Nov 15 1962
From The Space Library
Venus-bound MARINER II spacecraft set new record for communications, transmitting engineering and scientific data to earth from nearly 18 million mi. in space. Previous transmission record was set by PIONEER V space probe at distance of 17.7 million mi. June 14, 1960. (PIONEER V's signal was tracked to 22.5 million mi., but no scientific data were obtained beyond 17.7 million mi.) Launched by NASA on Aug. 27, MARINER II was providing new information on nature of interplanetary space. It would fly by Venus at distance of 20,900 mi. and measure microwave and infrared emissions from the planet on Dec. 14.
NASA attempt to launch ionosphere experiment for Commonwealth of Australia failed when Aerobee vehicle malfunctioned 33 sec. after launch from NASA Wallops Station. However, Australian payload electronics, including telemetry instrumentation and lunar aspect sensor, was activated before liftoff and functioned properly during flight. Launch of similar experiment would be attempted in Dec. for Commonwealth of Australia Scientific and industrial Research Organization.
NASA Director of Manned Space Flight, D. Brainerd Holmes, addressed National Industrial Conference Board, Chicago, on economic implications of manned space flight program: " . . . In a significant, though incidental way, the space program is already enriching and will continue to enrich our country. It is causing a rapid advancement of industrial technology and the stimulation of our economy. The billions of dollars required for the space effort are not being spent on the moon; they are being spent in our factories and laboratories—for salaries and for new materials and supplies, which in turn represent income for others.
"Already the space industry is a major industry. It is creating new job opportunities at all levels of skills and abilities. It is improving standards of living.
"New economically beneficial breakthroughs will be made in many fields. A successful space program will require major and rapid advances in the uses of energy and the development of new materials, fabrics, and lubricants—the very forces that are basic to economic growth.
"Space research and development is already producing corollary benefits in the form of new products, new methods, and new industrial processes which can be employed in the manufacture of countless articles for human use. The surface has probably barely been scratched. . . .
"The development of space science and technology will undoubtedly strengthen our whole industrial base and serve as effective insurance against technological obsolescence. . . ." NASA Administrator James E. Webb announced three-year grant to Graduate Research Center of the Southwest, Dallas, Tex., for development of advanced scientific experiments in lunar, planetary, and space exploration. Major operating division of GRCSW was Southwest Center for Advanced Studies (SCAS), which would "provide research organization structured specifically to design new space experiments and to provide the scientific guidelines for engineering them." AEC announced Dr. Edward Teller would be awarded the Enrico Fermi Award at ceremony on Dec. 3. Citation accompanying the award would praise Dr. Teller "for contributions to chemical and nuclear physics, for his leadership in thermonuclear research, and for efforts to strengthen the national security." Dr. Teller, now a professor at University of California, is most noted for his role in development of thermonuclear bomb.
USAF announced there would be at least three-month delay in first test-flight of prototype RS-70 (reconnaissance-strike) supersonic aircraft. Delay was attributed to problems in sealing fuel cells.
Astronomer Dr. E. J. Opik, of Univ. of Maryland, was quoted as saying "the Russians have contributed only five-tenths of one per cent" of the new information on space. "They profess to have sent huge payloads into space 10 to 100 times larger than any the United States is capable of sending. At the same time, however, 99.5 per cent of all information on space has conic from the United States' probes." Dr. Opik was cited in 1960 by National Academy of Sciences for "outstanding investigation of meteoric bodies." Ambassador Charles Bohlen officiated at the opening of a NASA exhibit at the Pallas de la Decouverte, Paris, France. The exhibit would stay in Paris until January 15, included models of past, current, and future NASA spacecraft; panels explaining the goals and results of the U.S. Space program; a working TELSTAR demonstration; and a Spacemobile lecture and demonstration. The exhibit was enthusiastically received by French scientific and government personages attending the inauguration.
AFSC announced it was testing electrocardiogram package in free-fall parachute jumps for possible applications in future manned space flight. Worn inside the astronaut's pressure suit, the small, 14-oz. package could monitor heartbeat (and other physical reactions): Conditioning unit in package converts heartbeat to FM radio signal which is sent by transmitter in package to amplifier in cockpit, and then to ground receivers, where it is converted to electrocardiogram. Use of package would provide astronaut freedom of movement by eliminating need for connections from pilot to spacecraft. Developed by Hughes Aircraft Co., the package was being considered for use in X-15 program.
Astronomer Dr. Carl E. Sagan told American Rocket Society, meeting in Los Angeles, that there was a statistical likelihood that earth had been visited at least once by intelligent beings from other worlds. In interview, he suggested that successful planetary civilizations endure for perhaps a hundred million years and that, as the societies advance, they reach farther from their respective planets into space. He predicted man would begin interstellar travel in about 100 years—in star ships, powered by hydrogen-fusion ramjet engines and built in space.
Scientists at Hughes Aircraft Co. displayed Surveyor lunar probe at American Rocket Society, the probe containing redesigned payload weighing about 114 lbs. as compared to originally designed payload weighing 220 lbs. Payload of instruments would be placed on the moon in late 1964. Dr. Leo Stoolman, Surveyor project chief for Hughes, said reasons for redesigning Surveyor instrument package were difficulty in Centaur launch vehicle program and decision to include only instruments that would directly assist U.S. manned lunar landing program.
Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, Director of NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, told Aircraft Industries Association Quality Control Committee in Houston that designs, procedures, and schedules in manned space flight program had to be flexible in order to absorb continual changes of rapidly advancing technology. Emphasizing importance of equipment malfunctions that occur during systems development or preflight preparations, Dr. Gilruth said: "In manned flight, we cannot afford to regard any of these equipment malfunctions as a 'random' failure. We must regard every malfunction and, in fact, every observed peculiarity in the behavior of a system, as an important warning of potential disaster. Only when the cause is thoroughly understood, and a change to eliminate it has been made, can we proceed with the flight program....
"Rapid corrective response to malfunctions throughout system development and preflight preparations is a critically important requirement of our programs if we are to meet schedules with hardware that is fit to fly. . . ." Dept. of Commerce released translation of Soviet report on use of rockets to prevent hailstorms. Report said thousands of acres of grape crops were protected by anti-hail rockets in 1961 and efforts were expanded this year. Rockets were loaded with cloud-seeding chemicals and fired into suspected clouds, the released chemicals crystallizing cloud droplets to (1) prevent. existing hailstones' growing larger, and (2) cause the crystallized droplets to "fall as harmless snow." Aviatrix Jerrie Cobb told Women's Advertising Club of Washington, D.C.: "We're bypassing the one scientific space feat we could accomplish now putting the first woman in orbit. . . ."
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