Mar 26 1971
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
Intelsat-IV F 2, launched by NASA for ComSatCorp Jan. 25, began commercial service, transmitting to 15 earth stations in Western Europe, Latin America, and North America. Satellite was initially carrying 830 circuits and transmission was excellent. (INTELSAT Release 71-20; ComSatCorp PIO)
NASA announced plans for first launchings of NASA sounding rockets from French Guiana Space Center at Kourou in cooperative France-U.S. upper-atmosphere research project. Project would launch 20 French Centaure and NASA Nike-Cajun rockets to obtain data on structure and circulation of equatorial atmosphere between 30- and 95-km (18- and 60-mi) altitudes. Under agreement between French National Center for Space Studies (ONES) and NASA, CNES would provide Centaure rockets with sodium vapor payloads, F-1 launcher, launch team, and tracking and ground support. NASA would be responsible for Nike-Cajuns with grenade and ozone payloads, one Nike with an inert 2nd stage, and ground support for payloads. Each agency would bear cost of its agreed responsibilities. (NASA Release 71- 53)
LeRC tests had shown turbofan built by General Electric Co.'s Aircraft Engine Group was quieter than any in use on commercial jets, NASA announced. Noise data from January tests of three GE turbofans had been analyzed. Francis J. Montegani of LeRC Quiet Engine Project had said if four quiet turbofans were installed in long-range subsonic transport, noise level would be within FAA standards. (NASA Release 71-81)
Despite basic differences, lunar samples were not completely different from terrestrial rocks, Northern Illinois Univ. geologist S. S. Goldich wrote in Science. Basalt hornfels from Keweenawan Duluth complex in Minnesota, containing 7% by weight of titanium, were similar in many respects to Apollo 11 lunar samples. Hornfels' texture, as well as primary textures in lunar rocks, resembled those in Keweenawan rocks. (Science, 3/26/71, 1245- 6)
Preliminary results of studies of nuclear tracks in glass lens cover of TV camera landed on moon by Surveyor 3 April 19, 1967, and retrieved by Apollo 12 mission were reported in Science by Washington Univ. physicists G. Crozaz and R. M. Walker. Studies gave information about low-energy nuclear particles from sun and provided basic calibration for nuclear tracks in lunar rock surfaces- erosion rate of nearly 10 millionths cm per year. Results also suggested "small-scale erosion process in lunar rocks." Use of Surveyor 3 TV camera glass filter had enabled General Electric Co. scientists R. L. Fleischer, H. R. Hart, Jr., and G. M. Comstock to determine, for first time, energy spectrum of solar cosmic-ray particles of iron group over energy range from 1 to 100 million ev per nucleon. Difference between observed spectrum and limiting spectrum derived previously from lunar rock tracks gave erosion rate of 0 to 2 A per year. "High-energy fission of lead, induced by galactic cosmic ray protons and alpha particles, has also been observed." (Science, 3/26/71, 1237-41)
Element variation and possible material source of Apollo 12 crystalline rocks was discussed in Science by Univ. of Tokyo geologists Ikuo Kushiro and Hiroshi Haramura. Chemical analysis of nine rocks had shown five rocks contained normative quartz; others had normative olivine and hypersthene. Rocks showed wide range in ratio of iron to magnesium. Findings led investigators to suggest rocks, with one exception, represented different parts of differentiated magmatic body, in which magmatic differentiation by crystallization and settling of olivine was most effective. Source material of original magma might be peridotite with or without plagioclase or spinel or garnet, depending on depth of magma generation. (Science, 3/26/71, 1235-7)
Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, MSC Director, had been selected to receive 1971 James Watt International Medal from Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London, MSC Roundup announced. Dr. Gilruth had been nominated by American Society of Mechanical Engineers and was cited for his "distinguished services to Aeronautical and Space Re-search and for . . engineering leadership which inspired and. directed the Manned Space Flights and successful landings on the Moon." (MSC Roundup, 3/26/71, 1)
NASA announced appointment of B. Porter Brown, Director of Operations Support Requirements in OMSF, as Special Assistant for Missions, Skylab Program, OMSF. (NASA Release 71-45)
New York attorney Paul Sawyer, who had joined NASA to evaluate agency's public relations efforts on March 22, had taken 30-day leave from law firm in which he represented astronauts in negotiating exclusive rights to their stories for magazines, Washington Post reported. Sawyer had said he would not be representing astronauts during NASA assignment. (W Post, 3/26/71, A3)
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