December 1983
From The Space Library
The large number of malfunctions that struck the Space Shuttle Columbia in its final hours of flight during STS-9 forced engineers to inaugurate the most extensive trouble-shooting operations since the Space Shuttles began flying in April 1981. They were not sure how long the under-taking would last, what they might find, or what effect their findings could have on future flight schedules. NASA officials did not rule out the possibility that the Columbia's troubles could cause a delay in the next Space Shuttle mission scheduled for January 30, 1984.
The malfunctions included two computer failures, a navigation instrument shutdown, and an explosive fire in the rear compartment. Early Space Shuttle flights had had troubles with computers and the heat-shielding tiles, but these were straight forward physical defects that were easily identified. The current problems were more perplexing and came when the Space Shuttle was assumed to be a fully tested, operational vehicle. NASA engineers and other aerospace observers had suggested that the Columbia's problems stemmed from a phenomenon not uncommon in any new, complex technology: that is after the initial text phase, when extreme care and attention were given to every step in a project, it was human nature to relax a bit, and it was the nature of machines to misbehave occasionally in unexpected ways.
International Business Machines (IBM), contractor for the computers, would examine the faulty computers; NASA engineers would closely examine data in search of clues to the cause of the two malfunctions, which did not seem to be related to any fundamental design flaw but could have been caused by loose circuitry resulting from vibrations. NASA would ship the inertial measurement unit to its manufacturer, the Singer Kearfott Company in Little Falls, N.J., for examination. (NY Times, Dec 15/83, A-1)
JPL announced that the IRAS had found a ring of planets being born around Fomalhaut, one of the most studied stars in the southern skies. Earlier in the year, the telescope had discovered a primitive solar system around the star Vega. The discovery that Vega and Fomalhaut appeared to have solar systems was the first evidence supporting the theory that Earth's solar system was not the only such in existence. Vega and Fomalhaut might be undergoing the same kind of evolution that Earth's solar system went through three to four billion years ago. "The discovery provides the second direct evidence that solid objects of substantial size exist around a star that is not our sun," said Dr. Gerry Neugebuer, IRAS program scientist at JPL. "These objects could be a solar system in a different stage of development and evolution than our own or the one that we found to be circling Vega," he added. The IRAS detected the two extraterrestrial solar systems by measuring the temperature of the bodies circling the two stars. It found them much cooler than the stars but far too warm and far too large to be rings of interstellar dust. (JPL Release, Dec 16/83; W Post, Dec 17/83. A-3)
Lt. Gen. Charles H. Terhune, Jr., retired December 31 as deputy director, JPL. Following retirement from the Air Force in 1969, he joined JPL as deputy director, functioning as general manager responsible for the day-to-day management of the laboratory's resources and the direction and coordination of its technical, administrative, and service activities. General Terhune received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in October 1982. He will be replaced as deputy director by Robert J. Parks, JPL associate director. (JPL Release, Dec 12/83)
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