Mar 27 1978
From The Space Library
NASA and the Dept. of Energy announced they had signed a joint contract with Mechanical Technology, Inc., Latham, N.Y., to develop and test 3 generations of the Stirling engine for passenger cars. Produced earlier by United Stirling of Sweden, the baseline engine would be the hardware starting point for improving automotive fuel economy, performance, reliability, weight, and cost. The Stirling engine offered potential high fuel efficiency, flexibility in choice of fuels, inherently low noise and low pollution, and good driving characteristics. (NASA Release 78-48; DOE Release R-78-104)
George Mueller, NASA's associate administrator for manned spaceflight 1963-1969, now chairman and president of Systems Development Corp., was named president-elect of the American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Av Wk reported. He would serve on the AIAA board of directors during 1978 and be inaugurated as president in 1979. Av Wk, Mar 27/78, 11)
INTELSAT announced award of an international research contract valued at $75 380 to Cable & Wireless, Ltd., London, to determine the effects of rain on comsat radio signals. C&W would obtain annual statistics for rain-caused depolarization at 4GHz frequencies by measuring the relative amplitude of the 2 orthogonal circular-polarized components of a satellite signal. INTELSAT would use results to develop transmission and reception techniques that could double the capacity of its international telecommunications satellites. (INTELSAT Release 77-8-M)
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