This collection comprises the entire body of technical and scientific reviews or journals produced by the European space organisations, from the origins of ESA’s predecessors ELDO and ESRO in the mid-1960s until September 1994, with the final issue of the ESA Journal.
It contains the digitised copies of the entire physical collection of the ESA Archives at the European Centre for Space Records.
It is made up of four series, reflecting the different iterations of this publication throughout its thirty-year history (1966-1994):
- ELDO Technical Review
- ELDO/ESRO Technical Review, later ELDO/ESRO Scientific and Technical Review
- ESA Scientific and Technical Review TR
- ESA Journal
ELDO Technical Review
This series is made of up selected issues of the ELDO Technical Review, a publication that was produced quarterly, by ELDO, from 1966 until the end of 1968. (Volume 1 in 1966, Volume 2 in 1967 and Volume 3 in 1968). It was intended as a way highlighting ELDO’s activities to technologists throughout Europe, particularly those associated with rocket technology.
Printed in France, it could be bought singularly (for 15 Francs) or obtained with an annual subscription for 50 Francs. It contains 4 references in total, 1 number each for Volumes 1 and 2 and 2 numbers of Volume 3.
Each number contains between 80 to 98 pages with 3 to 5 articles in English or French. Of the total of 17, an equal number are in English and French, with one additional paper in German.
The digitised collection came to the ESA Archives as a donation from the ESTEC Library. The remaining 8 numbers of the ELDO Technical Review will be digitised from a different physical collection and integrated into the digital collection in due course.
ELDO/ESRO (Scientific and) Technical Review
This series contains the run of historical Scientific and Technical Reviews produced by ESA’s predecessors ELDO and ESRO. This publication was issued quarterly, and jointly by ELDO and ESRO, from 1969 until 1975. The final issue was Number 1 of Volume 7 in 1975, just before the creation of ESA in May 1975.
The Review was intended as the publication route for articles describing aspects of the technical and scientific work of the two Organisations and as a means for staff members and others associated with the ESRO and ELDO programmes to publish papers of general interest to the scientific and technical community concerned with space activities.
Printed in France and later Belgium, it could be bought singularly (up to 1970) or obtained with an annual subscription.
The series came to the ESA Archives as a donation from the ESTEC Library and amounts to 21 references in total, from Volumes 1-7 of the ELDO/ESRO Technical Review produced in 1969 and the ELDO/ESRO Scientific and Technical Review published from 1970 to 1975. (The Archives is missing the latter three numbers of the ELDO/ESRO Scientific and Technical Review from 1974. Please also note that numbers 3 and 4 were combined in 1973 and that only three numbers were issued that year as a result.)
Each number contain between 3 and 7 articles each, a total of 108 altogether and an average of 5 articles per publication, in either English or French. The majority (90) are in English with the remaining 18 in French. The length of each number varies between 90 and 207 pages, with the page numbering organised according to volume, running on between numbers.
ESA STR
This series contains the complete run of historical ESA Scientific and Technical Reviews. This publication was the successor to the ESRO/ELDO Scientific and Technical Review, and was issued quarterly by the ESA Scientific and Technical Information Branch, based at ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands between 1975, when ESA was created, and the end of 1976, when it became the ESA Journal. It was intended as ESA’s principal technical publication (complementing the ESA Bulletin which was directed at a space-interested public).
The ESA Scientific and Technical Review is not to be confused with the series of ESA Scientific and Technical Reports, despite sharing the same acronym (STR) and an almost identical name. The Reports series existed from 1977 and was the publication route for the results of ESA-funded experiments, studies or investigations, specific to a particular topic and for a narrow technical audience, while the Review was a magazine or digest for a wider technical audience from 1975-1976, succeeded by the ESA Journal from 1977.
The first number of Volume 1 begins with a brief introduction from Director General Roy Gibson, outlining its objective “to inform the scientific and technological communities in Europe and elsewhere of the space-oriented research and development activities in European institutions and industry.”
The series now open in the SHIP database comprises digitised copies of the complete physical collection of ESA STR held by the ESA Archives, which came to the Archives from ESTEC and the ESTEC Library. This amounts to seven references in total, divided between Volumes 1 (1975, numbers 1-3) and Volume 2 (1976, numbers 1-4) of the publication.
These two volumes contain a total of 38 articles, published in either English or French, with the majority in English. Each number of Volume 1 contains 4 articles as the sole content. The number of articles increases for Volume 2, with 8 articles in Number 1, and 6 articles in Numbers 2, 3 and 4. Not all are standalone articles – there are several examples of a group of articles which each tackle a different aspect of a topic of theme, such as launcher vibrations or Earth-resources surveys.
Volume 2 also includes additional content in the form of a list of ESA (and NASA) publications and, in Number 2 only, a list of ESA patents.
The number of pages of each number varies between 59 and 109, with the page numbering organised according to volume, therefore running on between numbers.
ESA Journal
This collection contains the full set of historic ESA Journals. The ESA Journal was the successor to the ESA Scientific and Technical Review, and was issued quarterly by the ESA Scientific and Technical Publications Branch, based at ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. It was intended as ESA’s principal technical publication (complementing the ESA Bulletin which was directed at a wider, space-interested, public, with the aim of generating widespread interest in ESA). The ESA ADMIN instruction, which introduced the Journal to staff, signed by Director General Roy Gibson in 1977, describes it as a learned publication.
Gibson’s instruction also lays out its two main objectives:
- Stimulating professional appreciation of ESA/European liveliness and excellence in all aspects of the space field, with emphasis on research, on the posing of understanding of emerging problems, and on the launching of fresh ideas; and
- Spreading interest in European space programmes and potential among European professional and educational institutions thereby encouraging greater active participation in European space activities.
Its contents included primary publications and information on ESA-related activities of interest to the professional space community. Primary publications were intended as original and significant ESA or European contributions to technology, science, missions, or systems management and operations in the space field. Information on activities included reports on the main contributions of ESA sponsored workshops and conferences and bibliographies and abstracts of either ESA publications or the external publication of ESA staff.
The years available run from 1977 to 1994, more or less commensurate with Massimo Trella’s time as ESA Technical Director and Inspector General, since Trella was a key figure in guiding the ESA Journal. (The Scientific and Technical Publications Branch held overall responsibility for the ESA Journal, with support from an Editorial Advisory Board established in 1977).
However, the Archives are missing several copies of the ESA Journal (notably ESA Journal Vol 4 no 2 from 1980). In both this case, and in other instances where our collections have gaps, we are interested in hearing from anyone with copies of the missing volumes who would be willing to donate them!
In the 1990s, ESA decided that for cost-saving purposes, it would no longer publish the ESA Journal. The final issue was ESA Journal Vol 18 No 3, published in September 1994.
To browse the entire collection, enter the SHIP database and search for ‘Journal’.
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