Nov 12 1964
From The Space Library
The third final set in a series of dual ship-to-shore sound-ing rocket launchings was conducted at 5:53 a.m. EST from the USNS Croatan and at 5:56 a.m. from Wallops Island, about 300 mi. apart. Sodium vapor was ejected by the Nike-Apache launched from the ship up to an altitude of approximately 141 mi.; sodium vapor failed to eject from the payload launched from Wallops Island. (Wallops Release 64 85; NASA Rpt. SRL)
Harold B. Finger, Manager of NASA-AEC Space Nuclear Propulsion Office, commented in NASA Hq. nuclear rocket background briefing that the Kiwi and NRX power reactor tests conducted during 1964 "constituted the largest advance in rocketry and in rocket performance that has been made since [Robert] Goddard started flying his pump liquid rocket systems in the '20's and '30's. . . ." (SNPO ; NASA Press Conf. Transcript)
Air Force Systems Command announced first successful demonstration of internal thrust from a "scramjet" (supersonic combustion ramjet) engine. The test was one in a series to demonstrate that scramjet engines could be developed for very-high-speed vehicles and was conducted under the direction of Air Force Aero Propulsion Laboratory. Test conditions in the 30-in.-long scramjet engine simulated a speed of approximately mach six over a brief burning period. Frontal area of the engine was approximately three-by-four inches. Scramjets differed from conventional engines in that they had moving parts only in the fuel feeding system and produced thrust by burning fuel in a supersonic air stream. (AFSC Release 49-40-141)
Institute for Strategic Studies, an international organization for research on defense, security, and disarmament, reported U.S. had increased its strategic superiority over U.S.S.R. The report warned, however, that "this may be the last year in which the western superiority in long-range striking power is so marked." By early next year the U.S. would have 925 intercontinental ballistic missiles, compared to U.S.S.R.'s 200. American superiority in fleet ballistic missiles had increased to four to one over U.S.S.R.'s less advanced counterpart of the Polaris. Soviet Union had maintained her superiority in submarine strength. (Cerutti, Chic. Trib., 11/13/64)
In a report to Parliament, France disclosed plans to build up the French nuclear force for the next five years, including supersonic bombers, a Polaris-type submarine, and tactical atomic weapons for the army. Estimated cost of the program, which would extend over a five-year period (1965-70) , was $11 billion. ( Wash. Post, 11/13/64)
The National Academy of Sciences' Panel on Astronomical Facilities presented a 10-year program that would approximately double the nation's ground-based astronomical facilities. Specific recommendations were contained in a 105-page report, Ground-Based Astronomy-A Ten-Year Program. The total cost for construction and operation of the new facilities outlined by the panel was estimated at $224 million over the 10-year period, the maximum annual expenditure of $26 mil-lion occurring during the fourth and fifth years of the program. The panel found, in analyzing "the present serious situation" with respect to ground-based astronomy: "Nearly every phase of observational astrophysics is hampered today because the rate of growth of new astronomical facilities had not kept pace with the increasing demand for fundamental data. "If astronomy is to progress, major new facilities are required." (NAS-NRC Release, 11/12/64)
Dr. Robert L. Sproull, Director of DOD Advanced Research Projects Agency ( ARPA) , speaking at the dedication of the Xerox Corporation's new research and development laboratory in Rochester, N.Y. cautioned that the "spillover" from the Federal Government's own development programs would in the future be less beneficial to industry than it had in the past. Dr. Sproull explained that this would come about because of increased efficiency in Federal research programs and "good management will focus funds and attention ever more precisely on the specific mission and that mission is not the stimulation of American industry." Dr. Sproull offered two suggestions to fill the gap created by the disappearance of Federal "spillover": (1) that a governmental extension service be set up to channel the university-scientific effort into businesses unable to provide their own basic research; (2) that there be more encouragement of industry-research institutes such as the one maintained by the textile industry at Princeton, NJ. (Frost, NYT, 11/13/64, 47)
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