Jan 11 1974
From The Space Library
Solar energy would be used by Marshall Space Flight Center engineers to heat and cool three house trailers parked together to simulate a residence. The system would take from the sun three fourths of the thermal energy needed for the simulated living quarters and furnish 2.7 metric tons of air conditioning in the summer and 20.5 kw of heat during winter, with surplus energy in storage for operation at night and through three cloudy days. A conventional system would still be necessary to make up for under capacity and provide energy during ex-tended cloudy periods.
The system, a project sponsored by the NASA Office of Applications to develop solar energy technology, would use a 120-sq-m solar-collector roof, a storage tank, pumps, coils, a modified air conditioner, plumbing, an auxiliary heater, and automatic controls. (MSFC Release 74-6)
The National Science Foundation was spending more than $1 million in FY 1974 on wind research programs and to build a large windmill, the Wall Street Journal reported. Windmills, for thousands of years one of man's basic machines, were again being taken very seriously in the worldwide energy crisis. Researchers believed windmills could be grouped to form power stations and provide a significant portion of U.S. energy needs, becoming competitive with other energy sources. The $200 000 NSF windmill would be built by NASA at Lewis Research Center's Plum Brook Station to capture the maximum possible power from the wind with the minimum construction costs. In addition, the NASA team would look into methods of storing electricity for periods when the wind was not blowing and of generating current at a constant 60 cps, the rate all large appliances were designed to use. Other re-searchers were working on windmill complexes based at sea, where powerful ocean winds could provide a regular flow of power. (Brand, WSJ, 11 Jan 74, 1 ; NASA Release 74-33)
NASA's shrinking work force and the relatively few available women and minority engineers and scientists were responsible for the agency's admittedly poor record on equal employment, Dr. Dudley G. McConnell, NASA Assistant Administrator for Equal Opportunity Programs, told the Senate Committee on Appropriations' Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Development, Space, Science, and Veterans. The hearing was investigating the October 1973 dismissal of a NASA official, Mrs. Ruth Bates Harris, after she and two coauthors asserted in a report that the agency was not moving fast enough to hire women and minority workers and that NASA's proportion of minority employees was the lowest in the Government. Despite the difficulties, NASA in the past had hired well above the agency's current percentage of minorities: 10.3% in 1971; 13.2% in 1972; and 16.3% in 1973.
Associate Deputy Administrator Willis H. Shapley denied the report was the reason for the Harris termination but conceded NASA's poor record on minority hiring. Subcommittee Chairman William Proxmire (D-Wis.) ordered the agency to report to him quarterly on progress toward its own equal opportunity goals. (Transcript)
The Air Force's first flight-test B-1 strategic bomber had been successfully mated with its wings in-Palmdale, Calif., the Air Force Systems Command announced. The B-1 was being developed by prime contractor Rockwell International Corp. to provide a modern supersonic strategic manned bomber to replace the aging B-52. The B-1, designed to carry twice the payload of the B-52 at three times the speed, was equipped with movable fore and aft wings to carry out a variety of missions from both normal and short runways, in addition to low-level operation at high subsonic speeds and high-altitude supersonic flight. (AFSC Release OIP 001.74)
The U.S. would sell fighter aircraft to Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Washington Post reported. Iran would buy 30 Grumman Aerospace Corp. F-14 Tomcat swing-wing fighters equipped with the advanced, long-range Phoenix missile system, with deliveries to begin January 1976. Saudi Arabia would buy 30 new Northrop Corp. F-SE Tiger II light-weight fighters and 20 of the earlier two-place F-5B trainers. (Miles, W Post, 11 Jan 74, Al2)
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