Jun 14 1985
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
Goddard Space Flight Center announced that a team from its Wallops Flight Facility completed studies of the atmospheric ozone profile at Natal, Brazil. The team acquired data from 9 to 40 miles above the earth at an equatorial site using the improved "A' version ROcket OZonesonde (R0- COZ-A).
The team took seven profiles during ozone-measuring satellite overpasses to compare the ROCOZ-A data with other satellite data for the same time and place. Although the primary mission was to support the SAGE II ozone measurements acquired by the ERBS/SAGE 11 satellite, the team would also compare the data with that from the solar backscatter ultraviolet spectrometer on the Solar Mesopheric Explorer (SME) satellite.
Each ROCOZ-A launch included the supporting launch of a super-loki datasonde dart (a small meteorological rocket) to collect temperature data from 9 to 43 miles in the atmosphere and an electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) balloon-launched ozonesonde to collect lower-atmospheric (below 18 miles) ozone, temperature, and pressure data. The team would use the supporting data to define the atmosphere at the site for comparison with the appropriate satellite.
The team provided ROCOZ-A coverage during five dual and two single satellite overpasses. There were at least two ROCOZ-A profiles for each satellite with four profiles for the NOAA-9. (GSFC Release 85-17)
NASA announced finalists in its Teacher in Space Project would arrive in Washington, D.C., beginning June 22 to attend a national conference sponsored by NASA and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) as part of the selection process in the program. Through June 27 the 114 elementary and secondary school teachers would hear from NASA officials and other experts in space science and exploration, including discussions about their responsibilities if chosen to fly aboard the Space Shuttle, and participate in workshops sponsored by NASA's educational affairs division to provide a hands-on learning experience about NASA and its programs. During the week, a national selection panel would interview the finalists.
On June 25 the teachers would attend a reception on Capitol Hill with members of Congress and on June 26 meet with President Reagan. (NASA Release 85-92)
NASA expected the Space Shuttle's nose wheel steering capability, previously used only on an experimental basis, would achieve operational status by the fall, the Space News Roundup reported.
NASA had attributed brake damage to the orbiter Discovery following the STS 51-D mission in part to crosswinds at KSC, which required the orbiter's commander to use the main gear braking system for differential steering. Nose wheel steering would allow Space Shuttle commanders to use the brake system for stopping orbiters rather than for braking and steering combined.
A nose wheel steering capability was in the Space Shuttle design, but used only on an experimental basis. NASA had spent the last year upgrading the system to operational status. In addition, NASA instrumented the Challenger to provide better landing condition data and planned to add instrumentation to the landing gear system of the Discovery.
In the 17 Space Shuttle missions to date, NASA had used 68 individual brake systems with 27 receiving no damage, 27 receiving slight damage, and 14 receiving significant damage in which either one or more stators or rotors overheated or suffered other problems.
Until the nose wheel steering capability became operational, NASA intended to choose on a flight by flight basis between Kennedy Space Center and Edwards Air Force Base as the primary end of mission landing site. (JSC Space News Roundup, )June 14/85, 2)
With the aim of eventually conducting a piloted simulation study to assess airplane susceptibility to tumbling (an autorotative pitching motion where an airplane could theoretically go out of control end over end) and developing mathematical control laws for providing resistance to tumbling motions, Langley Research Center was testing in its spin tunnel a modern configuration, the X-29A forward-swept wing demonstrator, that had shown a tendency for the unaugmented airframe (without black box) to tumble, the Langley Researcher reported.
Certain modern aircraft design trends had established the need to study the phenomenon of tumbling. One such trend was relaxed static stability, where a displacement in pitch was not automatically corrected by the natural aerodynamics of the airplane; however, an electronic black box made such an airplane controllable. Other design trends contributing to tumbling were the elimination of aft-mounted horizontal tails and an unprecedented demand for pitch agility.
Langley's free-tumbling tests and "single-degree-of-freedom free-to-pitch tests" demonstrated tumbling motions that could not be controlled by the canard (forward horizontal wing) surfaces. The strake flaps were somewhat effective during tumbling. Researchers also obtained aerodynamic wind-tunnel data for the X-29A configuration over a 360° angle-of-attack range (to include flying backwards). (Langley Researcher, June 14/85, 4)
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