Monitor

Mahindra Naraine, 1948-88 On 7th October 1988, Dr Mahindra Naraine, Consulting Editor of Space Policy, died suddenly following a ses- sion of the WARC in Geneva. In many respects Space Policy's creation followed Mahindra's work in produc- ing a consultant's report at my request to examine the prospects for an inter- disciplinary policy journal on space affairs.

Mahindra had been a close friend since we met in our tutorials on a Master's course at the University of Lancaster in 1974, and we shared much work and play.

As an academic, he was a polymath, and had much to contribute in the future - his undoubted genius has been cut cruelly short. His early stu- dies, culminating in a PhD in nuclear metallurgy would have allowed him to become one of his native Guyana's leading nuclear experts. But his differ- ences with the Burnham regime and disillusion with civil (and military) nuclear matters, led him to take a Master's 'conversion' degree in poli- tical science and international rela- tions, and he was appointed to Lan- caster's politics department after serv-

Space shots ing a postgraduate apprenticeship in this field. •

Despite offers of promotion to other institutions he was really at home in the unique intellectual en- vironment of Lancaster, although he was beginning to spread his wings as an adviser to the ESRC on interna- tional telecommunications standards, and in government service following secondment to the UK DTI for the WARC negotiations. He also served as an adviser to the ITU Secretary- general, Richard Butler, as well as • providing major input to the research programme of the Royal Institute of International Affairs on British and European space policy.

Mahindra's other main facility - to relate to and get on with so many people from so many countries and walks of life - means that many others must hold similar deep feelings of loss. He leaves a wife, Philhemina, and daughter, Kelley, to whom all his friends' and colleagues' sympathies • extend.

Soviet solar experiments

In March 1989 a Soviet satellite with an electromagnetic generator will be put into orbit to provide fresh in- formation on Sun-Earth contracts, particularly the mechanism of solar energy conversion on Earth. Taking part in this project, named Aktivny, are Bulgaria, Brazil, Hungary, East Germany, Cuba, Poland, the USSR and Czechoslovakia. At a recent inter- national conference at the Institute of Space Research in Moscow, their sci- entists discussed the scientific equip- ment characteristics and project goals.

The generator with a 20-m antenna will emit RF-band VLF waves which will touch off local disturbances in the near-Earth plasma. This will help model solar-induced plasma process- es. The spatial structure of the physic- al processes emerging from electro-

David Green

magnetic wave radiation will be stu- died by the sub-satellite. It will sepa- rate from the carrier satellite and follow it on a spiral path at a distance from 100 m to 100 km.

'Aktivny is the first satellite experi- ment with induced plasma disturb- ances,' according to project supervisor and the lnstitute's deputy director Professor Valentin Shevchenko. A sub-satellite with a vernier engine installation will be used for the first time for such experiments. With ground-based support from the USA, Canada, Brazil and other countries the programme of experiments will be sizeably expanded and made more complex.

Source: Novosti Press Agency, 3 Ros- ary Gardens, London SW7 4NW, UK.

The USSR and the USA have reached agreement on a joint programme to measure the con- tent of ozone on a global scale from outer space. A US-madc ozone measuring spectrometer will be launched on board the Soviet satellite Meteor-3 in 1990 or 1991 and will study the thin- ning of the ozone layer, particu- larly in Antarctica.

Under a partial agreement of the Council of Europe on the preven- tion of, protection against and organization of relief in major natural and technological disas- ters, a European Centre on Geodynamics and Seismology has been set up in Luxembourg. Its aim is to use space techniques to study tectonic deformation re- lated to earthquakes.

Ear th O bse r va t i on Sciences (EOS) has been awarded a con- tract to develop and operate an Algorithm Development Facility at the UK Earth Observation Data Centre in Farnborough.

Australia's international telecom- munications carrier, OTC, has won a contract to manage Intelsat satellites over the Indian and Pacific Oceans for up to 10 years. This is one of the world's largest space communications manage- ment contracts and it is expected to earn about Aus$40.5 million.

Intersputnik held its 17th annual council session in Cuba in Octo- ber 1988, attended by representa- tives from the member countries of the Council for Mutual Econo- mic Assistance (CMEA), several Middle Eastern and South-east Asian states, Japan, France and various international communica- tion organizations. A programme of action for 1989 was discussed and adopted and Boris Chirkov was elected the organization's new General Director.

84 SPACE POLICY February 1989