May 8 1974
From The Space Library
Siegbert B. Poritzky, Special Assistant for Systems and Research fox the Air Transport Association, presented U.S. scheduled airlines' views on NASA's role and responsibility to the aircraft industry, before a House Committee on Appropriations' Subcommittee on HUD-Space-Science-Veterans hearing on FY 1975 appropriations. Poritzky said it was NASA'S responsibility to build a technology base for aeronautics through innovative independent research in addition to undertaking directed research in response to specific problems. Also vitally important was NASA's responsiveness to the needs of other agencies. Airlines recommended a $24.5-million increase in funding for NASA'S aeronautical programs-for propulsion environment-impact minimization, aircraft operations; alternative fuels, wake-vortex minimization, and noise research.
James J. Hartford, Executive Secretary of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, testified that some cuts in the NASA budget were "penny wise and pound foolish." Additional but "relatively modest" funding would prevent the High Energy Astronomical Observatory (HEAO) program-which was to investigate the scientifically exciting black holes in space-from "limping along." Scientists had been skeptical of the usefulness of the space shuttle to science, but the Skylab Apollo Telescope Mount discoveries had so far exceeded expectations that astronomers "could hardly wait" for the Large Space Telescope, planned for launch on the shuttle. "That project unified the space science community" as "nothing ever did in the past."
Other "logical follow-ons" to the approved program were urged: Mariner Jupiter-Uranus 1979 mission, Jupiter orbiter, Venus atmospheric probe, and a follow-on to the Viking Mars 1975 with a rover capability.
Hartford also suggested that NASA and other Government agencies were not doing enough work in space applications. Cuts in NASA's communications satellite research and development program had been based on the incorrect assumption that private industry could take on full comsat R&D with no further Government stimulus. Early commercial exploitation of communications R&D had been rapid only because Government research had reduced risks to an acceptable level. Competition was now coming from Canadian, Japanese, and European organizations with "a lot of government backing" who had developed a technical capability approaching that of the U.S. and were willing to take high risks. (Transcript)
Skyrocketing fuel prices had added almost $1.5 billion to the cost of producing aluminum, titanium, and magnesium, threatening serious inflation for military aircraft programs and NASA's space shuttle, the Washington Post reported. The price of aluminum had jumped from 6.5 cents for a half kilogram to 31.5 cents in the preceding six months. One aerospace company was quoted as telling the Pentagon and NASA that the rising aluminum prices would increase its program costs 16%. Grumman Aircraft Corp. had said it was paying 25% more for titanium and aluminum than one year ago. Grumman manufactured six models of aircraft, including the Navy's F-14, which used more titanium than any other aircraft. Rockwell International Corp. had raised the estimated delivery cost of each of its B-1 bombers from $45 million to $61.5 million, at least partly because of soaring aluminum and titanium prices. Each B-1 required 12 000 kg of titanium and 24 000 kg of aluminum. (O'Toole, W Post, 8 May 74)
Methods developed to analyze images of the earth taken by the ERTS 1 Earth Resources Technology Satellite (launched 23 July 1972) had been adapted to enhance x-rays for medical use, NASA announced. The new technique, developed by a NASA cooperative student at Kennedy Space Center, included a microdensitometer that scanned the film and separated the grey shades into various densities. The untrained eye could detect 8 to 10 shades and the trained eye 32, but the microdensitometer could pick out 256 shades. Breaking down the image into more grey levels showed detail not perceived by the human eye. (KSC Release 81-74)
Pan American World Airways, Inc., ordered a cockpit ground-proximity warning system installed on its entire 140-aircraft fleet. The device, de-signed by Sundstrand Data Control, Inc., would sound a loud "Whoop! Whoop! Pull up!" and flash a red light reading "terrain" if an aircraft was heading for a mountain slope or was too low on takeoff or landing. The decision to install the equipment had been hastened by recent air-craft accidents, including the 22 April crash of a Pan Am aircraft into a Bali, Indonesia, mountaintop, which had killed 107 persons. (Witkin, NYT, 9 May 74)
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