Sep 4 1964
From The Space Library
NASA's OGO I (Orbiting Geophysical Observatory) was launched from Cape Kennedy by Atlas-Agena B rocket booster into highly elliptical orbit (92.721-mi. apogee, 175-mi. perigee, 6211/2-hr. period, and 31° inclination to the equator), The huge 1,073-lb. satellite carried 20 experiments, inaugurating new "space bus" series of standardized observatories capable of conducting many related space experiments simultaneously in space. However, one of OGO I's long booms, one short boom including the omnidirectional radio antenna did not deploy. This resulted in abnormal operation of the automatic control system, and most of the control gas was used in attempting to lock the satellite into its earth-stabilized orbit. Project officials attributed the satellite's inability to lock onto the earth to the fact that its earth-seeking sensor was obscured by one of the undeployed booms. Scientists decided not to attempt turning on experiments for several days while calculating contingency operations for a spin-stabilized satellite. (NASA Release 64-213; GSFC Release G-26-64; AP, NYT, 9/6/64, 26; Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 9/8/64)
NASA announced signing of nine-month contract extension for Project Apollo spacecraft with North American Aviation's Space and Information Systems Div. The $496-million extension called for five additional command and service modules, three additional flight boilerplate spacecraft, a full-scale mockup, and nine adapter sections to house Lunar Excursion Modules. (NASA Release 64-227)
NASA issued supplemental list of technology utilization publications, designed to acquaint the public with useful innovations from space research. (NASA Release 64-225; TU List)
Cornell Univ. astronomer Dr. Thomas Gold said in Science article that absence of surface rock outcroppings in RANGER VII close-up lunar photographs supported his thesis that the moon is covered with dust. Erosion of the moon's surface at rate of one micron (1/25,000 in.) per year would be enough, "over geological time," to smooth out a once-rocky surface. This erosion, caused by cosmic dust and energetic solar particles, would have deposited dust in low areas and gradually filled them. However, Dr. Gold said that even if in the craters and seas the dust were a mile deep, it was no cause for concern; dust on the moon, like that on earth, would not necessarily be loose and powdery at depths below the surface. (Wash. Eve. Star, 9/4/64)
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