Jan 18 1976
From The Space Library
Ats 3, launched 5 Nov. 1967 primarily as a comsat, went into semiretirement when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration turned off its multicolor spin-scan cloud camera that had taken the first color photograph of the earth from space. During its 8th yr of orbiting 35 800 km in space synchronously with the earth's rotation, Ats 3 helped prove the theory that continuous viewing of earth's cloudcover would provide meaningful weather information. Ats 3 transmitted thousands of photographs of hurricanes, tornado-bearing thunderstorms, and other life-threatening weather phenomena, including the timely warning of Hurricane Camille before its assault on the Gulf Coast in Aug. 1969. Besides weather pictures; Ats 3 had relayed live TV coverage of events such as the Apollo missions, Pope Paul's visit to Colombia, and the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City. Although superseded by more sophisticated geostationary spacecraft such as Sms 1 and 2 and Goes 1, which offered better visual transmission and provided nighttime imagery through infrared sensors, Ats 3 would continue to relay data as part of NOAA's worldwide weather-facsimile broadcast system, and would be used by NASA in "communications demonstrations such as medical and educational experiments. (NOAA Release 76-5)
Reviewing the Energy Research and Development Administration's first year of operation, ERDA Administrator Robert C. Seamans Jr. said the U.S. had taken major steps to assure adequate energy supplies in the future. Establishment of ERDA on 19 Jan. 1976, bringing together energy research functions formerly located in other agencies, was itself a milestone. Specific steps cited by Seamans included a major solar-heating demonstration and completion of two heating-and-cooling projects; development of a national energy R&D plan emphasizing conservation of energy and development of new sources; demonstration and testing of more efficient recovery and use of coal, oil, and shale; biohazard screening of 150 compounds in fossil fuels to determine which might cause cancer or genetic mutations; and identifying problems in the nuclear-fuel cycle, including reprocessing of fuel and disposal of wastes. Describing fossil and nuclear energy as the near-term and midterm resources of the nation, Seamans said that conservation should enable them to carry the U.S. into the next century, when essentially inexhaustible energy sources should be available: solar electricity, breeder reactors, and fusion power. (ERDA Release 76-5)
The Apollo lunar scientific experiments package (ALSEP) set up on the moon in Feb. 1971 by astronauts Alan B. Shepard and Edgar D. Mitchell during the third manned exploration of the moon ceased transmission, probably because of failure of electronic components, engineers at Johnson Space Center said. The Apollo 14 instrument, one of five stations on the moon, had provided scientists with lunar seismic data in combination with stations set up during the Apollo 12, 15, 16, and 17 missions. Originally designed with a 1-yr lifetime, the ALSEP 14 was first of the stations to fail completely, although it had lost its ability to receive commands a year previously. The remaining stations continued to provide data on the moon's seismic activity, heat flow, interactions with earth's magnetic field, and the solar-wind and cosmic particles that continuously bombard the lunar surface. Findings based on ALSEP data included measurement of moonquakes, mostly at about 4 on the Richter scale; indications of a lunar core at or near the melting point; a thick lithosphere that probably prevented mountain-building on the moon; and a tenuous atmosphere deriving from solar-wind particles. The seismic instruments on the ALSEPs were the most sensitive in existence, and the remaining stations were estimated to last for another 3 yr. (JSC Roundup, 13 Feb 76, l)
Food preparation and packaging techniques developed by NASA to feed Apollo and Skylab crews during space flight had been used in a pilot program to provide balanced nutrition to elderly persons living alone, the Johnson Space Center announced. The program, called Meal Systems for the Elderly, was part of JSC's Technology Utilization program to apply space-developed technology to solution of earthbound problems. The goal was to provide a meal system that could be opened, cooked, eaten, and cleaned up by older people living alone; each meal would provide at least a third of the daily diet allowance for an older person, and a field demonstration had been scheduled that would evaluate the meal design and delivery methods by the end of 1976. The JSC team developing the program would aim at a shelf-stable, multimeal package that could be distributed by several methods-even parcel post-to senior citizens living beyond the range of hot-meal delivery or to those in areas where meals were not provided. (NASA Release 76-6; JSC Release 76-02)
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