Feb 19 1973

From The Space Library

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Current revision

NASA was measuring aerodynamic noise made by aircraft in unpowered flight, to solve noise problem in communities surrounding airports. Lockheed-California Co. studies made for NASA and the Navy had indicated that aerodynamic (nonengine) noise might be a signifi­cant portion of total aircraft noise. Knowledge of sources could aid in designing quieter aircraft. Tests had been made with twin-engine, propeller-driven aircraft at Flight Research Center. Flights with twin­engine jet aircraft were planned for late January; flights with four­engine jet aircraft were being considered. (NASA Release 73-22)

Lockheed U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft equipped with sensors and data-transmission link had begun flight tests off the Southern Cali­fornia coast, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported. In one flight, an X-band commercial weather radar modified by Lockheed had de­tected a surfaced submarine at distance of 240 km (150 mi). (Av Wk, 2/19/73, 15)

Five hundredth anniversary of the birth of Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who was the first to propound the theory that the earth moved around the sun. A New York Times editorial said: "Today, after centuries of development of Copernican ideas we know that the earth and this solar system are a relatively unimportant byway in a universe with billions of stars and of similar solar systems. Statistically, the probability is high that there are other sentient forms of life in the universe, separated from us by uncountable light years and perhaps exceeding our species in understanding. Copernicus thus should be honored today both as the founder of modern science and as a pioneer of a more realistic understanding of man's place in the universe.” (NYT, 2/19/73)

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