May 3 1971
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. was "showing signs of an accelerated effort" in space "stretching far beyond the implications of last month's start on an orbiting space station," Aviation Week & Space Technology said. "Latest analysis of orbital changes achieved by Cosmos 382, launched by a Proton booster ... last fall . . . shows that the large unmanned satellite was moved once at an acceleration corresponding precisely to that required for lunar orbit insertion and once at exactly the velocity change needed for trans-earth injection." (Av Wk, 5/3/71, 13)
Dept. of Labor's Manpower Administration began Technology Mobilization and Reemployment Program to help find jobs for 30 000 of 100 000 unemployed scientists, engineers, and technicians in 14 target areas hit by layoffs in aerospace and defense industries. (Labor Dept PIO)
Defeat of SST program and "widespread public antipathy toward technology" had "encouraged the political liberals to intensify their attack on defense spending and press for a larger welfare budget," Robert Hotz said in Aviation Week & Space Technology editorial. "The Air Force B-1 supersonic bomber program will inherit all the supersonic transport's onus since it has basically the same flight characteristics." (Av Wk, 5/3/71, 9)
May 3-14: International Workshop on Earth Resources Survey Systems was held at Univ. of Michigan to inform representatives of 51 countries and international organizations of latest techniques for interpreting earth resources data acquired by aircraft and satellite remote sensing systems. Workshop was sponsored by NASA, Dept. of Agriculture, NOAA, U.S. Geological Survey, USN Naval Oceanographic Office, AID, and Dept. of State. Ambassador George H. W. Bush, U.S. Representative to U.N., in welcoming address called space technology a global tool and said, "for a global tool to be used productively and efficiently, there must be a climate of international cooperation." Workshop and U.N. could "provide policy makers and program managers in developing countries with the basic information to enable them to consider seriously how this new technology may help them meet their needs." Dr. William T. Pecora, Under Secretary of the Interior, said in keynote address that earth-surveying satellites were "must" for world's welfare. "Whether or not our great population can avoid intolerable social problems of a crowded world and maintain the hoped-for living standards is a matter of conjecture, but our ability to survive will depend in large part on critical assessment of all the earth's resources."
Leonard Jaffe, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Applications, described NASA Earth Resources Aircraft Program (ERAP) : "Instead of waiting for data acquired from spacecraft, users are presently obtaining multispectral data of Earth phenomena from sensors carried by NASA aircraft . .. to evaluate the sensors and to develop a solid foundation for observational and interpretive techniques for earth-resources space missions." EP included RB- 57F, P-3A, and C-130B aircraft. "We shall shortly add two more high altitude (U-2) aircraft." Lockheed C-130B was flying optical and infrared laboratory with 24-channel multispectral scanner to provide information on signatures used to separate, classify, and identify specific earth resources. "This is an expansion of the 12- channel scanner of the University of Michigan C-47 aircraft which we also use for the same purposes. The P-3A or Electra is our radio-wave instrument development laboratory." Radio antennas on underside of aircraft were used heavily for oceanographic and hydrological studies. Since remotely sensed data had to be verified with actual ground data, "complementary ground efforts are necessary during the research phase of the program." In spacecraft program to begin in 1972, "ERTS satellites will be placed into a 920-kilometer [570-mi], sun-synchronous (near polar) orbit. This will permit the satellite, with its narrow-angle sensors, to observe the same spot on Earth once every 18 days. It also ensures that observations are made with a nearly constant solar-illumination angle required for developing identification signatures. The altitude permits narrow-angle sensors to be used to obtain virtually undistorted images." (NASA Release 71-74; GE Challenge, Summer 1971; Transcript)
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