Mar 1 1965
From The Space Library
NASA Administrator James E. Webb sent a letter to the House and Senate space committees outlining major reprograming of funds planned by NASA during the remainder of FY 1965. Webb said $13 million had been allocated to large solid rockets in FY 1965 and nothing in the following year "due to the President's decision not to include funds in the NASA '66 budget," Close-out costs for the large solids would amount to $8.5 million in addition to the $13 million already earmarked "and would yield no technical confirmation of the planned objectives." By adding another $5.3 million, "bringing the FY '65 funding to $26.8 million." NASA would "carry the Phase I program through to completion." Phase I called for the manufacture and firing of two "half-length" rockets 78 ft. long and 260 in. in diameter. Additional close-out funds were also granted to the other programs not included in the FY '66 budget: $2,15 million for Snap-8; $3 million for the M-1 engine. ( Text; NASA Auth. Hearings [Part 4], 279-88)
First Saturn V booster (S-IC-T) had been moved to static test stand at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center to prove out its propulsion system. The 280,000-lb. stage, developed jointly by MSFC and Boeing Co., had two tanks with total capacity of 4,400,000 lbs. of liquid oxygen and kerosene, and five F-1 engines, each weighing ten tons, which provided total thrust of 7.5 million lbs. ( FC Release 65-47; Marshall Star, 3/3/65, 1, 6)
Louis Walter, geochemist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, reported that of the 400 specimens received from "Operation Moon Harvest" none analyzed was a meteor or other non-earth fragment. It had been theorized that because of the low gravity of the moon, meteoroids striking the moon might dislodge fragments which would be attracted by earth's gravity, and that analysis of the fragments would provide important clues to composition of the moon. (Des Moines Register, 3/2/65)
Dr. Mose L. Harvey, Director of the Univ. of Miami Center for Advanced International Studies and history professor, was sworn in by NASA as part-time consultant in international affairs. Dr. Harvey also was a consultant to U.S. State Department's Policy Planning Council. (NASA Release 65-71)
JPL's Dr. Robert Nathan had developed computer system that was doubling resolution of Ranger lunar photographs. Picture data were taken directly from magnetic tape and digitized for insertion into an BM 7094, thereby bypassing kinescope response that had contributed to distortion of published Ranger pictures. Calibration data obtained before Ranger flight were used to remove noise and distortion which brought "a dramatic increase in resolution." Craters became visible that were not seen in original pictures. (M&R, 3/1/65, 8)
ComSatCorp announced delay of Early Bird synchronous satellite launch, previously targeted for end of March, because of decision to replace defective transistors and retest replacements. (ComSatCorp Release)
David Sarnoff, Chairman of RCA, accepting National Commander's Award for Distinguished Service, said at the American Legion's fifth annual Washington conference: "The same sense of mission that ignited our young nation's Westward expansion a century ago should now be brought to bear in support of the President's space objectives. . . . "Leadership in space and in the communications art which is the key to mastery in space, translates itself today into political, military, economic and social leadership among the nations of the world. Technological leadership resembles a magnet which attracts other forces. When it is weakened, these forces are drawn into other orbits." President Johnson sent a message endorsing the award and praising Mr. Sarnoff's achievements "on behalf of a grateful nation." (NYT, 3/2/65)
Editorializing in Missiles and Rockets, William Coughlin suggested a "useful mission" for which RANGER IX might be adapted : "Our unsolicited proposal to NASA is that Ranger be employed to return to Earth photographs of Earth from space. Satellites have told us the Earth is 'pear-shaped' rather than round and that it draws a perhaps invisible but comet-like tail after it through space. Photographs of the entire Earth globe as seen from space would have high scientific value. As a propaganda triumph, it would be unequalled. . . ." M&R, 3/1/65, 46)
President Johnson, addressing 40 winners of annual Westinghouse science talent search, said science and politics should strive to "serve humanity." He added that this country was "very anxious to produce all the scientists that we can," and expressed hope that scientists would learn about government and politics. Larry Dean Howard of Canoga Park, Calif., won first prize for having developed a method of accurately defining the orbits of earth satellites through the use of differential calculus. Prize was a $7,500 Westinghouse scholarship. (AP, NYT, 3/1/65; Loftus, NYT, 3/2/65, 14)
USAF conducted first inland Minuteman ICBM flight test, launching the missile from a silo near Newell, N. Dak. (M&R, 3/8/65)
March 1-3: The AIAA Unmanned Spacecraft Meeting was held in Los Angeles. Maj. Gen. O. J. Ritland, AFSC's Deputy Commander for Space, said in address that focus on manned space events often caused us to lose sight of the numerous space missions adequately performed by unmanned spacecraft. Although much of unmanned spacecraft activity had directly supported manned missions, "unmanned space technology has benefitted only indirectly from manned space effort." He predicted that future manned missions might reverse this relationship and cited the objectives of the USAF MOL program as an effort to strengthen and expand technology for all space programs. MOL program would develop technology to improve manned space capability; demonstrate servicing by man of large structures in space; conduct basic scientific and general technological manned experimentation; determine biological response of man in space for extended periods. General Ritland said: "With a laboratory in space, astronaut-scientists or engineers can assemble, test, and observe the operation of many subsystems or components in the actual space environment. They can observe equipment failures on the spot and will be able to make necessary replacements or repairs. I have spent many hours . . . looking over space flight data-attempting to determine exactly what failed and why it failed. The time is near when we can overcome many of these frustrations and uncertainties by use of the astronaut to answer such questions or to relay data to the ground for detailed analysis." (AFSC Release)
Discussing future requirements for military satellite communications systems, Samuel P. Brown, Technical Director, U.S. Army Satellite Communications Agency, said: "The feasibility of gaining significant improvements in this area appears very good based on the lessons learned from the SYNCOM spin stabilized satellite and the approaches planned for the DOD's Initial Defense Communications Satellite Project and NASA's Applications Technology Satellite Program. From these and other programs is expected to evolve techniques for spacecraft stabilization which will permit the increase of satellite antenna gains by an order of magnitude." (Text)
NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Sciences and Applications Edgar M. Cortright said the reason for a civilian and a military space program lay in fundamental differences in the respective roles of NASA and DOD: "NASA's role is to explore and exploit space for peaceful purposes. The DOD's role is to stay prepared to defend the United States and its allies, operating in any medium that furthers this end. The present space program with its great breadth would never have evolved under the DOD, which must necessarily devote its full attention to its awesome military responsibilities. . . . "Fortunately, the two space programs are mutually supporting and blend together quite well. They use common equipment ... and draw on the same scientific and industrial base . . . numerous projects are of great mutual interest. Top management in both agencies devotes substantial effort to insure close cooperation and to minimize duplication." (Text)
JPL's Dan Schneiderman, project manager for NASA's Mariner program, told AIAA delegates that data from MARINER IV's solar plasma probe, which ceased normal functioning ten days after the Nov. 28, 1964, launching, had become understandable to scientists through analysis of a component failure in the plasma probe. Telemetry from a second instrument indicated that a portion of the ionization chamber experiment, which measured radiation in space, was not operating properly. Schneiderman said the new failure was in the Geiger-Mueller tube. Schneiderman estimated that based on nitrogen consumption to date, there was enough gas available to keep MARINER IV stabilized for about six years. He said there had been no loss of lock with Canopus since a special command was transmitted to the probe Dec. 17,1964. (NASA Release 65-73)
March 1-3: The first NASA University Program Review Conference in Kansas City, Mo., assembled over 400 university representatives interested in learning how their institutions could qualify for NASA grants for space-related research or expand present programs. Dr. Thomas L. K. Smull, Director of the NASA Office of Grants and Research Contracts, reported that 200 universities were participating in the program, that some of the grants were for specific projects, some in university sustaining programs, and others for the support of predoctoral candidates. He said that while NASA was "mission oriented," its job was not limited to putting a man on the moon: "Its objective is the expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space. One problem is how the academic community can communicate with NASA." (McCoy, Kansas City Star, 3/1/65)
In a luncheon address, Dr. Raymond L. Bisplinghoff, NASA Associate Administrator for Advanced Research and Technology, urged educators not to strangle "the holy curiosity of inquiry." He said the success of the U.S. space program depended largely on "formation of ideas by individuals working as individuals in universities." (Text)
Sen. Stuart Symington (D-Mo.) told the Conference that the U.S. must "widen the scope of man's imagination, trample rough-shod over intellectually inhibiting barriers and stimulate to their fullest potential the mental powers of young and reasonably young Americans if the United States were to achieve and maintain preeminence in space." Symington emphasized the need for communication of new knowledge. (Kansas City Times, 3/3/65)
Dr. Willard F. Libby, Director of Univ. of California's Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, reviewed activities supported by NASA multidisciplinary grant: "In the three years UCLA has administered [the . . . NASA grant, we have aided in bringing thirty-seven visiting scientists to this campus for short periods of time. This grant has supported fourteen visiting researchers for periods of up to one year. Through the use of these funds and program enrichment funds from the NASA Predoctoral Traineeship grant, we have aided in bringing seven new faculty members to this campus to augment the existing faculty in space-related fields. . . . Finally, we have made over fifty sub-grants to faculty for new starts on space-related research in various areas-Biology and Medicine, Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Business Administration." (Text)
More than 250 scholars and theologians met in New York to discuss means of attaining world peace and "to lay groundwork for a theology for the dawning age of cybernation." Moral and technological implications of Pope John XXIII's encyclical Pacem in Terris were studied. Meeting was sponsored by Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. (NYT, 3/2/65, 28; NYT, 3/3/65, 24)
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