| 翻訳と辞書 |
| Zircon (satellite) ： ウィキペディア英語版 |
Zircon (satellite)
Zircon was the codename for a British signals intelligence satellite, intended to be launched in 1988, before being cancelled.
==History==
During the Cold War, Britain's GCHQ often used America's National Security Agency (NSA) for communications interception from space. Concern heightened at the time of the 1982 Falklands War. GCHQ requested access to American signals intelligence satellites to assist in monitoring Argentine communications, but reportedly struggled with the NSA to gain appropriate tasking time, despite the special relationship between the two countries. The United States satellites were engaged in monitoring SIGINT traffic elsewhere in South America related to El Salvador.〔See Mark Urban (1997). (UK Eyes Alpha: The Inside Story of British Intelligence (Chapter 5) ). Faber and Faber.〕 GCHQ therefore decided to produce a UK-designed-and-built signals intelligence satellite, to be called Zircon, a code-name derived from zirconium silicate, a diamond substitute. Its function was to intercept radio and other signals from the USSR, Europe and other areas. The satellite was to be built at Marconi Space and Defence Systems at Portsmouth Airport, at which a new high security building had been built. It was to be launched on a NASA Space Shuttle under the guise of Skynet IV. Launch on the Shuttle would have entitled a British National to fly as a Mission Specialist and a group of military pilots were presented to the press as candidates for 'Britain's first man in space'.
Zircon was cancelled by Chancellor Nigel Lawson on grounds of its cost in 1987. However, Duncan Campbell, an investigative journalist working for ''New Statesman'' magazine, planned to make a BBC television programme about the project, part of a six-part series called ''Secret Society''. Campbell's thesis was that the cost of the satellite had been hidden from the British Parliament, in particular the Public Accounts Committee.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
■ウィキペディアで「Zircon (satellite)」の詳細全文を読む
スポンサード リンク
| 翻訳と辞書 : 翻訳のためのインターネットリソース |
Copyright(C) kotoba.ne.jp 1997-2016. All Rights Reserved.
|
|