Mar 9 1987
From The Space Library
NASA announced that its Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation (NAS) supercomputer system, the world's most advanced, had become fully operational. The NAS system will make possible a wide range of aerospace vehicle technologies and capabilities and will ensure the Nation's preeminence in aeronautical research. By the end of 1987, the operational system was expected to be capable of a billion calculations per second, and within a decade its capability should reach 10 billion calculations per second. The 90,000-square-foot NAS building, located at NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, and containing a 15,000-square-foot central computer room was equipped with an may of systems for the optimal functioning of the computers. (NASA Release 87-21; NY Times, Mar 10/87; CSM, Mar 10/87; SF Chron, Mar 10/87)
NASA Administrator Dr. James C. Fletcher announced that he would retain and strengthen the existing Space Shuttle processing arrangement at the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, with Lockheed Space Operations Company, Titusville, Florida. The decision was recommended by a senior review group set up to study the ground processing of Shuttle flight hardware. The group was chaired by Roy S. Estess, Deputy Director, National Space Technology Laboratories, Mississippi, and included representatives from NASA Headquarters and from each field center. (NASA Release 87-26)
Aviation Week & Space Technology reported that the Space Goals Task Force of the NASA Advisory Council recommended a crew- tended mission to Mars. The task force, headed by former Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, stressed that the development and operation of a U.S./international Space Station was a prerequisite for exploration of Mars and beyond. It also stressed that NASA needed to resume Shuttle flights as soon as possible and develop expendable launch vehicles.
The task force listed the following major steps required for a successful Mars mission: an aggressive exploration of Mars to support a longer-term, crew-tended mission to Mars, buildup of the technological base needed to support that mission to Mars, establishment of a realistic schedule for the project, and an assessment of whether another crewed mission to the Moon was needed to precede a Mars mission. (Av Wk, Mar 9/87; NY Times, Mar 18/87)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
