Jan 23 1967
From The Space Library
New extraterrestrial mineral had been analyzed with electron microprobe and named "niningerite" by ARC geochemists Drs. Klaus Keil and Kenneth Snetsinger. Named for Dr. H. H. Nininger, whose research on meteorites paralleled and confirmed early ARC research on blunt-body reentry shapes, the iron magnesium sulfide mineral was found in six stony meteorites estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old. (ARC Release; Science, 1/27/67,451-3)
Technology Week marked beginning of its second decade of publishing by asking some of the Nation's leading educators, scientists, and engineers to project their goals for technology. AEC Chairman Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg emphasized the need for man to first choose goals for technology: ". . . we must give more thought to guiding the direction of our technological future. ". . . if there are any ultimate goals for technology we will know what they are only when we all agree on the goals of man." MSFC Director Dr. Wernher von Braun proposed an earth resources management system employing space technology-principally, resource- sensing satellites-to meet the needs of the world's rapidly growing population. Said Dr. von Braun: ". . . I am firmly convinced that one of the great future contributions of our space program will be in helping to manage more effectively the utilization of our world resources." In discussing long-delayed peaceful application of nuclear explosions-Project Plowshare - Dr. Edward Teller, Associate Director of Lawrence Radiation Lab., suggested that questions of safety, fear of the unknown, limited nuclear test ban, and international politics were chief obstacles to program. Until these obstacles were removed, Plowshare would continue to lie dormant. Prof. Isaac Asimov, Boston Univ. School of Medicine, foresaw that mankind, now faced with the practical need for working under low- gravity conditions, would have to develop "low-gravity engineering." Low-gravity engineering might also prove useful in future exploration beneath the sea. Dr. Joshua Lederberg, Professor of Genetics at Stanford Univ. School of Medicine, proposed that man's central technological goal was the harmonization of his technical goals, a process Dr. Lederberg called "eutechnics." He went on to declare: "In the eutechnical society, the penultimate crime may become to introduce any technological innovation as a subsystem benefit without analyzing its impact on the whole future of man. The ultimate one would be to deny man his humanity by denying him the chance to think, to know himself." Dr. Charles S. Draper, head of MIT'S Aeronautics and Astronautics Dept., emphasized the need to establish an adequate balance between "directly beneficial" and "remedial" technologies. As air and water pollution, land damage from mining, soil erosion, and other problems become acute, man must give more thought to remedial actions for disturbances inflicted on the environment. Dr. Draper suggested space vehicle technology as ". . . an excellent model for the technology of overall environmental control for the earth." Gen. Bernard A. Schriever (USAF, Ret.), former AFSC Commander, believed that the big challenge of the next 25 yrs would be the effective management of technology for the public good. Schriever suggested that: "the systems management concept [developed in Nation's military and space programs] will be required to bring these technologies to bear on these problems. . . ." Clarence L. Johnson, Lockheed Aircraft Corp. Vice President, listed 10 aerospace projects which, he felt, should receive major attention during next 20 yrs. Among these projects were use of nuclear power plants in aerial transports to reduce fuel-to-cargo ratios, solution of sonic boom problems, and development of high-density fuels. Dr. Athelstan F. Spilhaus, dean of Univ. of Minnesota's Institute of Technology, explored the objectives and benefits of geotechnology- use of geophysical and geochemical knowledge "to intervene in the natural processes of our environment on a massive-and even global- scale." Dr. Spilhaus said he believed the public would ". . . welcome . . . an imaginative experiment in city living designed to remove the chores, dirt, delays, and human wastage, and emphasize the opportunities for social, cultural, economic and recreational advantages that high- density living provides." In final article, TRW Vice Chairman Simon Ramo wrote: "We are in the science era of mankind; we are not yet in the social era of mankind. . . . A quick look at our society shows that science's greatest challenge now and for the next few decades is for the application of science to human needs." (Tech Wk, 1/23/67,32-79)
U.K. and France had agreed to develop and build a variable-sweep-wing fighter aircraft and three types of helicopters, Aviation Week reported. Development costs were expected to total $560 million. Total world market for the fighter was estimated at 1,000 aircraft; and for the helicopters, 750. (Av Wk, 1/23/67, 35)
Gemini XII Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., speaking to the 15th annual Women's Forum on National Security in Washington, D.C., urged that critics of the US. space program be cognizant of its byproducts, notably its contributions to science, medicine, and education. "As a parent, I'd think any effort that was beamed at raising the sights of youth would be worth the money," Aldrin said. (Dean, W Star, 1/24/67, B10)
France announced plans to launch her fourth satellite from Hammaguir Range Feb. 3 to test tracking device based on the use of laser beams. (UPI, WJT, 1/23/67,10; UPI, P EB, 1/23/67)
Soviet newspapers revealed that two cities devoted entirely to scientific research were being constructed near MOSCOW, Theodore Shabad reported in the New York Times. The first, Pushchino, would be devoted entirely to research in biology and related fields; the second, Krasnaya Pakhra, would specialize in earth sciences. (Shabad, NYT, 1/23/67,1,8)
January 23-27: Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, sponsored by Yeshiva Univ., Univ. of Texas, Southwest Center for Advanced Studies, and NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, was held in New York City. In opening session, Dr. Allan R. Sandage of Mt. Palomar Observatory announced observation of what was apparently the greatest explosion ever recorded by man. Explosion occurred in quasar 3C-446 many million or billions of years ago, and caused it to increase in brilliance 20-fold in a matter of weeks or months. Cal Tech's Dr. Maarten Schmidt told conference of a new quasar, PKS 0237-23, that appeared to be farther from earth than any other reported to date. PKS 0237-23, receding at 80% the speed of light, was most remarkable, however, because it displayed two "red shifts" displacement toward red end of the light spectrum as objects speed away. If both shifts were indicators of velocity, it would mean that part of the quasar was receding from earth 17,000 mps more slowly than the rest. Dr. Riccardo Giacconi of American Science and Engineering, Inc., and Dr. Sandage reported that second starlike source of intense x rays had been discovered by Oct. 11 sounding rocket and later telescopic observation. Of 30 known x-ray sources, only one had previously been linked to a starlike object. Finding of second source, located in Constellation Cygnus, persuaded a number of astronomers that such visible objects represented a new type of celestial phenomenon, perhaps related to the manner in which stars are formed. Princeton Univ. physicist Dr. Robert H. Dicke revealed an observation that might invalidate Einstein's general theory of relativity. Dr. Dicke told the conference that his experiments showed the sun to be flattened at the poles and that the oblateness was sufficient to explain a significant portion of Mercury's orbital behavior, without recourse to relativity. It was the precise conformity of Mercury's orbit to Dr. Einstein's predictions that was the chief pillar of his theory. "It wouldn't surprise me if general relativity is just plain wrong," Dr. Dicke commented. (NYT, 1/24/67,22; 1/26/67,18; 1/28/67,1,12; 1/29/67,62)
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