiation are published by NASA, based on data
from the COBE satellite. These ‘echoes’ of structures in the Early Universe,
from which the present-day stars and galaxies are formed, are hailed as a
major breakthrough in cosmology. Stephen Hawking speaks of ‘seeing the face
of God’.

1993 Jeff Hoffman takes part in the most important spacewalk yet
(Dec) in an attempt to correct the out-of-focus Hubble Telescope. Watching the Space
Shuttle Endeavour launch from Cape Canaveral was Tim Davies, a scout from
The 1st Leicestershire Claybrook and Ullesthorpe Group, whose necktie was
taken into orbit by Dr Hoffman.

1994 First images from the repaired Hubble Telescope delight astronomers, showing
(Jan) the corrections made by Jeff Hoffman and fellow astronaut Stacey Musgrave
to have been a great success.

1994 The University Space Research Centre (first announced in 1988 by Education
Minister Kenneth Baker) finally gets the go-ahead.

KAP appointed as CEO of new Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council.

Queen’s Anniversary Prize to Physics and Astronomy Department for ‘world class teaching, research and consultancy programme in astronomy, space and planetary science’.

1994 Astronaut Jeff Hoffman re-visits Leicester, to present a local scout group with
(Feb) a necktie flown on his recent Space Shuttle mission, and to give an illustrated
lecture at the University on his spacewalk to repair the Hubble Telescope.

1994 Leicester is in the running for the first Challenger Learning Centre outside of the
USA. The Challenger Centres were founded by the families of the astronauts
who died in the Space Shuttle accident in 1996.

1995 The University makes an outline bid to the Millennium Commission for funds
(April) to build a Visitor Centre to illustrate the benefits and excitement of space
research.

1995 Leicester City Council agree to join with the University and City Challenge in
(Nov) bidding for lottery funding to build a National Space Science Centre on a site
near Leicester City football ground.

Not from Leicester Mercury

1996 Work starts on the University Space Research Centre, now identified as a £2.5 million component of the National Space Science Centre project.

1997 The Millennium Commission support the Leicester bid as the East Midlands
landmark Project and agree in principle to provide £23.25 million towards the
cost of the National Space Science Centre.

1998 The University Space Research Centre is opened by the Minister for Science,
(April) John Battle.

1998 London architects Nicholas Grimshaw are chosen to design the National Space Science Centre, and the Abbey Meadows site is donated by Severn Trent
Water and the City Council.

1999 The Challenger Learning Centre, now to be part of the National Space Science
(Oct) Centre, opens early on the Wyggeston-Queen Elizabeth College site.

2000 The first data from XMM-Newton delight scientists at the University Science
(Jan) Centre, which will be responsible for all initial data reduction before relay to
astronomers around the world.

2000 Funding is secured for the £30 million Beagle 2 mission to Mars.
(Aug) Beagle 2 will be attached to ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft when launched in
June 2003, reaching the red planet in December. Beagle 2, carrying instruments
under construction in the University Space Research Centre, will then be separated
from the main spacecraft, to land on the Martian surface and carry out a search for
evidence of extinct or extant life.

2001 The Challenger Learning Centre is closed to prepare for its move to Abbey
(Feb) Meadows, having been visited by over 10 thousand schoolchildren.

Physics at Leicester pre-1960 

1924/5 Physics and Chemistry Departments created with capital outlay of £30k.
A.C.Menzies appointed Lecturer. 

1925/6 10 `day students’, including 2 Physics Hons

1927/8 First Leicester higher degree awarded to C P Snow BSc, MSc (Physics)

1928/9 Public lecture by A S Eddington on ‘The Mystery of Time’

1930/1 DSIR grant of £200 over 2 years to allow Dr Menzies to recruit first RA, C O Pringle from Belfast. Royal Society grant of £45 to buy optical density meter. Used by Mensies and Pringle for Nature paper ‘Raman Spectra of solid Nitrogen Peroxide’

1932 Menzies to chair at Southampton, replaced by Dr L G H Huxley (from U C Nottingham)

1933 British Association meeting at Leicester

1934/5 U/G 24 (FT), 1 (PT)

1936/7 DSIR set up observation centre for atmospheric pollution (housed in Chemistry)
5 publications from Huxley, mainly on gas discharge experiments.

1937/8 Dr Rosenthal (Hamburg) appointed to honorary post in medical physics

1938/9 Free U/G places for refugees

1939/40 Huxley to Air Ministry, replaced by Dr Stewardson (in UK from post in China due to war)

1941/2 Winter Radio School for armed forces technical officers. Sub-department in Radio set up, with science and arts U/Gs from across UK.

1942/3 Physics one of few Leicester Departments to grow, with state bursaries for many of 47 U/G students

1944/5 First UGC grant to Leicester, for £12k. A E Jennings appointed Asst. Lecturer in Physics

1945/6 Jennings left, C Hayward and D M McColl appointed as Asst. Lecturers.
0.75 ton of radio and electrical equipment awarded by Wireless Personnel Committee

1946/7 Stewardson appointed to first Chair in Physics

1947/8 Appointments of A Hunter (L) and C G Wilson and J E Wilson (AL)

1949/50 E Matsuoka and Miss C Sinclair appointed as Asst. Lecturers. C G Wilson resigned. Research in nuclear physics and X-ray studies of rare earth metals.

1 MeV Van der Graaf accelerator and SXR Vacuum Spectrometer built.

1951 Royal Charter granted to Leicester. Physics U/G numbers restricted by lab Space in Fielding Johnson, 32 Hons, 114 GS

1953 W Spear appointed as Lecturer

1954 P Russell appointed as Lecturer

1957 University status granted. K Banyard to Asst.Lecturer

1957/8 Plans for new Physics Building approved

1960 K Pounds appointed Asst. Lecturer (Jan). J Underwood Res. Demonstrator.
B Cooke research student.
DSIR grant for £13006 (July) for research on X-rays from Space.
Also funding from Royal Society received for solar physics research (Ariel 1).
T B Jones appointed Asst. Lecturer (October).

1961/2 Move from F-J to new Physics Building.

1961 Skylark rocket launch from Woomera guided weapons test range in S. Australia
(July) puts first Leicester-built instrument into space. Start of a research programme to
explore the link between X- ray emission from the Sun and radio propagation in
the upper atmosphere.

1962 Launch of first British satellite, Ariel 1, from Cape Canaveral (now
(26April) Kennedy Space Center) on NASA Delta rocket. Payload included
solar X-ray detectors developed in collaboration with 20th Century Electronics.

1962 Discovery by US team of first cosmic X-ray source, Scorpius X-1, heralding
the start of a new branch of astronomy in which Leicester was to become a
leading international research group

1962 Solar X-ray detectors on Ariel 1 killed as a result of radiation damage
(June) caused by USAF nuclear test in the atmosphere over the S. Pacific
(such tests were subsequently banned, though not just for that!).

1964 European Space Research Organisation (forerunner of ESA) formed, with
ambitious programme of space science. UK initially the major contributor.

1967 Skylark rocket launch by Leicester scientists from Woomera carries out the
first search of the Southern skies for new cosmic X-ray sources.

1967 ESRO-2, Europe’s first space science satellite, fails to reach orbit as US Scout
rocket malfunctions in launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California

1967 NASA successfully launch OSO-4, an advanced mission to study the Sun, with
equipment from Leicester. The launch begins an unbroken period
during which at least one instruments developed at the University is
operating in orbit.

1968 Re-launch of ESRO-2, with Leicester solar X-ray equipment on board,
reaches Earth orbit to begin a successful 2-year study of solar activity and its effects on the Earth.

1969 NASA launch OSO-5, a further science mission to study the Sun. On board
is an X-ray telescope from Leicester which, for the next 6 years, provides
the scientific community with daily images of solar activity. This research
was a fore-runner of ’solar weather forecasting’, now a major international
research effort.

1971 The most precise location of a cosmic X-ray source (still a record to-day) is obtained by a Leicester University team who observed the distant star from a Skylark rocket above Woomera, just at the moment the source was eclipsed by the Moon. The operation required the launch to be timed to a few seconds. 

1972 University equipment goes into orbit on board NASA’s Copernicus (Aug) satellite, the first orbiting spacecraft designed to study cosmic X-ray sources.

1973 Geography Dept. reading room ceiling collapses (12 June), followed by school hall in Camden a day later. Pre-streesed concrete problem requires re-structuring of Physics Building over following year.
Professor Stewardson dies (August).

1974 Leicester University’s most ambitious space project is launched from (15 Oct) a former oil platform off the coast of Kenya. The launch site allows the Ariel 5 satellite to operate from an orbit over the equator, an ideal location for viewing the whole sky.

1975 An international conference at Stamford Hall in Oadby features major (Aug) discoveries from the Ariel 5 satellite. Daily observations received at the University add to the excitement. In a remarkable coincidence, Ariel 5 discovers a new X-ray source which grows brighter as the conference proceeds, reaching a level never before seen.

(That X-ray source, known as ‘A0620 minus zero’, was for a few weeks the brightest X-ray source ever seen. It was subsequently identified with a burst of star material being swallowed by a black hole)

1978 The 62nd Skylark rocket carrying Leicester-built equipment is launched from Woomera bringing to an end a pioneering phase in the British space research programme.

1979 Ariel 6 is launched from Wallops Island in Virginia, becoming the last British space science satellite of the century. On board is equipment from several UK university teams, including Leicester.

Article in LM refers to damage to university research and teaching by funding cuts of new Conservative government. Recent XRA Group feature on Horizon programme referenced