Feb 15 1973
From The Space Library
NASA's Pioneer 10 probe, on its way to the planet Jupiter, safely completed its crossing of the Asteroid Belt, NASA announced at a Headquarters press conference. Launched March 2, 1972, the spacecraft had completed the 430-million-km (270-million-mi), seven-month trip through the belt with no damaging hits from asteroid particles. Dr. William H. Kinard, Langley Research Center scientist, said NASA was "firmly convinced that the Asteroid belt presents little hazard to future spacecraft going out to explore outer planets." Pioneer 10 had encountered an average of one large particle of 0.1- to 1-mm (0.004- to 0.04-in) dia a day and had come 'within 1640 million km (400 million mi) of only one asteroid over 10 m (33 ft) in diameter. Particle encounters had been observed by measuring sunlight scatter of particles by telescopes and by pressurized cells that leaked when penetrated by a particle. Pioneer 10 project scientist Dr. John H. Wolfe of Ames Research Center said the asteroid distribution was fairly uniform. Pioneer 10 had made the most distant observations of solar atmosphere and solar wind to date and had found that the sun's atmosphere expanded with distance while the solar wind slowed but heated up with distance. The spacecraft had covered 70% of its 1-billion-km (620 million-mi) flight and would reach Jupiter Dec. 3. After exploring Jupiter's atmosphere it would escape the solar system. Pioneer-G, scheduled for April launch, would travel a similar course to Jupiter. (Transcript; NASA Release 73-27)
The U.S.S.R. launched Prognoz 3 from Baykonur Cosmodrome into orbit with a 200 000-km (124 274-mi) apogee, 590-km (367-mi) perigee, 96-hr 23-min period, and 65° inclination. Tass announced the primary objective of the 845-kg (1863-1b) spacecraft was to explore corpuscular, gamma, and x-ray solar radiation; solar plasma flow; and magnetic fields in near-earth space to determine effects of solar activity on the interplanetary medium and magnetosphere of the earth. All spacecraft systems and instrumentation functioned satisfactorily. (GSFC SSR, 2/28/73; Spacewarn, 3/6/73; FBIS-Sov, 2/15/73, LI)
North American Rockwell Corp. shareholders voted at annual meeting in Los Angeles, Calif., to change the company name to Rockwell International Corp. The new name dropped all reference to North American Aviation, Inc., a household word in the U.S. and a contractor for the development of the Apollo spacecraft before its 1967 merger with the smaller Rockwell Standard Corp. The company's Aerospace Group would become North American Aerospace Group. Changes would be effective Feb. 16. (NR Release NR-6; LA Times, 2/16/73; Ertel, Morse, The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology, NASA SP-4009)
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Dean Burch wrote Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, that FCC hoped NASA would continue satellite communications programs to '"discharge its statutory responsibilities in the Communications Satellite Act of 1962" and "be a potent factor in maintaining the position of the United States at the very forefront of this new and vital technology." The letter was in response to a Feb. 2 notification to FCC that NASA planned to terminate its comsat programs because of FY 1974 budget restrictions [see Jan. 5]. Burch wrote that FCC had "over the years placed heavy reliance on the advice and technical expertise of your agency with respect to communications services via satellite." NASA also had been "invaluable" to FCC in other fields, including "detailed evaluation of the orbital assignments and space engineering of the various proposals before this Commission in the domestic satellite field." With the use of comsat technology spreading to aviation, maritime, and educational activities, "it would be particularly unfortunate if this Commission were not to be able to receive the same high level advice and assistance upon which it has relied over the past decade.” (Text)
An emergency team put together by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Navy's Fleet Weather Facility was aiding Jacques-Yves Cousteau's damaged oceanographic research vessel Calypso. The Calypso, damaged by an iceberg Jan. 16 while exploring the Antarctic Ocean, would have to navigate the treacherous Drake Passage to the port of Ushuaia, Argentina, for repairs. The best conditions for the crossing passage would be determined from weather and ice floe information supplied by Nimbus and NOAA weather satellite photos and FWF sea ice experts. Calypso had been instrumented to receive weather and satellite communications via Ats 3 (launched by NASA Nov. 6, 1967) by Goddard Space Flight Center for participation in an experiment with NASA [see Feb. 8]. (NASA Release 73-28)
Dr. Harold A. Rosen, codeveloper with Dr. Donald D. Williams of the first synchronous communications satellite (Syncom 1, launched Feb. 14, 1963), was named the "Southern California Inventor of the Year" by the Patent Law Assn. of Los Angeles. Dr. Rosen, manager of the commercial satellite systems division of the Hughes Aircraft Co. Space and Communications Group, held 18 patents for inventions related to the synchronous satellite. He was cited for "revolutionizing the satellite industry.” (LA Her-Exam, 2/16/73; SBD, 2/27/73, 301)
Rapid detection of contaminated oxygen had been developed by researchers at the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, the Air Force Systems Command announced. Contaminated oxygen, which could cause serious illness or death for high-altitude pilots, previously had been detected by analysis of samples at a regional laboratory. The new portable infrared and gas chromatographic analyzers would provide reliable analysis on the spot in 15 min. (AFSC Release 014.73)
President Nixon submitted to the Senate the nomination of Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor-Management Willie J. Usery, Jr., to be Federal Mediation and Conciliation Director. Before joining the Dept. of Labor, Usery had been special representative of the International Assn. of Machinists at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Test Facility, IAM representative on the President's Missile Sites Labor Committee at Kennedy Space Center and at Marshall Space Flight Center, and coordinator for union activities at Manned Spacecraft Center. He had helped to form the Cape Kennedy Labor-Management Relations Council in 1967 and had become its first Chairman in 1968. The nomination was confirmed March 29. (PD, 2/19/73, 154, 156; Usery Off)
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