May 12 1976
From The Space Library
NASA announced a first-time use of satellite relay of medical data from a moving ambulance to a hospital. Scientists and engineers at the National Space Technology Laboratories (NSTL) at Bay St. Louis, Miss., worked with General Electric's Science Services Laboratory to develop a special portable transmitter and antenna that could continuously transmit voice and medical data-including electrocardiograms-from a moving ambulance to the satellite and down to a hospital receiving station. During demonstrations of the system on a highway near Bay St. Louis, communications from the ambulance had been received as far away as N. Mex. The NSTL system, using the data-collection system on Goes 3, was similar to a telemedicine system being demonstrated by Johnson Space Center at the Papago Indian Reservation in N. Mex., and use of the Ats 6 for medical communications in Alaska. Use of an inexpensive receiver at the medical center could make remote health care economically feasible; the system might eventually lead to development of a special medical satellite to relay emergency data from remote hospitals, ships, offshore oil platforms, and other remote locations to major medical centers for consultation. (NASA Release 76-86)
A joint U.S.-British astronomy project to study the remnant of an exploded star failed when a rocket-motor malfunction kept the x-ray telescope aboard from acquiring its target, a supernova remnant called Puppis A some 10 trillion km from earth. An English Skylark sounding rocket fired from the Woomera Rocket Range in Australia carried a NASA-designed flight telescope, fabricated and assembled at Marshall Space Flight Center, to obtain information on evolution of stars and the formation of neutron stars. Although the telescope assembly, as well as the detectors and electronics supplied by the United Kingdom, worked perfectly, a hole burned through one side of the rocket's aft end produced more spin than the despin device could offset, said Richard Hoover of MSFC, principal U.S. investigator for the project. "Even with the residual spin, we scanned a portion of the sky in the area of the prime target and acquired data on the diffuse x-ray background [a secondary objective] ... but we couldn't lock on Puppis A in order to get a high-resolution map as desired." The payload was recovered by parachute about 160 km downrange in excellent condition, Hoover said. (NASA Releases 76-62, 76-92; MSFC Release 76-54; MFSC Star, 17 Mar 76, 3)
NASA announced plans for a 2-day course, "Technology Exchange Between the Textile Industry and Government," to be held at Clemson University, Clemson, S.C., to acquaint industry executives with new developments in textile research stemming from government-sponsored programs. Co-sponsored by NASA's Technology Utilization Office, the College of Industrial Management and Textile Science at Clemson, and the Economic Development Administration, the course would offer discussions by experts from industry, government, and the academic community on a wide range of subjects including new fiber developments, fire-retardant materials, and innovations in textile manufacture. Course themes would' include industry-government cooperation, new needs and opportunities for cooperation, industrial developments adopted by the government, industry-government information systems presently available, and consumers' choices at retail. (NASA Release 76-88)
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