Mar 26 1962
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. submitted information on 16 Soviet space flights for inclusion in the U.N. public registry on space launchings. Included were the manned orbital flights by Majs. Yuri A. Gagarin and Gherman S. Titov. U.S. submitted a similar list to the U.N. on March 5, covering U.S. space launchings to Feb. 15, 1962, that were still in orbit.
Coordination of international arrangements for exchange and dissemination of weather data, including weather satellite information, was on the agenda of the third session of the U.N.'s Commission for Synoptic Meteorology as it opened a 26-day session in Washington. Technical experts from more than 100 nations had been invited.
Dr. James A. Van Allen, Chairman of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the State University of Iowa, summarized the satellite and space probe findings about the structure of the geomagnetic field surrounding the earth. Describing the inner zone as relatively stable in intensity of charged particles and caused by a combination of internal and external forces, he said the outer zone showed fluctuations in intensity "by factors of 100 to as much as 1,000," said these were complexly related to solar flares and geomagnetic storms. The only convincing explanation for the origin of the outer zone yet made is "the capture of ionized solar gas which sweeps by the earth in great clouds from time to time. . . . But the detailed mechanism for producing the observed energy spectrum remains obscure and the nature of this mechanism is perhaps the most interesting unresolved problem in the subject of trapped radiation." John A. Johnson, General Counsel of NASA, testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on Monopoly, stated that as of Feb. 28, 1962, a total of 297 inventions had been reported by NASA contractors under the patent provisions of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. Of these, 268 had been determined to be Government property, 29 had been or are being considered for waivers.
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