Aug 24 1972
From The Space Library
NASA's M2-F3 lifting body, piloted by William H. Dana, completed 16th flight from Flight Research Center. Objectives-to expand flight envelope and to obtain stability and control data at mach 0.95-were achieved. M2-F3 reached mach 1.3 and 20 400- m (67 000-ft) altitude. (NASA proj off)
Tass reported completion of U.S.S.R.'s Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions. Spacecraft, launched May 19 and' May 28, 1971, had reached Mars in November and December 1971 and had transmitted data on planet and atmosphere. Mars 3 instrumented capsule had landed on Mars and transmitted data from surface for 20 sec. Preliminary findings were: temperature ranged from 163 K (- 166°F) to 286 K (55°F) ; soil had low conductivity, with Martian seas warmer than continents; surface-level atmospheric pressure was 50-60 newtons per sq m (5.5-6 millibars), 200 times less than earth's; carbon dioxide atmosphere broke up into carbonic oxide molecule and oxygen atom at 100-km (62-mi) altitude; atmosphere was 10 times less dense than earth's and was closer to surface; and magnetic field charges exceeded inter-planetary background level 8 times. (FBIS-Sov, 8/25/72, Ll)
NASA announced publication of NASA Patent Abstracts Bibliography (SP-7039). New semiannual publication contained abstracts for 1892 NASA-owned inventions available for licensing. Bibliography-first of its kind undertaken by Government agency-implemented Administration's liberalized Federal patent policy announced in August 1971. (NASA Release 72-177)
Sir James M. Lighthill, Research Professor of Royal Society of London, was presented in Moscow with two capsules containing lunar rock samples brought from moon by U.S.S.R.'s Luna 16 (launched Sept. 12, 1970) . In making presentation Vice President Aleksander P. Vinogradov of Soviet Academy of Sciences expressed hope that gift would "facilitate a further development of contacts between Soviet and British scientists." (SF, 12/72, 459)
Safeguard antiballistic missile system was successfully tested by Dept. of Defense in Pacific in repeat of previously unsuccessful test of missile site radar for launching Sprint missile against intercontinental ballistic missile. (W Post, 8/26/72, 7)
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin editorial commented on launch of Copernicus (OAO 3) Orbiting Astronomical Observatory [see Aug. 21-29]. "It's fitting that the satellite should be named for Copernicus ... father of modern astronomy. The new satellite should add appreciably to man's knowledge of the universe, but sophisticated as it may be, it all began with that incomparable genius almost five centuries ago." (P Bull, 8/24/72)
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