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The Project
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The birth of the project : 40th anniversary of the launching of the first French statellite by a Diamant rocket - 60th anniversary of the foundation of the LRBA.
The project : Create a spot in Vernon to promote French at first then European space research, on the location of the former wind tunnel of the Laboratoire de Recherches Balistiques et Aérodynamiques (LRBA/ Balistic & Aerodynamic Research Laboratory), where such research began.
The location : The LRBA and its former wind tunnel.
Historic background : A brief history of the establishment was written by General Engineer Marchal in 1988.
The assets of Vernon : The birthplace of space research, its geographic setting, landscape and weather, a tourist spot, and similar scientific places in the world.
Brief historic account
Since 1826, plans have referred to this area as « forêt de Vernon ». The forest, a military area today, is criss-crossed by various lanes and roads (route des Pénitents, route François 1er, route des Bouches Manon, route de Sainte Lorette, route de la Madeleine). In the 16th centuty, King François I came hunting there several times (hence the name of one of the roads).
Nothing seems to have ever happened there, at least in the open air, because underground there were important stone quarries, exploited especially in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were so large that around 1850 two soldiers got lost there and were found half dead much later (they even had to burn most of their clothes to try and find the way out !). During World War II, the quarries were used as shelters by the local population who lived there for several weeks.
In 1928,
Brandt enterprise settled in the forest and built installations to
load mortar shells. Today's Adminstrative Building dates from this
period.
In 1940, the Germans occupied the place, erected a few buildings to produce special steel alloys but the plant was bombed in 1944 and never actually produced anything.
In 1945, the Government appointed General Engineer Libessart to look for a proper site to create a Balistics and Aerodynamics Research Laboratory. Several towns were considered but finally the LRBA was created here in Vernon and 155 German engineers were hired. At first everything was lacking, some engineers even had to work in their own bedrooms. Soon, buildings were added and more German engineers could come to design and build a supersonic wind tunnel.
For the first two years, two projects were in confrontation : Should they work on a new and improved V2 ? (This was the Super V2 project until 1948). Should they start again from scratch and have the Germans train the French teams ? This is what was finally decided.
Little by little, more buildings were added, a little village developped ; indivdual houses, a primary school as well as a recreation centre were built.
In 1952 most of the German engineers left when their work contracts were over.
The wind tunnel was completed in 1951 and instead of 25 ton thrust V2s, the French designed smaller engines : at first the PARCA missile (Projectile Autopropulsé Radioguidé Contre Avion / Anti-aircraft guided missile), then the Veronique sounding rocket (from 1948 until 1970. By the way, Véronique is short for VERnon életrONIQUE), then Vesta, Viking, Vulcain and now the Vinci engine. All these names begin with the lettrer « V » showing they are from Vernon. There was also the « precious stones » series with Rubis (ruby), Topaze (topaz), Emeraude (emerald), Diamant (diamond). The rocket were launched from Colomb-Béchar - Hammaguir in southern Algeria until 1957.
The LRBA also worked on the European « Europa » project, whose rockets were launched from Woomera in Australia. The second stage was built by the French for which the Coralie rocket was designed, one specimen of which can still be seen in Vernon. While Véronique and Diamant had been sucessful, the Europa rockets were failures due a lack of co-ordination between the countries engaged in the project.
In 1971, it was decided to split the military establishment : the LRBA went on developping military applications such as missile guiding systems and civil applications were taken over by a private firm (S.E.P.). The 1000 staff were appointed to the two new units. It is fair to say there was some social unrest as people were wondering whether the space industry had a future here in Vernon. But President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing then decided to start work on the L3s booster that was to become the Ariane rocket. Because of these changes, buldings and housing were transformed, enlarged, transfered etc...
In 1999, C4 wind tunnel was decommissioned, the hyperbalistic tunnel in 2000 and the whole wind tunnel installations definitively closed in 2002.
Why AVAS ?
November 2005 : a thin layer of snow coated the countryside making driving difficult. In spite of this, over a hundred persons from all over France had answered the LRBA's invitation in Vernon. Indeed the Laboratory was celebrating the 40th anniversary of Asterix, the first French satellite, launched by a Diamant rocket.
France was becoming the third space power. Various commemorations (exhibitions, lectures, concert and receptions) assembled those who took part in the earlier stages of the project, the Minister of Defence, high ranking officers, local authorities and a large audience, all of them wishing there were a Space Museum in Vernon, a town that has been a leader in this aerospace field since 1946.
One year
later, the LRBA celebrated its 60th anniversary : various
commemorations and a temporary exhibition in the Vernon Museum in
December 2006 was a real succes.
Indeed, the 10 hectares of the former LRBA wind tunnel, where aerodynamic tests were performed until 1999, and which are slowly turning to industrial waste land, are immediately available for a museum. The grounds could accommodate a Space Park that would be a major attraction from historic, economic, tourist and cultural points of view.
The Director of Paris - Ile de France Tourist Committee has brought us help and his pre-feasability study demonstrates that the project concerning the former LRBA wind tunnel is both fully justified and economically sound.
This is why AVAS was founded on May 13, 2009 to carry the project to a successful conclusion.
Because of
its history, its original industrial installations, its environment
and its geographic setting, the former LRBA wind tunnel does possess
a real and attractive potential to stage French then European space
conquest from yesterday until tomorrow.
AVAS The association promotes French then European space research on the very location where it was born, viz, the wind tunnel of the LRBA in Vernon.
The conquest of the poles, the early steps of the plane, the conquest of space are landmarks in the history of the 20th century. Even if aeronatics is still progressing – and the A 380 impact in the media proves it – only space conquest still remains a major scientific challenge. Men consider going to the moon again and a journey to Mars is likely to take place before the end of the century. Vernon, the craddle of French and then European space conquest, still plays a large part in this human and scientific story.
The 10 hectares of the grounds of the former wind tunnel, now deserted and neglected are a great opportunity for the region if it becomes a place to promote French at first, then European space conquest :
* With the original buildings where this research was first undertaken, the place is quite suitable to evoke the past and to draw an important flow of visitors.
*The space insdustry, still present in Vernon and in Normandy, can help use the place for seminars, congresses, conferences and various meetings related to the aerospace field. Moreover, the geographic location in the vicinity of Paris is an essential asset.
* Educational scientific workshops or the possiblity for schools to use certain installations for demonstration purposes can highlight the various scientific facets of space.
* The conquest of space, if presented as a play activity, may develop a calling with children.
* Some accommodation and catering facilities as well as a multimedia book and souvenir shop would complete the equipement of such a place of interest.
Turning the ten hectares of the former industrial establishment into a tourist spot is a very enticing idea as far as history, economy, tourism, child activities and culture are concerned :
* History : This is where French then European space conquest began when the LRBA was created in 1946. The buildings that date from this period and that were directly designed after those of the German Peenemünde research centre are architecturally worth.
* Economy : by transforming an abandoned industrial site, which might become costly in the long term, into a site open to the public, which would generate both jobs and money.
* Tourism : a museum of the French and European conquest of space as well as various cultural activities.
* Child activities could be organized in a preserved forested site.
* Culture : scientific and technical workshops for students and young people, with conference rooms, training centre ; multimedia equipment to accommodate seminars and conferences.
The town of Vernon, a witness of the space conquest
Located in Vernon, in Normandy, the Laboratoire de Recherches Balistiques et Aérodynamiques (LRBA / Balistic & Aerodynamic Research Laboratory) has been one of the main actors of the conquest of space since 1946. Until today, the LRBA has brought together every kind of competent people and technical equipment to provide first-class expertise. However French authorities have decided to close the site which has specialised in research into missiles and navigation. Systems (see Usinenouvelle.com).Being a historic and scientific heritage, the wind tunnel of LRBA can be turned into a tourist spot. A study of the main features of Vernon proves that the territory which the LRBA is part of is dynamic and a study of other tourist spots also centered on space makes it possible to ascertain that a real tourist market exists.
Rocketry and the LRBA
When V2 rockets launched from northern France fell near Paris in September 1944, no-one could imagine that this missile would be at the root of a great human and technological adventure that was to mark the second half of the 20th century and would transform the life of man : the conquest of space.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Russian Konstantin Edourdovich Tsiolkovsky, American Robert Hutchings Goddard, German Hermann Oberth, Frenchman Robert Esnault Pelterie demonstrated the feasability and benefits of space travels, but everything was purely theoretical. In 1937 scientists and engineers headed by Wernher von Braun settled at Peenemünde, a small village on the Baltic see to start designing and building rockets. It's only on October 3, 1942, still at Peenemünde, that an A4 rocket -better known as V2 - reached an altitude of 100 km.
Hardly was the war over, when the French, who were convinced of the interest of this new technology, started research, as early as 1944. A « Rocket Study Centre » was created aiming at « carrying on research on V2s and other self-propelled German rockets to improve them and add to their power ». At the same time a first group of 28 engineers from Peenemünde and Kochel were immediately hired to begin designing a wind tunnel, the one that would later be installed in Vernon. Thus the wind tunnel we have today in Vernon has directly been drawn after the Peenemünde one.
From the LRBA to the Ariane rocket
The French government signed the decree officially creating the Laboratoire de Recherches Balistiques et Aérodynamiques (LRBA) on May 17, 1946. It was built in Vernon because there existed unused and available grounds that were large enough and whose acess could easily be restricted as they were located near a town, but away from it so as to make it possible to test rocket engines.
Initial impetus was given when about 75 German engineers and technicians arrived, all connected with the Peenemünde research centre. More Germans arrived soon after and two groups started work : * a propulsion team headed by Dr Jauernick with Heinz Bringer who, a few years later, designed the Viking engine of Ariane 1 to 4 launchers ; *a navigation team headed by Otto Muller with Helmut Habermann who invented the magnetic bearing in the 1960s.
With the anti-aircraft PARCA missile and the Véronique sounding rocket, the military as well as civilian activities were soon becoming very important. When General de Gaulle decided to set up a nuclear deterrent force, the LRBA was intensely involved in the navigation and propulsion sides of the project. Later, to launch the first French satellite, a Diamant rocket was built ; the 2nd and 3rd stages derived from existing ballistic missiles and the first stage was again designed at the LRBA and in Novemnber 1965, France became a space power able to play a part of the conquest of space. The LRBA was then one of the main actors of the space industry in France.
In 1971, it was decided to split the military establishment, the liquid propellant division being transferred to Société Européenne de Propulsion (SEP) with its plant in Vernon.
The SEP, now called SNECMA, itself a branch of SAFRAN, is still designing and building the main engines for all the Ariane launchers. Since the late 1940s, all the engines have names beginning with the letter V – like Vernon : Vexin, Valois ( Diamond rocket), Viking (Ariane 1 – 4 ) Vulcain ( Ariane V) and tomorrow Vinci, a new engine capable of being re-ignited while in flight. The space industry is still very much present in Vernon, where it was born over 60 years ago. In the meantime, the LRBA has remained France's expert establishment in tactic and strategic missiles as well as navigation systems, particularly GPS and the future European Galileo navigation system. In 2000, aerodynamic tests were stopped and the wind tunnels decommissioned. They had been designed and built at the end of WW II after those existing in Peenemünde, and this is where every French missile had been tested as well as Diamond, Europa, Ariane rockets, etc... Even the supersonic plane, Concord used the wind tunnel to test the size of the air intakes of the motors. In 2008, the Ministry of Defence decided to close the LRBA and transfer the activities to other sites. The installations should empty by 2012.
Geographic setting of Vernon and accessibility
Vernon is located in the Eure département, itself in Haute Normandie Region in the Seine valley, half way between Rouen and Paris. It lies near Giverny, the village made famous by painter Claude Monet.
Roads : the town is easily reached by various means of communications, especially the A13 motorway :
* Paris (Porte
d'Auteuil) 1 hour (75 Km).
Public transportattion : Vernon has a city bus service bus (4 lines) and a bus system plies routes to the main neighbouring towns and villages.
River transportation : Seine cruises are organized by eight shipping companies (about 100 passengers aboard each boat) between Paris and Honfleur with a stop in Vernon. Amateur sailors can also find have adquate facilities there.
Railway lines : with over 1,200,000 passengers a year, Vernon station is the third largest one in Normandy. With the Le Havre - Paris line, it takes 45 minutes to go to Paris – St Lazare station, 30 minutes to Rouen – Right Bank station and 1.30 hour to Le Havre.
Airports : Roissy is 96 km awayt from Vernon (1.15 hour away, average time) and Beauvais 73 km way (1.20 hour). Both airports have national and international lines.
Preserved landcape character with a mild weather
The town stretches on both banks of the river Seine. The lower part of the valley is relatively narrow on the right bank. At the top of the hills, the plains are covered with forests (Forêt de Bizy and Forêt de Vernon). The town has developpeed between these two areas, on the gentle slopes of the left bank. On the contrary the hills on right bank are steeper and cut by two deep valleys. This area is far less populated and the landscape has largely remained natural. The weather is oceanic, mild and fairly humid but without any excess, quite pleasant on the whole.
The tourist industry in and around Vernon
The LRBA (Laboratoire de Recherches Balistiques et Aérodynamiques) is part of the history of the town and its interest as a possible tourist spot in not only local but national and even international. However its is also necessary to know about the local extension of tourism so as to determine how the future LRBA tourist spot could be part of it.
Tourism in Vernon
Located on the left bank of the Seine, Vernon, founded in the 9th c., had a strategic position in the Duchy of Normandy and later grew because of its agriculture (corn and vine) and its stone quarries. Today the heart of the old town offers vistors a pleasant walk along picturesque streets. The main tourist attractions are : * Our Lady Collegiate church ; * Archive Tower and the remains of the medieval castle ; * The Garden of Arts ; * AG Poulain Museum ; * Bizy Hall and its park ; * The Old Mill and Tourelles castle ; * The park of St Just castel. Vernon also offers tourists a wide choice of equipement : hotels, restaurants, bed and breakfast & self-catering units.
Note also the proximity of the village of Giverny, with its Museum of Impressionism, as well as Claude Monet's home and garden , with over 400,000 visitors a year, a real touristic asset for the projected space museum.
Space-centered tourist spots in the world
In 2008, 492 air and space museums parks were open to the public, 360 in the USA, 93 in Europe (Germany, 54, France 17) Only 20 spots are specifically connected with the conquest of space :
USA Florida : Cape Carneveral Museum, Hall of Fame, KSC Visitor Center, ASV Center Huntsville : Space & Rocket Center New York : Rocket Park Kansas : Cosmosphere – Washington : NASM.
Russia Moscow:Cosmonauts memorial Museum ;MVTU « Orevo » - Kaluga : Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Museum.
Germany Peenemünde Museum.
France Paris : Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace. Toulouse : Cité de l'espace. Moissy Cramayel : Musée de la SNECMA. |
