Jul 15 1966
From The Space Library
NASA Aerobee 150 launched from WSMR carried GSFC-instrumented payload to 90-mi. (145-km.) altitude in experiment to measure spectral irradiance of stars Alpha Lyrae, Lambda Scorpii, Zeta Ophiuchi, and Delta Scorpii. Flight marked first successful operation above earth's atmosphere of Star Tracking Rocket Attitude Positioning (Strap) system. The 330-lb. telescope device telemetered almost 80 sec. of ultraviolet data and was recovered undamaged about 55 mi. from launch site for reuse in fall 1966. Data would give experimenters information on star surface temperatures, gravitational field intensity, and relative ages. (NASA Rpt. SRL; GSFC Release G-16-66)
50th anniversary of founding of Boeing Co. (EH)
Possible explanation of astronaut's inability to see stars on earth's daylight side was presented by physics professors Edward P. Ney and W. F. Hugh in Science: a "spacecraft corona"-cloud of particles formed by waste materials shed from spacecraft-might produce glow that would hide stars dimmer than fourth magnitude. Corona had been discovered by former Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., who reported during his Feb. 20, 1962, orbital mission in FRIENDSHIP 7 that he was being accompanied by a cloud of "fireflies." (Science, 7/15/66, 297-9)
Analysis of available evidence concerning possibility of an advanced form of life on Mars by Univ. of Maryland astronomy professor Dr. Ernst J. Opik appeared in Science. Dr. Opik said the most heavily eroded craters visible in photos taken by MARINER IV during the July 14, 1965, flyby dated from the earliest period of the planet's history, implying that. Mars had never had a dense, moist, earth-like atmosphere for any extended period and would therefore be a poor prospect for life. Dr. Opik argued strongly for at least a primitive form of vegetation, citing in particular a region of 1.2 million sq. km. that had darkened rapidly from 1946 to 1954. He likened this to the change a distant observer would have seen on earth as a consequence of the virgin lands development program in U.S.S.R. Vegetation was the best explanation for such changes; however, if it were not vegetation, "it must be something specifically Martian." The planet, he added, may become a source of great surprises in the future." (Science, 7/15/66,255-65)
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