Feb 27 1976
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
Beginning with the 1976 forest-fire season, a new satellite linked monitoring system of 23 NASA-designed ground stations would monitor forest conditions throughout thousands of sq km in Calif.'s Region One redwood area, providing data every 3 hr to foresters in Sacramento by means of a geostationary weather satellite. The 90-kg self-powered stations developed by NASA's Ames Research Center in cooperation with the state Division of Forestry would transmit continuous reports on wind speed and direction, air temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, and the moisture content of forest litter such as pine needles and grass. Sensors to be added would measure rainfall and air pollution, including particulate matter and ozone concentration. The Synchronous Meteorological Satellite 2 (Sms 2) operated by NOAA from its vantage point over the equator would receive and relay the data. (JSC Roundup, 27 Feb 76, 3; NASA Release 76-28; ARC Release 76-07)
Charles W. Mathews, NASA Associate Administrator of Applications, retired after 33 yr of government service with NASA and its parent organization, NACA. As a member of the science staff at the Langley Research Center since 1943, he was chairman of the group that developed specifications for the Mercury spacecraft before NASA was established. When Mercury became an official program in 1958, Mathews transferred to Houston (now the Johnson Space Center), serving as manager of the Gemini program. Upon completion of Gemini, Mathews went to NASA Hq as director of the Skylab program (then known as Apollo Applications Program); in 1968, he became Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, and remained in that position until 1971. Awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal by President Johnson in 1966 for contributions to the manned space program, Mathews received the award a second time in 1969 for contributions to the first manned lunar landing. At his retirement, he stated that he would "continue to devote effort to the further realization of the tremendous potential of space . . ." (NASA Release 76-38)
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