Jan 12 1970
From The Space Library
AEC Chairman, Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, in New York Times article predicted new frontiers for nuclear energy during 1970s. Major advances would include development of large commercial fast-breeder reactor which should lead to "breeder economy in the 1980's that will inaugurate vast savings in fuel resources and costs"; use of abundant cheap power for desalting seawater and introducing new industrial processes; use of nuclear fission as power source; and melding of nuclear and space ages "as nuclear energy becomes a major source of auxiliary and propulsive power for space activities." SNAP systems for nuclear auxiliary power would become "principle source of electricity in space." Seventies also would see expanded use of nuclear explosives for peaceful purposes, such as power source for navaids, for underground excavation in stimulating production of natural gas, and in extraction of minerals from low-grade ores and oil from oil shales. Advances were expected in use of radioisotopes in medicine, agriculture, and industry and in basic and applied research in nuclear fields. (NYT, 1/12170, 81)
Structural failure of left wing stemming from "preexisting defect in the steel used in a pivot fitting where the wheel joins the fuselage" was cause of Dec. 22, 1969, crash of USAF F-111, Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr., Secretary of the Air Force, announced. USAF would inspect remaining F-111s for similar defects. (Wieghart, NYT, 1/13/ 70,16)
Mathematics had become "key tool in almost all of the physical and social sciences," Harry Schwartz said in New York Times. "Theories and working hypotheses in the most diverse fields are now expressed in terms of equations using not only the language of ordinary algebra, but also derivatives, matrices, and even more advanced concepts." It was "stress on numerical results and quantitative, not qualitative, predictions, that gives the computer its present central and increasing role in scientific research," (NYT, 1/12/70, 81)
Editorial by Robert Hotz in Aviation Week & Space Technology outlined space outlook for 1970: "Space will... see some titanic struggles in the market-place as the key programs in the space transportation system of the mid-1970s come up for contractor selection. Many observers will be misled by the relatively small dollar increases in Fiscal 1971 space budgets. Many new, programs can be initiated with the same level of funding !hat was required for the Apollo era, plus some heavy reprogramming of existing projects that are approaching technical obsolescence much faster than any planners imagined. By judiciously paring its present programs and getting only a modest boost for Fiscal 1971, NASA can lay the foundations for the next decade's major space program. Military space, temporarily deflated by the manned orbiting laboratory cancellation, will trend toward a broader program involving several major new fields. Commercial and non-NASA space will provide a modestly expanding market, and the big battle between celestial and terrestrial communications is shaping into a major clash." (Av Wk, 1/12/70, 11)
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