Association in Scotland to Research into Astronautics
Encyclopedia
The Association in Scotland To Research into Astronautics (ASTRA), is a spaceflight
and astronomical society. The society adopted its constitution on November 20, 1963, and was originally known as the Association in Scotland for Technology and Research in Astronautics.
ASTRA registered as a charitable company limited by guarantee (registration number SC005527) in 1976, during which process Companies House forced the name-change.
ASTRA holds meetings, events, guest lectures and more, in Glasgow
, Scotland
. The society caters to both complete beginners and interested amateurs as also to those with an enhanced academic leaning. The membership spans across age groups(from schoolchildren to retirees), gender and expertise.
ASTRA's aim as stated in Article 3 of the Memorandum of Association
, is "to promote the advancement of knowledge and the spread of education and particularly the dissemination of knowledge on space activities and all branches of science pertaining to such activities, and to stimulate public interest therein".
In 2006 the UK National Lottery sponsored a grant for an outreach project, free to schools, or any public body, for 3 months on the subject of Astronomy
, concentrating on "Earth & Space" with particular reference to the curriculum in Scotland
. This was accessed by a large number of primary schools in North Lanarkshire
.
The National Lottery repeated this grant in 2007.
reentry vehicle, based on the Blue Streak missile
, was devised by Professor Terence Nonweiler of Queen's College, Belfast, and was intended to be the manned spacecraft in the British space programme
. The programme was cancelled by the Macmillan
government, but work on Waverider continued at the Royal Aircraft Establishment
, Farnborough - mainly with a view to establishing Waverider's potential as a Mach 6 airliner. During this period (1960–65) at least one Waverider was tested at the Woomera Test Range
. There were rumours that free-flight tests were also conducted at this time. Tests of X and Y-winged projectiles - in effect, three or four Waveriders mounted back-to-back - that seem to be related to the Waverider were performed at NASA
's Ames Research Center.
Professor Nonweiler became a member of the precursor to ASTRA just after he became Professor of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics at Glasgow University, and retained his membership after ASTRA's independence. He moved to New Zealand in July 1975 to become Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Wellington. At the ASTRA AGM in 1974, Professor Nonweiler was nominated for Honorary Membership by Ian Downie, which he accepted from New Zealand.
When Duncan Lunan
spoke about "Man and the Planets" at the View from Earth symposium in California in 1984, it attracted the attention of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
, located in Pasadena, California
. Dr. Jim Randolph attended the first ever rocket launch (to free flight) of a Waverider at Brisbane Glen outside Largs, in September 1985, shortly after ASTRA member Gordon Ross solved the problem of subsonic flight stability.
In May 1988 Professor Nonweiler came to Glasgow for a two-day conference with Jim Randolph, because by that time Waverider was a serious contender to be the carrier vehicle for the NASA/JPL Starprobe mission to send an instrumented vehicle to within four solar radii (2.782 million kilometers) of the surface of the Sun
. In theory, the mission could be accomplished by a Jupiter slingshot, but the radiation hazards and the very long flight time made that unpromising. Aerogravity manoeuvres in the atmospheres of the inner planets could put the probe into a trajectory giving solar encounters every two to three months, but would require a carrier with a very high lift-to-drag ratio at high Mach numbers - for which Waverider seemed the best candidate, as Jim Randolph confirmed on his third visit to Scotland in April 1990.
In 1989 Gordon Ross completed a radio-controlled flying model (another first for ASTRA), test-flown by Richard Newlands until it was crippled in a hard landing. It was rebuilt as an exhibition model, and it and the other surviving models from the 1980s are now in the care of Glasgow's Museum of Transport
.
(BIS) (and a former student of Hermann Oberth
, who was ASTRA's first honorary member), started a Scottish branch of the BIS with great success. This success was met with resistance from BIS London.
In 1963 the society formally became ASTRA, due to continued differences between members and the BIS in London, although, currently, there is little animosity.
In the 1970s, ASTRA held discussions concerning how best to use the resources within the Solar System
, for example, by mining asteroids. Out of these discussions, three books were written by Duncan Lunan
, part of their sales proceeds going to ASTRA. In order to receive the sales proceeds, ASTRA became a registered charity, which, in the past, required ASTRA to become a company. Although these books are now out of print, they were translated into many languages and sold many copies.
In 1976 ASTRA registered as a charitable company limited by guarantee.
In 1977 the Waverider
shape was incorporated into a new ASTRA logo.
In 1978, ASTRA saved Airdrie Public Observatory
, atop Airdrie Public Library, from being demolished – the previous curators had not taken great care of the observatory and it had suffered damage in a storm. ASTRA offered to repair the telescope and drive if the then Monklands District Council would repair the dome. This they duly did and ASTRA had been running the observatory, on behalf of North Lanarkshire Council, until 2008.
In 2003 the 25th anniversary of ASTRA managing the Airdrie Public Observatory
was celebrated, along with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Society.
In 2008 ASTRA stopped managing the Airdrie Public Observatory
In 2008/9 Airdrie Astronomical Association (AAA) was formed after the ASTRA Airdrie branch agreed to dissolve its membership of ASTRA and the new local group began running the Observatory at the invitation of the North Lanarkshire council.
Spaceflight
Spaceflight is the act of travelling into or through outer space. Spaceflight can occur with spacecraft which may, or may not, have humans on board. Examples of human spaceflight include the Russian Soyuz program, the U.S. Space shuttle program, as well as the ongoing International Space Station...
and astronomical society. The society adopted its constitution on November 20, 1963, and was originally known as the Association in Scotland for Technology and Research in Astronautics.
ASTRA registered as a charitable company limited by guarantee (registration number SC005527) in 1976, during which process Companies House forced the name-change.
ASTRA holds meetings, events, guest lectures and more, in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The society caters to both complete beginners and interested amateurs as also to those with an enhanced academic leaning. The membership spans across age groups(from schoolchildren to retirees), gender and expertise.
ASTRA's aim as stated in Article 3 of the Memorandum of Association
Memorandum of Association
The memorandum of association of a company, often simply called the memorandum , is the document that governs the relationship between the company and the outside...
, is "to promote the advancement of knowledge and the spread of education and particularly the dissemination of knowledge on space activities and all branches of science pertaining to such activities, and to stimulate public interest therein".
In 2006 the UK National Lottery sponsored a grant for an outreach project, free to schools, or any public body, for 3 months on the subject of Astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, concentrating on "Earth & Space" with particular reference to the curriculum in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. This was accessed by a large number of primary schools in North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. It borders onto the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains much of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also borders Stirling, Falkirk, East Dunbartonshire, West Lothian and South Lanarkshire...
.
The National Lottery repeated this grant in 2007.
Waverider
The WaveriderWaverider
A waverider is a hypersonic aircraft design that improves its supersonic lift-to-drag ratio by using the shock waves being generated by its own flight as a lifting surface. To date the only aircraft to use the technique is the Mach 3 supersonic XB-70 Valkyrie, which was waverider-like with its...
reentry vehicle, based on the Blue Streak missile
Blue Streak missile
The Blue Streak missile was a British medium range ballistic missile . The Operational Requirement for the missile was issued in 1955 and the design was complete by 1957...
, was devised by Professor Terence Nonweiler of Queen's College, Belfast, and was intended to be the manned spacecraft in the British space programme
British space programme
The British space programme is a plan by the UK government and other interested bodies to promote British participation in the international market for satellite launches, satellite construction and other space endeavours. Significantly, however, it has never been government policy to create a...
. The programme was cancelled by the Macmillan
Harold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
government, but work on Waverider continued at the Royal Aircraft Establishment
Royal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment , was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence , before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions.The first site was at Farnborough...
, Farnborough - mainly with a view to establishing Waverider's potential as a Mach 6 airliner. During this period (1960–65) at least one Waverider was tested at the Woomera Test Range
Woomera Test Range
The RAAF Woomera Test Range is a weapons testing range operated by the Royal Australian Air Force Aerospace Operational Support Group...
. There were rumours that free-flight tests were also conducted at this time. Tests of X and Y-winged projectiles - in effect, three or four Waveriders mounted back-to-back - that seem to be related to the Waverider were performed at NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Ames Research Center.
Professor Nonweiler became a member of the precursor to ASTRA just after he became Professor of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics at Glasgow University, and retained his membership after ASTRA's independence. He moved to New Zealand in July 1975 to become Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Wellington. At the ASTRA AGM in 1974, Professor Nonweiler was nominated for Honorary Membership by Ian Downie, which he accepted from New Zealand.
When Duncan Lunan
Duncan Lunan
Duncan Alasdair Lunan, who hails from Troon, born on the 24 October 1945 is a Scottish author, with emphasis on astronomy, spaceflight and science fiction, as well as astronomer, science reporter, and teacher...
spoke about "Man and the Planets" at the View from Earth symposium in California in 1984, it attracted the attention of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The facility is headquartered in the city of Pasadena on the border of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena...
, located in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
. Dr. Jim Randolph attended the first ever rocket launch (to free flight) of a Waverider at Brisbane Glen outside Largs, in September 1985, shortly after ASTRA member Gordon Ross solved the problem of subsonic flight stability.
In May 1988 Professor Nonweiler came to Glasgow for a two-day conference with Jim Randolph, because by that time Waverider was a serious contender to be the carrier vehicle for the NASA/JPL Starprobe mission to send an instrumented vehicle to within four solar radii (2.782 million kilometers) of the surface of the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
. In theory, the mission could be accomplished by a Jupiter slingshot, but the radiation hazards and the very long flight time made that unpromising. Aerogravity manoeuvres in the atmospheres of the inner planets could put the probe into a trajectory giving solar encounters every two to three months, but would require a carrier with a very high lift-to-drag ratio at high Mach numbers - for which Waverider seemed the best candidate, as Jim Randolph confirmed on his third visit to Scotland in April 1990.
In 1989 Gordon Ross completed a radio-controlled flying model (another first for ASTRA), test-flown by Richard Newlands until it was crippled in a hard landing. It was rebuilt as an exhibition model, and it and the other surviving models from the 1980s are now in the care of Glasgow's Museum of Transport
Glasgow Museum of Transport
The Glasgow Museum of Transport in Glasgow, Scotland was established in 1964 and initially located at a former tram depot in Pollokshields. From 1987 the museum was relocated to the city's Kelvin Hall...
.
History
ASTRA traces its roots back to 1953 when Oscar Schwiglhofer, a member of the British Interplanetary SocietyBritish Interplanetary Society
The British Interplanetary Society founded in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest space advocacy organisation in the world whose aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration.-Structure:...
(BIS) (and a former student of Hermann Oberth
Hermann Oberth
Hermann Julius Oberth was an Austro-Hungarian-born German physicist and engineer. He is considered one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics.- Early life :...
, who was ASTRA's first honorary member), started a Scottish branch of the BIS with great success. This success was met with resistance from BIS London.
In 1963 the society formally became ASTRA, due to continued differences between members and the BIS in London, although, currently, there is little animosity.
In the 1970s, ASTRA held discussions concerning how best to use the resources within the Solar System
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
, for example, by mining asteroids. Out of these discussions, three books were written by Duncan Lunan
Duncan Lunan
Duncan Alasdair Lunan, who hails from Troon, born on the 24 October 1945 is a Scottish author, with emphasis on astronomy, spaceflight and science fiction, as well as astronomer, science reporter, and teacher...
, part of their sales proceeds going to ASTRA. In order to receive the sales proceeds, ASTRA became a registered charity, which, in the past, required ASTRA to become a company. Although these books are now out of print, they were translated into many languages and sold many copies.
In 1976 ASTRA registered as a charitable company limited by guarantee.
In 1977 the Waverider
Waverider
A waverider is a hypersonic aircraft design that improves its supersonic lift-to-drag ratio by using the shock waves being generated by its own flight as a lifting surface. To date the only aircraft to use the technique is the Mach 3 supersonic XB-70 Valkyrie, which was waverider-like with its...
shape was incorporated into a new ASTRA logo.
In 1978, ASTRA saved Airdrie Public Observatory
Airdrie Public Observatory
Airdrie Public Observatory is in the town of Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The observatory is open to the public by request, and is housed in Airdrie Public Library...
, atop Airdrie Public Library, from being demolished – the previous curators had not taken great care of the observatory and it had suffered damage in a storm. ASTRA offered to repair the telescope and drive if the then Monklands District Council would repair the dome. This they duly did and ASTRA had been running the observatory, on behalf of North Lanarkshire Council, until 2008.
In 2003 the 25th anniversary of ASTRA managing the Airdrie Public Observatory
Airdrie Public Observatory
Airdrie Public Observatory is in the town of Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The observatory is open to the public by request, and is housed in Airdrie Public Library...
was celebrated, along with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Society.
In 2008 ASTRA stopped managing the Airdrie Public Observatory
Airdrie Public Observatory
Airdrie Public Observatory is in the town of Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The observatory is open to the public by request, and is housed in Airdrie Public Library...
In 2008/9 Airdrie Astronomical Association (AAA) was formed after the ASTRA Airdrie branch agreed to dissolve its membership of ASTRA and the new local group began running the Observatory at the invitation of the North Lanarkshire council.