Nov 15 1965
From The Space Library
EXPLORER XXIX, first NASA satellite to use a gravity-gradient system for stabilization, had pointed its instrumentation toward earth and was expected to be programed for operation within several days. Achievement of the desired attitude was confirmed by magnetic and solar sensors and by marked increase in the strength of radio signals, Project officials at NASA GSFC and Johns Hopkins Univ. Applied Physics Laboratory reported four EXPLORER XXIX geodetic measurements systems had been Checked out and were performing as expected; the fifth, using laser beam reflectors, would be tested when the spacecraft had completed its stabilization phase. (NASA Release 65-354)
Tass reported all equipment onboard Soviet probe VENUS II, launched November 12 on a three-and-one-half month journey toward Venus, was functioning normally, Radio communications were excellent and commands were being followed. VENUS II was 1,149,000 km. (712,380 mi,) from earth. (Tass, 11/15/65)
Agreement was signed for a cooperative Brazilian-U.S. sounding rocket project to obtain meteorological information, NASA announced. Project provided for cooperation in obtaining wind, temperature, and other meteorological information between 40 km. and 100 km, by rocket soundings using the acoustic grenade technique. Experiments would be conducted from the Brazilian launch range at Natal. The agreement, in form of a memorandum of understanding, was signed by representative of the Momissao Nacional de Atividades Espaciais (CNAE) of Brazil and NASA. It was the third to be concluded between CNAE and NASA during 1965. (NASA Release 65-372)
A group of amateur astronomers working on a lunar research project for NASA reported observations of unusual color glows on the moon and photographed this phenomenon. The group told NASA it saw the color in the crater Aristarchus during a four-hour period before daylight through a 16-in. telescope at Port Tobacco, Md. Although such events had been observed several times since the Russian astronomer N. Kozyrev first recorded observations or red glows on spectrograms, this was the first time photographic equipment was used successfully to record the sightings in the crater Aristarchus, Observation was culmination of a 16-mo, vigil by members of a "Moon-Blink" team from Annapolis, Md. The team had made two previous confirmed sightings, including one in the crater Alphonsus last year, but they were much shorter and were not photographed. (NASA Release 65-370)
A five-week technical assessment of supersonic transport air-frame designs proposed by the Boeing Co. and Lockheed Aircraft Corp. was begun by an 82-member Government technical team with representatives from NASA, FAA, USAF, and USN. Formed under the FAA Director of Supersonic Transport Development B/G J. G. Maxwell (USAF), the group would emphasize operational performance of the proposed configurations in terms of program objectives for a safe, economical aircraft compatible with present airports, airline operating requirements, and engine noise and sonic boom criteria. Performance characteristics of each design would be examined in detail, both analytically and through wind tunnel tests at NASA Langley Research Center and NASA Ames Research Center. Results of the assessment would provide guidance for further contractor programing in the present detailed design and hardware test phase of the SST development program which called for prototype construction to begin by the end of 1966. (FAA Release 65-110)
Nucleus of comet Ikeya-Seki had split into three pieces, all of which were traveling together in parallel courses into deep space. The three-piece break, observed Nov, 4 and 5 by Howard Pohn at U.S. Geological Survey Observatory in Flagstaff, had been confirmed by Mt. Palomar Observatory and Boyden Station, South Africa. (Sci. Serv., NYT, 11/15/65, 74)
Modified Boeing 707-349C jet carrying 40 scientists left Honolulu to begin a 26,263-mi, around-the-world flight over the North and South Poles. The jet would cruise at between 30,000 ft, and 40,000 ft. to allow study of high-altitude meteorology, clear-air turbulence, the jet stream, and cosmic radiation; time-lapse cameras would photograph the weather at five-minute intervals. Environmental fatigue problem of flight's participants resulting from the cramped quarters and long duration of the 52-hr. to 56-hr. flight would also be studied. Dr. Serge A. Korff, New York Univ., headed the scientific team; Rockwell Standard Corp. was sponsor; NASA and U, S. Weather Bureau were two participating agencies. (NYT, 11/14/65, 23; AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 11/ 15/65, Al)
Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey said in address before American Nuclear Society-Atomic Industrial Forum in Washington, D.C.: "If anyone doubts the impact that science and technology have had on society, in just the past 20 years, he need look only at the new industries employing many thousands of people which have come into existence during that time-industries based solely on the evolution of new products and services. These include-and I mention only a few -television, the computer, the jet engine and nuclear energy, "Some of these industries have sprung from the application of a single invention or chain of scientific thoughts. "During these past 20 years, too, we have seen in the United States the creation of a constructive partnership unknown in our previous history-a partnership of government, university, management, labor, science and citizen-a partnership devoted to maximum development of science and technology not for the narrow interest of any single group, but for the common good. "To witness the space launchings at Cape Kennedy, as I have, is to see this partnership in action... ." Turning to the peaceful uses of atomic energy, he said: "As chairman of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, I am particularly concerned with the atom's work in space. "In 1961 our first operating space radioisotopic power source was orbited. And in 1965 our first space reactor was operated in orbit. "The atom will soon become a major power source for our space program-an auxiliary source for spacecraft and life support systems and a necessary source of propulsion for extended space exploration. "I can, in fact, foresee the time when our space efforts will be able to continue only through use of rocket and nuclear power units transported and assembled in space. . ." (Text)
Reports on the Saturn V/Apollo crawler-transporter bearings had just begun and might not be completed until next year, Don Buchanan, project engineer for prime contractor Marion Power Shovel Co, told Missiles and Rockets. (M&R, 11/15/65)
Death-ray use of the laser was impractical, the 72nd annual meeting of the Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S. was told by Dr. Donald H. Glew, Jr, George Washington Univ. surgeon who had conducted laser research for the Armed Forces, Dr. Glew said that, with present sources of laser beams at least, such rays would be impractical as weapons because the necessary equipment would be "far too massive for field use." (AP, Wash, Post, 11/16/65, C5)
In a special report on Project Apollo, Edward Kolcum wrote in Aviation Week and Space Technology that NASA was now driving to simplify Apollo spacecraft systems, subsystems, and Components, and had embarked on an educational program with one goal: to stop the mushrooming tendency to build elements that were more complex and did more than was necessary. (Kolcum, Av, Wk, 11/15/65, 55)
U.S. would withdraw in six months from the Warsaw Convention limiting the liability of international airlines to $8,300 for each passenger killed or injured in air accidents, unless a new agreement was reached substantially increasing carrier liability, the State Department reported. U.S. had refused to ratify a 1955 amendment to the Convention raising the limit to $16,000, was arguing for a $100,000-limit liability. (U.S. State Dept. Release 268)
November 15-17: Dr. Edward C. Welsh, Executive Secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, told a panel at the American Nuclear Society-Atomic Industrial Forum in Washington, D.C.:" ... advancing our competence in nuclear technology is of critical importance to the future of the national space program, Nuclear power and nuclear propulsion are musts for the more complex and long duration missions of the future. ., . "We all know that the nuclear going in space won't be easy... Yet I am confident that the technical problems are resolvable and the investments warranted..." Dr. Welsh delivered a warning to "space planners" to stop sitting on nuclear propulsion concepts and to expedite development programs, "We must not wait for clear-cut space requirements for these nuclear systems before moving forthrightly with their development, If we wait for precise mission definitions the technology will not be available when it's needed. Moreover, we can be sure that our Soviet competitors will take positive actions, whether we do or not. For this country to sit back on its technological haunches and let someone else, bolder and more imaginative, show us the way is unthinkable to me." (Text)
November 15-18: The International Congress on Air Technology was held in Hot Springs, Ark, Dr. Robert M. White, Administrator, Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA), U.S. Dept, of Commerce, referred to the developing World Weather Watch in his address: "The work ... comprises two broad, continuous, and parallel streams of action. The first will be a process of introducing into the present international weather system already proven equipment, techniques, and procedures. We hope that by 1971 ... we will have made three significant improvements in the international system, First, we hope to improve the ability of the system to observe the global atmosphere and to provide fuller data for weather forecasting. In part this improvement will rest on the Tiros Operational Satellite System which the United States will launch into orbit next year. Second, we hope to extend the benefits of modern computer technology throughout the world-by utilizing the computer to prepare weather analyses and forecasts routinely for the entire globe. And third, we hope to develop an international communications network for the timely exchange of raw data and for the rapid dissemination of analyses and forecasts." (Text)
Dr. Floyd L. Thompson, Director of NASA LaRC, delivered a keynote address on "Advances in Aircraft Technology," He discussed the importance of scientific research to the continued leadership of the U.S. in the field of air transportation with particular reference to the next decade. Representing NASA Flight Research Center at the technical sessions was Joseph Walker, Chief of Research Pilots, who spoke on the X-15 research airplane as a tool for progress in hypersonic flight. (LaRC Release)
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