Feb 8 1985
From The Space Library
A dispute over application of U.S. laws to foreign companies apparently killed a joint U.S.-W. German project to commercialize remote sensing-equipment data and could affect negotiations over European participation in the planned U.S. space station, Science magazine reported. The joint project, known as SPARX, was to finance regular flights on the Space Shuttle of the modular opto-electronic multispectral scanner, an instrument developed by Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (MBB) under contract with the German Aerospace Research Establishment. NASA said proposals received from SPARX were unacceptable, because data would be available solely on a proprietary basis to SPARX's commercial customers, conflicting with NASA's "open skies" policy mandating nondiscriminatory access to all data obtained from U.S.-launched civilian missions. NASA and MBB were continuing discussions on the possibility of a separate venture using the German equipment that would respect licensing conditions applied to U.S. companies under the Land Remote Sensing Commercialization Act.
Some members of the European space science community-particularly those with reservations about tying Europe's fortunes too closely to those of NASA's proposed space station-were using the apparent conflict as evidence of their concerns, the Science article said. The scientists noted the extent to which the regulations and other provisions contained in the legislation's licensing requirements-such as those requiring licensees to deposit any data obtained in a single central archive-would apply to foreign companies becoming NASA's commercial customers. The dilemma hinged on the conflict between companies based outside the U.S. resenting being subject to legislation over which they had no formal control and Congress and U.S.-based companies that would complain if they saw foreign companies getting an advantage by not having to meet domestic-licensing requirements.
Udo Pollvogt of MBB's Washington office said the issues raised by SPARX "definitely need to be resolved over the next two years" as Europeans considered whether participation in the space station would make them unacceptably liable to U.S.-domestic laws. (Science, Feb 8/85, 617)
U.S. Air Force Aircraft The EC-18B advanced-range instrumentation aircraft (ARIA), the first of four former 707 commercial aircraft modified by Aeronautical Systems Division's (ASD) 4950th Test Wing, rolled out on January 4, the Air Force Systems Command's (AFSC) Newsreview reported. To augment ARIA-mission capabilities, ASD had purchased the Boeing 707-320 aircraft from American Airlines in 1982 as replacements for four of the seven Boeing EC-135s in the current ARIA fleet.
The aircraft would provide worldwide missile- and space-testing support by serving as airborne tracking stations over land where geographical constraints limited ground-tracking stations and over broad ocean areas where no tracking stations existed. The EC-18B's ARIA fleet improvements included more room for mission equipment, increased fuel capacity, and more fuel-efficient engines.
Modification of the 707s had offered major cost savings over purchase of new aircraft; program costs for the four aircraft were $25 million-$6 million for aircraft purchase and $19 million for ARIA conversion. At the time of purchase, Boeing officials had estimated new aircraft would cost $25 million each, not including ARIA-conversion costs.
The most obvious external modification was the large bulbous nose-a 9 ft. radome housing the world's largest airborne-steerable antenna, a 7 ft. dish for telemetry reception. The nose also housed a smaller weather antenna. Other additions included a smaller radome for communications on the aircraft top and wingtip-probe antennas for high-frequency radio transmission and reception.
ASD also outfitted the aircraft with a navigation station, mission-critical cockpit avionics, a modified electrical system, and an improved environmental-control system. (AFSC Newsreview, Feb 8/85, 6)
The Lewis News reported that NASA had completed conceptual designs for its space station and that industry had submitted proposals for definition studies and preliminary designs of various station components for which NASA expected to award 18-month contracts in April. NASA would award contracts in April 1987 for the next phase of the program-the final design, development, launch, and assembly of the station.
Contrary to most large NASA projects, for which an industrial prime contractor coordinated various aspects of a project, NASA would oversee the entire space station program because the station's operational life would extend over a long and indefinite period. Johnson Space Center (SC) would manage the system engineering and integration function; Lewis Research Center (LeRC) was responsible for the power system.
The space station power system was vital for two major reasons: the quantity of electrical power available to governed station capabilities and, since the power system required large areas of solars cells or mirrors, the size of these areas affected station configuration and operation. Plans called for initial power demands of 25 kw for housekeeping needs of a crew of six and 50 kw for experiments and customer applications. Comparing this power system to the largest previously in space-the Skylab manned-mission system, which generated 16 kw-the magnitude of the power station challenge became evident.
LeRC personnel would consider a variety of power system technologies, making selections based on detailed studies of the tradeoffs among options. Studies would examine how the options influenced the performance, risk, and cost of the power system and space station, with consideration given to station growth and satisfaction of later needs. In addition, LeRC had to design a system that would be available on schedule, function reliably for an indefinite life with only on-orbit maintenance, be user-friendly, and remain within cost limits. (LeRC News, Feb 8/85, 2)
Technology Transfers Los Angeles's Cedars-Sinai Medical Center announced development of a new surgical tool, using JPL's excimer (excited "dimer") laser technology, for one of medicine's most difficult and long-awaited procedures-a means to clean out clogged vascular passages without surgical intervention, the JPL Universe reported. The lasers would be a significant alternative to existing treatments-that of angioplasty, in which a balloon catheter squeezed blockage out of the way, or by-pass surgery.
A JPL research team with Cedars-Sinai colleagues had developed the new laser technology, which used glass-magnetic switches in which a xenon chloride-excimer laser produced a uniform beam of energy controlled and pulsed to extremely short periods, to overcome the problems of lack of precision and control and high heat of current medical lasers. The JPL/Cedars/Sinai procedure would allow a fiber-optic catheter, placed nonsurgically in the brachial and femoral arteries and threaded to the site of the obstruction, to transmit the laser's energy to the clogged vessel. The fiber-optic imaging system would enable doctors to view the artery on a TV screen as the laser cleared the material forming the blockage. The speed of the laser's delivery-10 to 200 billionths of a second bursts of ultraviolet light-allowed the laser to cut through arterial plaque with precision and little damage to surrounding tissue.
Although researchers were cautious in predictions of the laser's medical potential, they believed results of experimentation, though not yet done on living human patients, signaled additional future medical applications, ranging from removal of kidney stones to changing the eye shape of patients with myopia. (JPL Universe, Feb 8/85, 1)
Johnson Space Center (JSC) announced that Warren North, JSC specialist in astronaut selection and training, retired February 1 after 38 years with NASA.
North had joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NASA's predecessor agency) in 1947 as a test-pilot engineer at LeRC. In 1959 North had transferred to NASA Headquarters, where he participated in early planning for Project Mercury, including selection and training of the seven original Mercury astronauts; in 1962 North assumed leadership of the JSC division responsible for training astronauts for Gemini rendezvous and docking development flights and for the Apollo lunar landing program. North was currently special assistant to the JSC flight-operations director for planning Space Shuttle crew training and flight-simulation equipment and techniques.
North received a bachelor's degree from Purdue University and master's degrees from Case Institute of Technology and Princeton University. (JSC Release 85-7)
NASA announced it had selected Dr. Milton Silveira, NASA's chief engineer, as its competition advocate responsible for recommending annual goals and objectives, approving organization and personal accountability, assuring training, and reviewing noncompetitive procurement to remove constraints to competition. Silveira named David Austin his principal staff member. A NASA management instruction would designate each center deputy director as the center competition advocate.
NASA competitively awarded 72% of its procurements in FY 84, representing a significant increase over 68.8% in FY 83. (NASA Release 85-21)
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