Jan 17 1985
From The Space Library
The Washington Times reported on the "Planet X" theory of Daniel Whitmire and John Matese, physics and astronomy professors at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, in which they had suggested that an undiscovered planet triggered a rain of comets upon earth, resulting in extinctions of dinosaurs and other species at roughly 26-million-year intervals. "Planet X, if it's out there," Whitmire said, "lies in an orbit outside Neptune and, every 30 million years or so, passes through a ring or disc of comets that also lie out there. When it does, gravity diverts some of the comets toward earth, kicking up huge clouds of dust on impact that disrupt the weather enough to kill off many species of plants and animals." Whitmire noted the theory would explain several phenomena that had puzzled scientists: fossil evidence of extinctions at approximately 26-million-year intervals and the slight variations in Neptune and Uranus's orbits by Planet X's gravitational pull. (W Times, Jan 17/85, 3A)
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Wall Street Journal printed Robert Jastrow's comments on the Union of Concerned Scientists' (UCS) Space Defense Initiative (SDI, or Star Wars) report, in which Jastrow noted that although the UCS had originally stated the program would require 2,400 satellites, they had corrected this to 300, making the program not a seemingly impractical proposal but one readily affordable within fiscal limits on strategic forces.
The UCS had also stated in its report that the neutral particle beam (to destroy Soviet missiles) would require orbiting a 40,000-ton accelerator, an impossible task. However, Jastrow noted the correct weight of the accelerator was 25 tons, quite reasonable for earth orbit, and the UCS had admitted the error.
Also on the SDI program, Space World published the Council on Economic Priorities's (CEP) recommendations, in which CEP suggested the Department of Defense reduce emphasis on developing prototype systems until clarification of the technological uncertainties of deploying an effective overall space defense and Congress should significantly slow SDI's growth rate until demonstration of the plan's technical feasibility. (WSJ, Jan 17/85, 2-E; Space World, Jan 85, 3)
EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY January 18: Ministers from Belgium, Denmark, France, W. Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K., Austria, Norway, and Canada would meet in Rome January 30 and 31 to consider proposed space projects and set the agenda for European Space Agency (ESA) through the remainder of the century, the JSC Roundup reported. Ministers would consider proposals ranging from development of a space station program, possibly in conjunction with the U.S., to eventual pursuit of manned spaceflight.
ESA said it would propose a substantial increase in its activities, particularly scientific and technological programs; developments in earth observations, telecommunications, microgravity processing, and technology; and construction of a new version of Ariane 5. ESA's efforts with Spacelab and Ariane and in a wide range of other activities such as the Giotto probe to intercept Halley’s Comet had required the new decisions.
With Ariane 3 operational, ESA said it expected to introduce an upgraded version, Ariane 4, in March 1986, followed by the proposed Ariane 5, which would be capable of generating up to 220,000 lb. of thrust, that could be used to launch European astronauts into orbit. The ministers had to decide whether to authorize development of the large cryogenic engine to power the launcher. (JSC Roundup, Jan 18/85, 1; ESA release Jan 17/85)
Management and Personnel
NASA announced appointment effective January 13, 1985, of Frank Penaranda, a NASA exceptional service medal recipient serving as special assistant to the associate administrator in the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OART), as deputy assistant administrator for commercial programs, where he would develop and coordinate policies and procedures for implementing commercial programs through NASA's in-house organizations.
Penaranda had joined NASA in April 1969 as a technical program analyst with OART; NASA later named him director of the resources and management systems division in 1974 and director of institutional operations in the Office of Management Operations in Jan. 1978. Penaranda had previously worked for the Defense Atomic Support Agency of the Department of Defense as a nuclear physicist conducting applied research on nuclear radiation transport and shielding.
Penaranda holds an M.S. in physics from Marquette University and a B.S. from Manhattan College. He also graduated from Harvard's Advanced Management Program. (NASA announcement, Jan. 17/85)
NASA successfully launched today an Aerobee liquid-fueled, sounding rocket from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, marking the end of that rocket series, which was the oldest continuous rocket-firing program. NASA's Sounding Rocket Division had launched 536 Aerobees with a 94% success rate. The Aerobee's reliability made it the workhorse vehicle for high-altitude studies. Commenting on the program, Maury Dubin, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) physicist, said "virtually everything that's been done in space research can be attributed to sounding-rocket technology. The Aerobee and other sounding-rocket research precipitated the rise of many disciplines, from astronomy to the upper atmosphere." The Aerobee program began in 1946 when Aerojet Engineering Corp. received a U.S. Navy contract to build the rockets, and the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) had supplied technical direction; Dr. James Van Allen had been project director. The Aerobee name, the Bumblebees, derived from a combination of Aerojet and APL's series of Navy missiles. NASA had used Aerobees extensively during the Internatl. Geophysical Year (July 1957 to December 1958) to gather information on the atmosphere, cosmic radiation, auroras, and geomagnetism.
The Aerobee rockets consisted of a series of five with each rocket carrying as many as six experiments that included equipment such as cameras, vacuum bottles, mirrors, grids, sensing devices, lenses, and other mechanical units. Most rockets recorded data and simultaneously transmitted it via telemetry to ground stations. The final Aerobee payload tested a new spectrograph that would be flown on NASA's Astro mission to record extreme ultraviolet Dayglow emissions in earth's upper atmosphere.
George Kraft, GSFC flight support section director, said that, although the demise of small liquid-fueled sounding rockets was imminent, "sounding rockets would continue to be an important element in NASA's support of the scientific community. They're virtually the only vehicles that can conduct studies in the 40 km (25 miles) to 200 km (125 miles) high zone of the atmosphere." Balloons could travel only about 50 km (31 miles) high and satellites were ineffective below 200 km (125 miles) high. GSFC's Wallops Flight Facility managed the NASA sounding-rocket program. (GSFC Release 85-6)
SPACE STATION PROGRAM
The Washington Post reported that W. Germany had agreed to contribute $900 million over the next decade to participate in an American-led program to build an $8 billion permanently manned space station for initial operations in 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America. The W. Germans would negotiate detailed contracts over the next two years to ensure a fair return on their investment and access to space-based technology, as U.S. restrictions on technology transfer (ostensibly to prevent USSR acquisition of sensitive information, the W Post said) had increasingly irked European allies. W. German and Italian companies planned a special laboratory module that would plug into the U.S.-built spacecraft's main structure for experiments in zero gravity and vacuum conditions.
A W. German ministerial report had said cooperation embodied in the space station program "should be welcomed in W. Germany not just for technical and economic reasons, but for political ones, as a transatlantic connecting link." However, the venture had evoked controversy, as some European scientists contended that robots could conduct the work planned for the space station, and others alleged that a $750 million European investment in 1973 to underwrite Spacelab had attained few research benefits.
Heinz Riesenhuber, W German minister for research and technology, said that Bonn would also contribute nearly $500 million to develop a more powerful and versatile Ariane rocket to achieve some European independence in space travel by the 1990s, although he admitted a major W German investment in the French Space Shuttle project "Hermes" was impossible. (W Post, Jan 17/85, Al)
John Townsend, corporate vice president and president of Fairchild Space Co., said in a January 16 speech to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' (AIAA) National Capital Section that those planning commercial space ventures must monitor the uncertainty of NASA's Space Shuttle manifest and orbiter fleet's long-term availability, Aerospace Daily reported. "The manifest is at risk," he said and cited difficulties NASA had in "remanifesting" resulting from the orbiter Challenger's thermal-protection tile-adhesion problems. NASA had cut back its planned 13 missions to 12 in 1985, and Townsend expressed concern over the potential problems of a 4-orbiter fleet that could be exacerbated by an accident.
Townsend also expressed concern over the Space Shuttle pricing policy, noting NASA's recommendation of a 22% price increase in Space Shuttle flights from $71 million (1982 dollars) per flight to $87 million, and concluding that NASA's "expendable launch vehicle people have Ariane to face." (A/ D, Jan 17/85, 90)
NASA announced the assignment of Sen. Jake Gam (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate subcommittee overseeing the NASA budget, as a payload specialist on Space Shuttle mission 51-E, a four-day flight using the orbiter Challenger to deploy the second Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) and the Canadian Telesat I communications satellite. The flight was scheduled for launch February 20, 1985, from KSC. Garn was in preliminary training at Johnson Space Center and would soon begin training with the other members of the crew.
The NY Times reported that Gam's activities in space would include research on space sickness and, if he did not become sick in orbit, he might be made ill as part of the experiment.
NASA astronauts assigned to the flight included Karol Bobko, commander; Donald Williams, pilot; mission specialists M. Rhea Seddon, S. David Griggs, and Jeffrey Hoffman; and French payload specialist Patrick Baudry. (NASA Release 85-9; NYT, Jan 18/85, A13)
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