Apr 21 1974
From The Space Library
Design work on the primary rescue system for space shuttle passengers proceeded at Johnson Space Center. A prototype "beach ball" large enough for a person to crawl into, zip up, and pressurize had been demonstrated and given a go-ahead at NASA Hq. in December 1973. Assistant Chief for Shuttle Larry E. Bell in JSC's Crew Systems Div. had told a news interviewer the balls could be packaged into cylinders to accompany each passenger aboard the shuttle in the 1980s, "almost like a parachute." Simplicity, size, light weight, structural strength of the ball shape, and low cost had won approval over expensive and complicated spacesuits for nonastronauts on flights and eliminated the requirement for a rescue docking module.
In an emergency, passengers could enter the balls-each with its own window-an hour or two before rescue by a second shuttle. Oxygen containers connected to the shuttle supply system would be used until just before rescue; a device would remove carbon dioxide. Once disconnected, each container would last an hour; transfer through space to the rescue shuttle was expected to take 30 min. (Bell interview, 4 March 75; Hill, H Chron, 21 April 74)
Aerospace companies that had succeeded in using the system approach to develop advanced technology for use in space were encountering difficulties in the field of urban mass transportation, a New York Times article said. Boeing Co. Aerospace Div. faced losses of up to $6 million on an automated "people mover" shuttle system in Morgantown, W. Va. Cost of the project, chosen four years ago as a pilot application of aerospace management techniques, had jumped from the original estimate of $13.4 million to $115 million. Rohr Industries, Inc., had lost more than $10 million on a project to build 450 commuter cars for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit System, which had threatened to sue Rohr over late deliveries and alleged unreliability of some cars. Observers had noted that aerospace technologists tended to "overengineer" transit systems, increasing costs, aggravating maintenance, and marring reliability. In addition there were problems in converting prototypes to hardware that could withstand the rigors of carrying throngs of people. But, despite the frustrations, more companies were entering the competition. A significant test of how the aerospace industry would fare in the next era of transit development would be the performance of Boeing's Vertol Div. in two projects to produce 230 streetcars for Boston and San Francisco and 100 cars for Chicago's rapid transit system. (Lindsey, NYT, 21 April 74, 3:1)
21-25 April: Observations of Comet Kohoutek in December and January and sudden changes in brightness of the more recent Comet Bradfield had led to the theory that comets were layered like onions, Dr. Edward P. Ney, Univ. of Minnesota scientist, reported at a joint meeting of the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America. When some layers were exposed, they shone brilliantly; when a layer wore off, the comet might abruptly become dim. The onion model would explain why predictions of Kohoutek's brilliance were so inaccurate and why Bradfield had suddenly dimmed to 100th its previous brilliance.
Dr. Alastair G. W. Cameron, Harvard College Observatory scientist, said that an enormous spherical cloud of comets with a combined mass 20 times that of Jupiter might lie beyond the planets and form a far more massive part of the universe than the planets. This cloud, the Oort cloud, might be a repository for heavy elements formed since the infancy of the Milky Way.
Dr. R. W. Klebesadel of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory said that satellites, placed in a 100 000-km orbit as part of the Air Force Vela series developed to monitor the 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, has monitored 27 high-intensity explosions in space over four years. The explosions, which had produced unusually large amounts of gamma and x-ray energy, might be in the Orion arm of the galaxy, where the earth was. Dr. Philip Morrison of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said nine current theories of the origin of the explosions included exploding stars, or supernovas; objects falling into neutron stars; and unusually large solar flares or sunstorms on distant stars. (Sullivan, NYT, 24 April 74, 13; Shurkin, P Inq, 26 April 74, 12)
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