Aug 29 1976
From The Space Library
French interests had spent as much as $2 million to pressure the public, the news media, and various legislators into granting permanent U.S. landing rights to the controversial Concorde supersonic transport, wrote Robert Walters in the Washington Post Parade magazine. By the time a decision would be made next year, the expenditure would probably reach $3 million. The French producer of Concorde-Aerospatiale signed up influential Americans and engaged as principal in its campaign a firm called DGA International, whose chairman was Charles E. Goodell, former Republican senator from N.Y. The U.S. Dept. of Justice found that DGA had a contract calling for a bonus of $500 000 if commercial Concorde service were authorized; U.S. law prohibited representatives of foreign interests from signing contracts in which financial compensation "is contingent in whole, or in part, upon the success of any political activities." The Dept. of Justice in a civil suit filed in federal court in 1975 charged that the contract was illegal; the case was settled without a trial when the defendants agreed to elimination of bonus clauses and to full labeling of their public-relations and propaganda materials. The lobbying, however, continued unabated, the Parade article noted, as did employment of former legislators and public officials on behalf of Concorde. (W Post, Parade, 29 Aug 76, 17)
An article in the Baltimore Sun magazine reported that more than 3000 amateur radio operators-"hams"-in 90 countries had pooled their efforts to design, build, and finance the ham satellite series known as OSCAR, for orbiting satellite carrying amateur radio. The first OSCAR rode into space from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., 12 Dec. 1961, sixtieth anniversary of the first transatlantic wireless transmission, as a piggyback payload on the Thor-Agena carrying the USAF Discoverer 36 into orbit. Oscar 1 weighed about 4.5 kg and consisted of a battery, a small transistor, and an antenna packed into a metal case; constructed by radio hams working for companies building satellites, it operated on a tenth of a watt power and transmitted the greeting "hi" in Morse code before it stopped functioning 3 wk later. NASA agreed to provide launches as deadweight ballast for government satellites to advance public interest in space science, after the hams pointed out the OSCAR's potential use in educational programs and emergency communications.
In 1959 the hams had formed the Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. based in Washington and affiliated with the American Radio Relay League, national association of ham radio operators. After launch of Oscar 4, satellite activity shifted east, where AMSAT members working for GSFC and ComSat were eager to undertake assembly projects. By using volunteer efforts and parts donated as tax-deductible contributions by various companies, the hams could produce a satellite for about $60 000, compared to the commercial cost estimated at $2 million; Oscar 6, oldest active ham satellite, was about to celebrate its 4th anniversary; Oscar 7, most recent (and largest, at nearly 30 kg), had been in use for nearly 2 yr.
Baltimore engineer Jack Colson, an employee of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, had received an award as the first amateur to be in touch with hams in all 50 states; he took 8 mo to achieve this, 4 mo for Hawaii alone because the satellite path permitted communications with the islands for only 2 min every 3 wk. Colson had also talked with hams in 43 countries and had bounced signals off the moon; he estimated that his ham contacts over the past 25 yr numbered about 30 000. The 750 000 radio amateurs all over the world came from all walks of life and ranged in age from 8-yr-olds to elderly men and women; about 20 000 amateurs were joining the U.S. ham network every year, the article said. Use of the satellite was free to all hams, whether or not they belonged to an amateur organization; OSCARS had transmitted medical data, weather bulletins, and emergency communications such as search-and-rescue mission information. Although shortwave radio could outdo the satellite on sheer distance, its transmissions-unlike those of the satellite-could be upset by atmosphere conditions or solar emissions. To improve OSCAR's time and distance limitations, AMSAT members were working on a new satellite that could transmit continuously over a greater geographical area for up to 10 hr, because of a higher elliptical orbit. Launch was planned for 1980. (B Sun Magazine, 29 Aug 76, 10)
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