Small Beginnings

THE long‐awaited statement on the Government's plans for research in outer space was generally greeted as laying the foundations of a logically thought out, if modest, programme. Work is in hand, the emphasis being on the contribution of our fundamental scientists and the instruments which they can develop. Present plans will do little to help any aircraft firms looking for work, but if the studies being made into the possibilities of combining Black Knight and Blue Streak result in their development as first and second stages of a satellite vehicle, more work will of course be provided. As the programme gathers way, there will presumably be research contracts placed with appropriate firms—it being understood that the present investigations are in the hands of the R.A.E. and the Royal Society.