§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment his Department has made of the peaceful uses of supergun launcher systems in delivering satellites into earth orbit.
§ Mr. LeighMy Department is aware of work being performed in the United States of America, which is aimed 489W at demonstrating that small payloads can be put into Earth orbit using a supergun launcher and of European patent applications of a similar nature. However, my Department has not made a detailed study of the viability of these proposals. Any assessment in this field would be carried out in conjunction with our partners within the European Space Agency.