Evening star., 1961-01-08
japanese Rockets
"A Booming Business

were dug into the sand about 20
yards from the wave tossed beach.
Some buildings are covered with
tin, others with Stats and tar
paper. Inside. however, are some
elaborate electronic computers
and telemetering equipment man
ufactured by giants Of Japan'S
electronic industry.
A mobile ramp was built on q
fiat-bed trailer to transport the
34-foot Kappa 8 from the labora-
tory to the launching site at the
beach. All the best Japanese
rocket efforts have been made
from this movable launching plat
form.
AS an example. Japan Joined
several other nations in firing re-
search rockets during Interna-
tional Rocket Week last Septem-
ber. In this test, Prof. Itokawa'S
Kappa rocket went 127 miles high
carrying a 75-pound Instrumental
payload. ..
Daytime Observation
The official report listed salts
factory daytime observation Of ion
density in the lower ionoSphere.
Not satisfied with one success dur
ing Rocket Week, the 1tokawa
$nav~a' AaniSad 20 1aVnnh mnAfhar
the following Monday. September
26. (Rocket Week was oficially
over.) This would be a night
launching around 8 pm. Prof.
Itokawa described the payload in
strumentation as including IAN
accelerometer, q decelerometer,
skin temperature gauges, geiger
counters and strain gauges"
To provide sufficient lighting. q
string of electrical sockets were
strung between posts imbedded
near the selected launching area.
The actual launch was at 8:25
with the payload reaching ia
miles altitude.
Ion density and coSmlc rays
were satisfactorily observed. The
results were transmitted to the
contractors who manufactured va
rious parts Of the complete sys-
tenn.
The men at Itokawa Laboratory
are supported in their efforts by
some Of the most prosperous COM
panies In Japan. Flji Precision
makes the rocket engines and
rocket shells. Telemetering equip
ment is by Nippon Electric. radar
by Meisei Electric, ion probe
equipment by the. Radio Research
Institute and Yakogawa Electric
and. finally, the cosnic ray count
erS by Riken Institute.
Companies Helping
Some Of these companies can
be identified among those engaged
in rocket development for the
japanese Self Defense Force. Nip
pom Electric, for example, Is prime
contractor for many guidance
systems including infrared guild
ance development.
Prof. Itokawa is tight Tipped
about future plans. He prefers
to let the record speak for itself.
The potential becomes obvious.
There have been reports Of q
three stage solid rocket under
development. It should be flight
tested before the summer Of 1861
is over. Japanese enthusiasts
openly discuss a satellite attempt.
This is the goal Of many ma
tions. Most nations considering
it are smaller nations, smaller than
the U. s. A. or the q. 8. s. r.
and with smaller budgets to work
with. To be third in space would
actually be first" among smaller
budget nations.
This is not to be confused with
the Anglo-American space effort
planned for next year. This will
be the placing of a British satel-
lite designed by University Col
lege, London, and the University
Of Leicester into orbit by an
American rocket launched from
an American site. A purely British
effort utilizing perhaps the aban-
doned Blue Streak rocket would
give the British the distinction
of being third into space or FIRST"
among smaller nations.
The only other nations with
current capability and resources
are France and, to a lesser de-
gree, Australia. France is develop
ing her own satellite program.
For the moment, she isn't plan
ming to use American rockets In
these experiments from Algeria.
However. after studying foreign
rocket programs during the last
IL months, an observer can re-
port that Prof. Itokawa's rocket
team has its hands on a real dark
horse for the space race trials