Closing the conference

The CSAGI Conference wrapped up its work on Saturday morning following the momentous announcement of the preceding evening. The closing session in the U. S.

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National Academy of Sciences’ Great Hall was marked by a mood of great excite­ment. But at the same time, it seemed anticlimactic and bittersweet. Of course, formal congratulations were offered to the Soviet delegates by Plenary Session chairman Lloyd Berkner. Soviet delegate head Anatoly Blagonravov took to the floor with understandable pride to speak at length about their Sputnik. On the blackboard, he sketched their new satellite, with its four antennas ranging from 5 to 10 feet in length. The main body was highly polished to make it more visible to observers on the ground. The total satellite weight of 184 pounds included 70 pounds of batteries that were expected to keep it transmitting for two to three weeks. He pointed out that this was not an instrumented satellite of the type called for by the IGY program, but rather, a test vehicle designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the launching system. He indicated that its temperature measurements would determine, roughly, the effective­ness of the measures taken to control the internal satellite temperature. In addition, any later rise in temperature would signify that the sphere had been penetrated by a meteoric particle, allowing the escape of the nitrogen gas that circulated internally and served as a kind of air-conditioning system. The use of two frequencies at 20 and 40 MHz, he pointed out, was in general accord with the article published four months earlier in Radio magazine.19 The use of the dual frequencies was cited by Blagonravov as an advantage over the single frequency of 108 MHz being used by the United States, in that derivations of electron density in the ionosphere could be deduced from the signals.

It was obvious that many of the first Soviet satellite’s features were designed to maximize its political impact. Putting it up without scientific instruments was a shortcut to enable its launch ahead of the Vanguard satellites. The use of the highly polished surface ensured that it would be easily visible to the world’s population. The transmitter signals of 20 and 40 MHz, at a 1 watt power level, were easily received by the international community of radio amateurs and helped to make its reality more obvious throughout the world.

In Blagonravov’s remarks that morning, he conveyed an attitude that rankled U. S. attendees. He needled us for talking so much about our satellites before having one in orbit. That sentiment had actually been expressed quite explicitly a day earlier, when one of the Soviet delegates had told an American counterpart, “We will not cackle until we have laid our egg.” Although there was some justification for the Soviets’ more secretive approach (as we were later to discover to our chagrin in connection with a series of failed Vanguard launch attempts), Blagonravov seems to have entirely missed the point. The rest of the planners felt that much of the advance discussion was useful in (1) providing information that would help others who wished to cooperate in the tracking or other operational aspects of the program and (2) enhancing the scientific payoff. As Newell pointed out later, “in view of the fruitlessness of CSAGI’s efforts to elicit any such accommodation from the Soviets, either at Barcelona in 1956 or

172 OPENING SPACE RESEARCH

at the meetings in Washington, the remarks of their Russian colleague were doubly frustrating.”20

In spite of those negative aspects, admiration for the Soviet achievement was genuine and universal, and all at the session were able to applaud when Blagonravov ended his comments with his expression of hope that

this first step… would serve as an inspiration to scientists throughout the world to accelerate their efforts to explore and solve the mysteries and phenomena of nature remaining to be explored.21

Following Blagonravov’s remarks, John P. Hagen of the Naval Research Labora­tory reported that the U. S. Minitrack observing network had detected the transit of the satellite on its third or fourth orbit and that a regular tracking program was being established.22 Some stations of the Minitrack system, designed to operate at 108 MHz, were being hastily modified to operate at the Soviet frequency of 40 MHz as well.

He played a recorded tape of the telemetered signal, at which point Blagonravov’s normal reserve vanished, and he declared with obvious excitement, “That is its voice!”

Wrapping up the conference, working group members hurried to put their resolutions in order for the official reports. The resolutions were adopted in the Plenary Session, and the eventful conference was gradually brought to a conclusion.

In the final closing, the U. S. National Academy of Science president Detlev Bronk congratulated the conference on its achievements, and added his congratulations to the USSR IGY National Committee with respect to the launching of the first satellite. He stated:

All scientists are fellow explorers on the frontiers of knowledge, who rejoice and ben­efit in the discoveries and achievements of their colleagues. And so we of the United States rejoice in yesterday’s great achievement of our Russian colleagues and applaud their success.23

CSAGI president Sydney Chapman made the final statement for this first CSAGI Conference on Rockets and Satellites. He hinted at what others were saying privately:

The launching of the Sputnik without advance warning had taken tracking systems in the West unaware, and hence had reduced the amount of scientific observations that could be made. In congratulating the Russians on their “magnificent achievement,” Chap­man noted in his gentle, British way, that news of the launching had been “indirectly received.”24

Despite all of our attempts to put on a good face following the Soviet triumph, we Americans felt a palpable sense of betrayal.

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