Mar 14 1977
From The Space Library
NASA announced appointment of Maj. Gen. Kenneth R. Chapman, USAF (Ret.), as assistant administrator for its Hq Office of DOD and Interagency Affairs, effective Apr. 1. He would replace Lt. Gen. William. W. Snavely, USAF (Ret.), who left NASA in Sept. 1976 to accept a position in Saudi Arabia. Chapman, a nuclear chemist, was formerly director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). (NASA Release 77-50)
NASA announced that LeRC had supplied news media in the Cleveland area with readings of daily solar energy available for use during the winter. Using a pyranometer, a device to record total solar energy reaching a surface, LeRC staff measured the kilowatt hrs of solar energy received on a 150m2 surface facing south at a 37° angle. Other NASA centers had made similar measurements, all related to solar energy research being pursued by the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). (NASA Release 77-49)
JSC announced construction of a new lunar curatorial facility, a $2.02 million 4200m2 addition to the old facility, Bldg. 31. The new facility, being built by Spaw Glass, Inc., of Houston, would provide clean secure storage space as well as processing, experiment, and simulation labs for NASA's 480kg of lunar samples. (JSC Release 77-20)
NATO had not made a choice between the U.S.-built Boeing AWACS (airborne warning and control system) or the British Hawker Siddeley Nimrod as its airborne-radar plane, the W Star reported. Britain and France favored selection of the already operational Nimrod in retaliation for U.S. refusal to grant New York landing rights to the Anglo-French Concorde, and in order to preserve 7000 jobs on the Nimrod production line. Nimrod's performance on North Atlantic patrol might hamper sale of the AWACS to NATO, the Star noted. (W Star, Mar 14/77, A-11) Researchers at Goddard Space Flight Center using data from Orbiting Solar Observatory 8 (Oso 8) determined that iron-line x-rays had come from hot gas between the galaxies in the Milky Way's local cluster, Av Wk reported, meaning that the space between galaxies in the local cluster was not a perfect vacuum, but the amount of matter between local galaxies was probably about the same as that present within the galaxies. (Av Wk, Mar 14/77, 11)
NASA had planned to fly approximately 150 research missions on its Gates Learjet during 1977, Av Wk reported. Eight different research groups, using the 30cm telescope on board, would conduct infrared observations to obtain upper-atmosphere and magnetodynamic data. (Av Wk, Mar 14/77, 11)
A NASA earth resources monitoring satellite, Landsat-1, had experienced a malfunction in band 1 of its multispectral scanner on Mar. 3, Av Wk reported. Although the malfunction affected only band 1 (a green spectral band identifying sunlight reflected from green plants), NASA had shut down the entire scanner pending a safety investigation by controllers. Landsat-1 had performed satisfactorily since its 1973 launch. (Av Wk, Mar 14/77, 16)
The USSR had increased its military use of space, Av Wk reported. Killer-satellite systems tested during 1976 appeared operational. The Soviets in 1976 had launched 33 reconnaissance missions (the core of their military space program) and apparently had added to their military comsat system as well. (Av Wk, Mar 14/77, 63)
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