Jul 27 1977
From The Space Library
NASA announced that the Soviet ship expected to participate in comparisons of atmosphere-measuring' instruments [see July 1] would arrive off the Virginia coast about Aug. 7 to serve as the platform for USSR rocket launches. The tests would consist of paired launches of about 22 U.S. Super Lokis and about 33 USSR M-100Bs, plus 6 Super Loki sphere systems to be launched by Wallops; statistical evaluation would require from 14 to 22 successful paired launches. (WFC Release 77-8; NASA Release 77-151)
NASA announced that a disaster simulation in Texas using the Communications Technology Satellite-world's most powerful comsat-had turned into an actual emergency operation providing communications between Red Cross headquarters in Washington, D.C., and flood stricken Johnstown, Pa. ComSatCorp and the Red Cross had set up an experiment to demonstrate emergency use of satellites in natural disasters; the Texas results had led Red Cross officials to ask for assistance in the actual emergency at Johnstown.
The Cts equipment transferred from Houston to Johnston July 23 and set up at a vocational high school near the Univ. of Pittsburgh was a portable station with a 4ft antenna to send and receive signals to and from the synchronous satellite orbiting over the equator just west of South America. During the emergency it had sent messages through the Cts to ComSat offices in Clarksburg, Md., connected by land line to Washington. The disaster-related communications included requests for medical and physician services, supplies and administrative services, and transmission of situation maps. Johnstown's residents also could use the Cts link to communicate with relatives around the U.S. when the Red Cross was not using the lines. The emergency had preempted Canadian and U.S. experiments scheduled for July 25-26. (NASA Release 77-157)
WFC announced it had completed tests using rockets, balloons, and supporting ground observations to obtain data on the natural state of earth's ozone layer and on stratosphere pollution. As part of the joint WFC-GSFC applications sounding-rocket program (ASRP), the tests July 19-22 had measured daylong variations in the vertical distribution of ozone to establish a model for studying the effects of pollutants. (WFC Release 77-11)
LaRC and WFC announced arrival of an LaRC airplane at Wallops for tests of spin characteristics, using four different tail designs developed at Langley as part of a larger program begun in 1972 to improve safety in light airplanes by investigating spin and stall [see May 18]. About 30% of fatalities in light planes resulted from spins or stalls. The low-wing, single-engine test plane had been modified to make use of the various tails and of a spin recovery parachute to counter the effects of some of the configurations. Two high-wing lightweight planes would share the tests. Besides full scale planes, the program would also use spin-tunnel models and powered radio-controlled free-flight models instrumented to give detailed information on each flight in real time. (WRC Release 77-10; LaRC Release 77-33)
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