Oct 30 1978
From The Space Library
NASA declared the launch of ESA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Geos 2 on July 14, 1978 successful. Launch-vehicle performance was nominal and had placed the spacecraft and its apogee-boost motor (ABM) into the desired transfer orbit. - Satellite performance was satisfactory during the transfer orbit, and the ABM was fired successfully July 16, 1978. The satellite was being maneuvered over the South Atlantic to a position at 6°E above the equator. All subsystem functional checks were complete and satellite status was satisfactory. The mission had replaced Geos 1, whose Delta vehicle had put it into an incorrect orbit in April 1977. (MOR M-492-302-78-02 [postlaunch] Oct 30/78)
NASA announced it had appointed a board to investigate the SEASAT spacecraft failure, in addition to Dr. Bruce Lundin, previously named chairman [see Oct. 19]. Those appointed were Parker Counts, science and engineering department, MSFC; James Hannigan, flight control division, JSC; Maj. James Mannen, U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Organization; T. Bland Norris, director of the astrophysics division, NASA Office of Space Science; Daniel Shramo, director of space systems and technology, LeRC; and James Stitt, director of electronics, LaRC. Board affiliates were Merland Moseson, director of flight assurance, GSFC liaison; Charles Terhune, deputy director of JPL, JPL liaison; Robert Kinberg, NASA legal counsel; and Dell Williams, NASA Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology, executive secretary.
In a letter to Dr. Lundin reporting the appointments, Dr. Alan Lovelace, NASA deputy administrator, urged that the board move as expeditiously as possible, "consistent with a thorough analysis of the facts, to determine the actual or probable causes of this mission failure." Dr. Lovelace assured Dr. Lundin that appropriate NASA resources and all background information would be available to board members. (NASA Release 78-168)
NASA announced it had planned, weather permitting, to have its Project Cameo release large bluish-white luminescent clouds of barium in the skies over Alaska beginning Saturday, October 28, and lithium over northern Scandinavia at a later date [see Sept. 19]. The agency said Project Cameo clouds should be visible to residents of Alaska, eastern Russia, western Canada, and the northwestern U.S. The chemicals would have been released from the orbiting second stage of a Delta rocket that would have launched the Nimbus 6 satellite into polar orbit Oct. 24. Of the many high-altitude sounding-rocket chemical-cloud launches conducted by NASA throughout the world, this would be. the first from an orbiting vehicle; the Delta second stage was in a circular near-polar orbit at about 950km (590mi) altitude. (NASA Release 78-169)
NASA announced award of a contract to Boeing Commercial Airplane Company, Seattle, Wash., for development and evaluation of selected advanced aerodynamics and active-control concepts for commercial transport aircraft. The contract, to be managed by LaRC, would be part of the second phase of energy-efficient transport (EET) work that had begun in early 1977 under two NASA contracts. The second phase would concentrate on ways to improve energy efficiency and operational economy for subsonic long-haul commercial transport aircraft, including wingtip extension or winglets, surface coatings for drag reduction, wingload alleviation systems, and active controls/guidance systems. Boeing estimated the contract value at $17 million. (LaRC Release 78-65)
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