Jan 27 1965
From The Space Library
President Johnson sent to the House and Senate his message transmitting annual report on the U.S. space activities. In his letter, President Johnson said: "The advances of 1964 were gratifying and heartening omens of the gains and good to come from our determined national undertaking in exploring the frontiers of space. While this great enterprise is still young, we began during the year past to realize its potential in our life on earth. As this report notes, practical uses of the benefits of space technology were almost commonplace around the globe-warning us of gathering storms, guiding our ships at sea, assisting our mapmakers and serving, most valuably of all, to bring the peoples of many nations closer together in joint peaceful endeavors. "Substantial strides have been made in a very brief span of time-and more are to come. We expect to explore the moon, not just visit it or photograph it. We plan to explore and chart planets as well. We shall expand our earth laboratories into space laboratories and extend our national strength into the space dimension." A hypersonic aircraft-one that could fly the Atlantic in less than an hour-had reached the stage where models were being constructed for wind tunnel tests. President Johnson's report disclosed: "Two structural models embodying design concepts applicable to the fuselage of a hydrogen-fueled hypersonic aircraft were being constructed for testing at 1,500-2,500° F-temperatures likely to be encountered in hypersonic flight. Equipment was developed for inducing angular oscillations in the test section flow of a huge transonic wind tunnel and will be used to obtain the dynamic response of wind tunnel models." (CR, 1/27/65, 1366; US. News, 2/2/65)
NASA launched a Nike-Cajun with acoustic grenade experiment at Point Barrow, Alaska, to obtain upper atmospheric meteorological data within the Arctic Circle. 12 grenades were ejected and detonated at intervals from about 25 to 56 mi. altitude as the rocket ascended. By recording the sounds on five sensitive microphones on the ground, scientists could obtain wind direction and velocity, atmospheric temperature, density, and pressure data. This was the first of a series of such experiments to gather upper atmospheric data within the Arctic Circle. Point Barrow was 1,100 mi. from the North Pole and 300 mi. within the Arctic Circle, at 71° north latitude. (Wallops Release 65-4; AP, NYT, 1/29/65)
NASA Langley Research Center requested G. T. Schjeldahl Co. to submit a bid for construction of six inflatable 100-ft., 130-lb. spherical satellites to be used in the national geodetic satellite program. They would be nearly identical to ECHO I and would be named Pageos (Passive Geodetic Satellite). Pageos would be launched in 1966 into a near-polar orbit at an altitude of about 2,300 mi. Ground camera stations would simultaneously photograph it against a star background to gather precise data for locating any point on Earth. The other two types of spacecraft to be used in the geodetic satellite program would be the 350-lb. Geos and the 120-lb. Beacon Explorer-B. ( NASA Release 65-22; Beacon Explorer-B Press Kit)
NASA Ames Research Center discussed for the press the major significant advances in aeronautics and space-oriented research accomplished by the Center during 1964. Accomplishments cited were: (1) establishing feasibility of manned control of large boosters; (2) problem definition for hypersonic transport; (3) design of new takeoff and landing aid to precisely locate aircraft position on the runway; (4) design of probe vehicle to define Mars atmosphere; (5) improvement of M-2 maneuverable atmosphere entry craft; (6) discovery that Mars contamination problem is probably not severe; (7) development of system for measuring stress in humans; (8) demonstration of need for special training for jet transport pilots to combat severe air turbulence; 19) discovery in meteorite of an extraterrestrial mineral unknown on earth; (10) feasibility demonstration of moon and planet mission navigation by hand-held sextant; (11) formulation of certification requirements for supersonic transport take-off; (12) design of ducted-fan to provide efficient airflow for flight from hover to high subsonic speeds; (13) formation of organic material under Martian conditions; (14) development of a new magnetic field chamber; (15) derivation of formula for simple calculation of convective (friction) heating of spacecraft in planet atmospheres; (16) tests of radiative heating in simulated planet atmospheres; (17) improvement of techniques for prediction of heat shield performance; (18) development of a low-power, high-performance magnetometer; (19) measurements of solar wind on IMP-B and OGO II; (20) feasibility demonstration of new pod for vertical-lift engines for Vtol aircraft at flight speeds up to 170 mph. (ARC Release)
Experiments at NASA Ames Research Center by Dr. John Young and Dr. Cyril Ponnamperuma indicated that Mars may lie under a steady rain of edible sugars produced photochemically in the Martian atmosphere. It was speculated that the sugars and other compounds might drift to the Martian surface, seep into the soil, and form underground reservoirs of nutrients. Results of tests for survival of 50 strains of earth bacteria in simulated Martian atmosphere indicated that the strains of bacteria which form hard spores and are thus most likely to survive space flight are most sensitive to the freeze-thaw extremes of temperature that prevail on Mars. Thus, while the bacteria might survive on Mars in spore form, they would not grow there and would not contaminate the planet. Other bacteria would die en route. (S.F. Chron., 1/28/65)
In U.S. launch vehicles hearings before Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, Dr. Alexander Flax, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (R&D), said: "In general, the joint DOD-NASA study [by the AACB] has shown that no drastic revisions to the national launch vehicle family are required to meet the mission demands that we can project for the immediate future and that further no drastic revisions can be justified on purely economic grounds. In addition, it is clear that the extensive effort on the part of both the DOD and the NASA in improving, launch vehicle system reliability has been paying off, and that we can expect a continuing trend in this regard. However, it is important to also recognize some of the natural limitations inherent in any long-range projection of requirements such as we have had to make for this study period. There are a number of areas in which unforeseen increased mission capability demands could react on our launch vehicle performance requirements. We must, therefore, continually maintain effective exploratory and advanced development programs which will provide us with the technology to meet such demands in the future. . . ." (Hearings . . . National Space Launch Vehicles, 87)
William M. Allen, president at the Boeing Co., addressed National Defense Transportation Association in Washington, D.C.: "Our first Boeing study of a supersonic transport was made in 1952. Preliminary design effort was started more seriously in 1956 and 1957. Then in 1958 the SST became a major engineering project and it has continued in that status ever since, involving many of our top engineers. "From the start of our effort to the present, design determinations have come in an orderly and unhurried progression, as a result of the integration of mountains of test data, much of it worked out in close conjunction with NASA laboratories which, incidentally, deserve the sincere thanks of the American people for their pioneering work in this field. "In the process we explored 290 configurations, and completed wind tunnel testing on 56 different high-speed wings. . . ." (CR, 1/28/65, 1454-56)
Gen. Bernard A. Schriever (USAF), Commander of the Air Force Systems Command, described to members of the Charlotte, N.C, Chamber of Commerce the development of the U.S. ballistic missile program: "In the ballistic missile program, of course, we were not concerned with the missile alone-complicated as it was-but also had the problem of constructing the facilities to test the missiles; building the ground support equipment; and training crews to install, service, and launch the missiles. This was a $17 billion program, and was larger in scope than the Manhattan Project which produced the atomic bomb during World War II. "To give you some idea of the size of the task, imagine that Henry Ford in the early days had not only had the problem of designing and building his automobiles, but at the same time had to construct all the highways and bridges, build all the service stations and garages, and plan and conduct driver training programs. . . ." (Text)
R. E. Clarson, Inc., St. Petersburg, Florida, was awarded a $2,179,000 NASA contract for miscellaneous additions and changes at Launch Complex 34 for the Saturn IB. Work would be done at Cape Kennedy, Florida. The contract was awarded by the Army Corps of Engineers. (DOD Release 53-65)
National Science Foundation announced that an ocean area 100 mi. NNE of Maui Island of the Hawaiian Islands had been tentatively selected as the site for the attempt to drill a six-mi.-deep hole into the ocean bottom to penetrate beyond the earth's crust. The operation would be called Project Mohole and would be an attempt to gain knowledge of the earth's origin and structure, the formation of minerals, and the causes of earthquakes. Drilling was expected to begin in 1968. (Clark, NYT, 1/28/65, 50; AP, Wash. Post, 1/28/65)
Stellar objects dubbed "interlopers" had been discovered by the Mt. Wilson-Palomar Observatories in California. Dr. Allan R. Sandage of Mt. Wilson said an effort would be made to determine whether the new objects were a form of quasar. He said an alternative possibility was that the objects were a rare form of star system in which two stars lay so close to each other that the presence of one caused explosions on the surface of the other. The resulting strongly ultraviolet light would superficially resemble that of quasars. Dr. Sandage reported that so far about 45 quasars had been identified. The "interlopers," so called because of their close resemblance to quasars, had been found at the rate of two to a square degree of sky in the limited region studied. So far, they totaled four. (Sullivan, NYT, 1/27/65, 31)
J. Gordon Vaeth of the U.S. Weather Bureau's National Weather Satellite Center told the American Meteorological Society that the Weather Bureau was developing a system in which buoys moored in the ocean would broadcast weather data to communications satellites that would rebroadcast it almost instantaneously to almost any point on earth. Mr. Vaeth said the initial optimum number of buoys would be 300, spaced about 600 mi. apart in major ocean regions. They would be moored at known, fixed points and would send data on sea and air temperature, wind direction and velocity, and barometric pressure. Relays from the satellites would be by very-high-frequency radio and would be picked up on the ground by inexpensive receiving stations, aircraft, or ships at sea. Mr. Vaeth saw the buoy network as an ideal vehicle for international cooperation in meteorology. (Schmeck, NYT, 1/28/65, 50)
France announced it would build a launching site for spacecraft in French Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America, to be ready Jan. 1, 1968. (Reuters, Wash. Post, 1/28/65)
USAF said in its Project Blue Book that no UFO "has ever given any indication of a threat to our national security" or displayed "technological developments or principals beyond the range of present day scientific knowledge." Report covered 8,908 sightings during past 18 yrs, including 532 during 1964. (Noyes, Wash. Eve. Star, 1/27/65, 28)
A new theory for the behavior of matter, called su-6, was presented in New York at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society by Dr. Abraham Pais of the Rockefeller Institute. The concept, based on a branch of mathematics known as symmetry group theory, supported views that all matter might be composed of basic building blocks, or "quarks," that could be either real fragments or mathematical entities smaller than the electron. It grouped the 100+ known fragments of matter into groups and then predicted behavior. A modification makes the theory also compatible with Einstein's relativity theory. (Sullivan, NYT, 1/28/65, 1, 10)
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