The latest opening of historical publications from the ESA Archives makes available the technical publishing of the two original European space organisations, documenting the scientific outcomes of their work in 25 issues spanning the decade from 1966 to 1975, prior to the creation of the European Space Agency in May 1975.
The material comprises two sets of ‘Reviews’, one created by the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) and a later iteration published jointly with its sister organisation ESRO, the European Space Research Organisation. It complements the previously opened collections of the ESA Scientific and Technical Review and ESA Journal, to form one consolidated collection of the principal technical and scientific publication of the European space organisations, which now runs through as a series from their origins in the mid-1960s until September 1994, with the final issue of the ESA Journal.
Additionally, it supplements the recently opened ‘Blue Book’ for ESRO, showing how this first plan for a European scientific programme in space came to be translated into activities and results.
Reviews were issued quarterly from 1966 to 1975 in annual volumes subdivided into four numbers. However, during this period, there were two changes to its name and a reset in the numbering of the volumes.
In 1966, the publication began life as the ELDO Technical Review, produced by ELDO alone. At the beginning of 1969, it became a joint publication, renamed the ELDO/ESRO Technical Review to reflect ‘the increasing cooperation between the two organisations’, with a numbering system that started, once again, from the first number of Volume 1 (covering January, February and March).
And one year later, in 1970, the Review underwent a more subtle modification, with the insertion of ‘Scientific’ in the title of the first number of Volume 2, remaining the ELDO/ESRO Scientific and Technical Review until publication of Number 1 of Volume 7, in 1975, the last issue before the creation of ESA. (In early summer 1975, it was re-issued as the ESA Scientific and Technical Review and renamed the ESA Journal in 1977, published until September 1994.
Going back to 1966, the first number of the ELDO Technical Review was introduced to its readers by W. H. Stephens, the Technical Director of ELDO. He defined its purpose, explaining that, ‘The journal is intended to be of interest and utility to all those who are directly engaged in research and development work on the programmes of the Organisation and it is hoped that it will also be of general technical interest’.
A short editorial note from the first number of 1970 gives some further background information: ‘The ELDO Technical Review was introduced in 1966 as a means of bringing the activities of the Organisation to the notice of a wide range of technologists throughout Europe, particularly those directly associated with rocket technology.’ It goes on to outline the moves from the end of 1966 towards closer collaboration between the European space organisations that came out of the first meeting of the European Space Conference, among which was ‘the decision to publish a joint ELDO/ESRO Technical Review... With the introduction of ESRO as a partner, the publication includes more papers of the scientific character and in order to reflect this change, the title has been altered to “ELDO/ESRO Scientific and Technical Review”’.
An internal note circulated in March1969 by the secretariats of both ELDO and ESRO on the launch of the joint Review gives details of the proposed content: ‘articles describing aspects of the technical and scientific work of the two Organisations. It is intended that the Technical Review should provide a means for staff members and others associated with the ESRO and ELDO programmes to publish papers, where these are of general interest to the scientific and technical community concerned with space activities... There will be a joint editorial board and the external costs of printing and publication, etc. will be shared between the two Organisations’.
Throughout its lifetime the ELDO/ESRO Review consisted of between three and seven such papers, with an average of five in either English or French and one paper in German from 1967.
The digitised collection opened today came to the ESA Archives as a donation from the ESTEC Library. Some numbers are missing, meaning that it contains four numbers in total of the ELDO Technical Review and only one number of the ELDO/ESRO Technical Review for 1974. The missing numbers of the ELDO Technical Review will be digitised from a different physical collection and integrated into the digital collection in due course.
Documenting a germination period
Appropriately for our 2026 theme, the papers are a rich source for uncovering the origins of various places, missions and programmes, or for understanding activities which laid the groundwork for future realisation. Here are just a few selected highlights, to encourage your own browsing:
- The first ESRO satellites
An entire range of papers from 1969 to 1972 deal with the early ESRO satellites, themselves some of the initial results of the ESRO scientific programme. One of the first focuses on the performance of the solar arrays of the first 3 ESRO satellites, ESRO-I, ESRO-II and HEOS-1, all launched in 1968.
Four later papers are dedicated to ESRO’s HEOS programme (Highly Eccentric Orbit Satellite), which produced the first European spacecraft to venture beyond near-Earth space, to study the magnetic fields, radiation and the solar wind outside the Earth’s magnetosphere. They track the HEOS-A2 satellite from its project development plan (written by René Collette, later ESA Director of Telecommunications Programmes) to realisation with presentations of its on-board experiments, design philosophy and sub-systems, and also analyse observations of the solar wind by HEOS-1. (An additional article profiles the magnetic test facilities that were opened at ESTEC in 1967 and designed primarily for the HEOS project, whose scientific experiments demanded a magnetically clean vehicle, a first for Europe.)
Two further papers offer perspectives on the TD-1A and ESRO-IV satellites, with descriptions of the experiments and an outline of the spacecraft sub-systems.
- A programme for applications satellites
In the fourth number of 1970, ESRO’s Director General Hermann Bondi contributed a summary of the recently approved (by the European Space Conference) European programme of applications satellites – and the priorities it assigned between communications, aeronautics, meteorology and television relay.
- The start of scientific research
Two papers from 1970 and 1971 report results from the very first years of internal scientific research programme at ESRO, covering the period from 1967 to 1971. This grew out of the European Space Research Laboratory (ESLAB) established at ESTEC in 1965 under the directorship of Ernst Trendelenburg, and became the ESA Science Programme under his guidance from 1975 to 1983.
- Technical origins
From the ELDO side, various papers presented research coming out of the Europa I, II and III launcher programmes (that remain of interest to engineers in the launcher sector today), including discussions on topics like the Viking motor, telemetry design, propellants, propulsion and launch investigations.
Texts in the Review confirm that the position of Technical Director (which went on to be renamed Inspector General within ESA) was originally an ELDO, not ESRO, figure, demonstrating an ELDO technical legacy which continues to this day.
More information
To view the series, enter the SHIP database and search for ‘ELDO/ESRO Journal’ (or ‘Journal’ to see the entire collection of ELDO Technical Reviews to ESA Journals).
Read more about the complete collection of the ESA Journals.