Nov 2 1975
From The Space Library
Efforts to charge batteries on the Viking 2 lander failed for unknown reasons, but controllers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory were confident that time would allow them to solve the problem. Both Viking l and 2 were launched with their lander batteries essentially uncharged to prolong their lives; the batteries aboard the Viking 1 lander were charged without difficulty 2 wk ago, and the same procedure had been scheduled for Viking 2. The spacecraft carried a backup as well as a prime battery charger, but NASA had not attempted to use it in case the problem had originated outside the charger system. Use of the backup before the problem had been identified might have damaged it as well as the prime charger. Viking 2, originally scheduled to be launched first, had been pulled back for repair after its orbiter batteries had been accidentally drained; officials said there was no connection between prelaunch orbiter problems and the lander situation. (NASA Release 75-288; Aero Daily, 4 Dec 75, 10; SBD, 4 Nov 75, 16)
Marshall Space Flight Center forwarded the experimental payload for the first launch of NASA's Space Processing Applications Rocket (SPAR) project to Goddard Space Flight Center, where the payload would be integrated' with its launcher, a Black Brant sounding rocket. The integrated unit would undergo checkout before being sent to N. Mex. for firing by White Sands Missile Range early in Dec. The payload consisted of nine scientific experiments on processing materials in near-weightlessness. After the first launch, three flights per year carrying similar payloads had been planned through 1980. All payloads were to be recovered by parachute for ground analysis. The lowcost SPAR missions would provide data on space processing until Space Shuttle flights began in the early 1980s. (MSFC Release 75-233)
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