October 1976
From The Space Library
Numbers of ham radio operators had received pictures transmitted by the Viking lander from the surface of Mars more than 370 million km away, the Associated Press reported in a story reprinted by the New York Times. Retired printing foreman Bob Walton of Des Moines, Ia., said that a third of the 260 000 hams in the U.S. might be capable of receiving the pictures if they spent about $700 on equipment.
Last July the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Pasadena broadcast on its 20m band that off-duty personnel would relay Mars pictures through their amateur radio station; Walton found a junked TV set, replaced some parts, and began receiving the Mars pictures. The JPL signals, tape recorded and put through a converter, turned the sound into pictures when played back. Vocal explanations of the pictures could also be taped for playback. Storms in Iowa had prevented Walton from receiving some of the Mars pictures, but ham operators in Tex. and Fla. sent him the ones he had missed, he reported. (NYT, 7 Oct 76, 10 C)
Video transmissions of Viking lander pictures from the JPL ham radio station N6V (NASA 1976 Viking) at Pasadena had bypassed ham radio operators in San Diego County nearby, wrote Cliff Smith, science writer for the San Diego Union. The shortwave radio signals; good for long distance communications, had been received by "about 13 000 hams around the world equipped to receive the pictures," but not by the score of ham operators around San Diego. The locals pointed out that special converter devices N6V used for picture transmission and reception had been made by a company in San Diego, and that the local ham organization had donated to N6V the converter used by the station for its Viking transmissions. After a representative of the San Diego Reporter Assn. called the situation to the attention of the N6V broadcasters-all hams employed as technicians at JPL, the Viking control center-N6V corrected the omission by beaming its broadcasts to a repeater station on Otay Mt. that most area hams could receive. Pictures received since the change had included shots of the Viking 2 mechanical arm trying to turn over a rock; closeups of the Martian moons, Deimos and Phobos; and a weird-looking alien whose image the JPL station transmitted as a joke. (San Diego Union, 8 Oct 76)
MSFC announced development of a new system of vehicle mobility that could greatly extend unmanned explorations on the surface of Mars and other planets. The concept grew out of work on the successful lunar roving vehicle that carried astronauts and equipment on extended exploration of the moon, far from the lunar module's landing site. Scientists had regretted the lack of mobility of the Viking landers on the surface of Mars, because the data on atmosphere and terrain had been limited to the landing site. The new idea, called Elastic Loop Mobility System (ELMS), would use a continuous elastic-loop track in place of the landing pads; the track would distribute lander weight uniformly over a relatively large area, with suspension and drive systems on the spacecraft combined into a single lightweight package. The geometry of the loop would serve to provide "excellent mobility" on soft soils and smooth rides over hard and rough terrain. Tests on models revealed slope-climbing capability, high maneuverability, and power to surmount obstacles and cross crevasses. Combining the ELMS with existing Viking hardware would produce a mobile laboratory that could conduct scientific missions on the Mars surface for 6 mo along traverses up to 150 km.
Recent reviews of a possible mobile-Viking mission to Mars, using the ELMS concept, considered extending the mission to 2 yr along traverses up to 500 km. The low ground clearance of the Viking spacecraft, together with the low ground-pressure tolerances on soft Martian soil, ruled out the use of wheels for mobility, as well as the use of conventional tracks because of high energy consumption and low operational reliability. Besides use of the MSFC-developed ELMS for planetary exploration, the U.S. Marine Corps had considered the system for a new generation of amphibious landing vehicles for the 1980s, a MSFC spokesman said. (MSFC Release 76-191)
"Under the guise of lack of funds ... a paucity of imagination" had lost the U.S. "a preeminent place in the world of space science and engineering," said a letter in Aviation Wk & Space Technology magazine. In the meantime, the USSR "has not turned down any opportunity to use its space science and engineering to advance their well-being for the present or for the future." The letter cited the Grand Tour exploration of the outer planets, during a planetary configuration that "will not occur again until 179 years have passed," and the Large Space Telescope program as lost opportunities for the U.S. to retain technological superiority. (Av Wk, 11 Oct 76, 74)
Johnson Space Center awarded a $96 000 contract to Martin Marietta Aerospace Co. of Denver for a study of equipment needed to construct a solar-power satellite (SPS) in geosynchronous orbit, in or about 1990. The 9-mo contract called for conceptual design and system definition of equipment to support construction of large space systems in orbit, assuming use of the Space Shuttle, and for defining development and maintenance costs of such equipment. (JSC Release 76-62)
JSC selected Alpha Bldg. Corp. of Houston for negotiations leading to award of a $1 369 000 cost-plus-award-fee contract for construction support services at the Center, including minor construction and other site work-alteration of laboratory systems, facilities, utilities, roads, sewers, walks, etc.-required by space programs and normally for projects estimated at $10 000 or less. The contract would begin 1 December 1976 and end 30 November 1977, with the option for the government to extend the contract for two additional 1-yr periods. (JSC Release 76-63)
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