Sep 23 1974
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A four-engine DC-8 transport using a NASA-developed two-segment approach had reduced the area impacted by noise above desirable tolerances by 53% in a normal landing approach, NASA announced. Being evaluated in service by United Air Lines, the aircraft was the second in regular airline service to use a steeper glide path, inclined 5.5° to the ground instead of 3°. When the aircraft intersected the normal flight path, the glide path angle was decreased, with the landing made as usual. Both higher altitudes of the glide path and reduced engine power setting contributed to noise reduction. (NASA Release 74-226)
Japan Rocket Development Assn., an industry group, had proposed a three-phase, $9-billion Japanese program to launch 65 satellites between 1978 and 1987, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported. Nineteen satellites. each weighing under 300 kg, would be launched in the $3.3-billion Phase 1 for engineering, meteorological, geographical survey, communications, navigation, and ionospheric research missions. Of 25 spacecraft in the $2.8-billion Phase 2, some would have earth resources survey missions. Weighing up to 600 kg, they would be launched by N-2 rockets incorporating McDonnell Douglas Delta 1st stages and two 4500-kg, Japanese-built upper stages. The first prototype N-2 was scheduled for summer 1975. The 21 Phase 3 satellites, some weighing 1000 kg, would be orbited at a cost of $2.6 billion, and many would be launched by a Japanese 0-model launch vehicle still being designed. The program also called for launch trials for Japanese M-X boosters. (Av Wk, 23 Sept 74, 21)
Personnel from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, operator of the solar observatory at Johnson Space Center since 1970, would move to Marshall Space Flight Center, JSC announced. NOAA would continue at MSFC as co-investigator in an experiment conducted with the Apollo Telescope Mount on the Skylab Workshop during its 1973-1974 mission. The experiment had gathered solar radiation data in the x-ray region of the solar spectrum. The JSC-NOAA solar observatory would reopen for space shuttle operations. (JSC Release 74-253)
A mainshaft seal for turbine engines was being developed at Lewis Research Center to reduce wear, maintenance, and fuel consumption. By creating a thin gas film, the self-acting lift-pad seal eliminated contact between the seal bore and the rotating shaft shoulder except at startup and shutdown. The seal functioned at higher pressures, speeds, and temperatures than conventional contact seals and, with its low wear and leak rate, would be used in the NASA space shuttle liquid-oxygen pump. (LeRC Release 74-55)
Westinghouse Corp. subsidiary TCom Inc. (for Tethered Communications) was testing the aerostat, an inexpensive alternative to earth-orbiting satellites, Time reported. Developed from signal-relay balloons used for reaching isolated U.S. outposts in Vietnam, the aerostat was a helium-filled balloon anchored at altitudes of 3000-5000 m. In the Bahamas, an aerostat at a 3500-m altitude picked up signals from Miami 180 km away, trebling the range of Florida stations. With its 1800 kg of electronic equipment, the aerostat could receive and broadcast up to 4 TV channels, 2 command radio stations, and data from 5000 to 10 000 microwave circuits. (Time, 23 Sept 74)
President Ford outlined "Project Interdependence," a global approach to the energy problem, in his address to the ninth annual World Energy Conference m Detroit. The President proposed that all nations increase production, reduce consumption, and eliminate waste of energy; that a cooperative spirit exist; that poor nations receive special attention; and that fuel prices reach a level providing strong incentives to producers without disrupting consumer economics.
Describing U.S. mobilization to achieve long-term goals, the President said the energy program would require "a commitment in excess of the successful one made by John F. Kennedy to put a man on the Moon in the last decade." (PD, 30 Sept 74, 1181-6)
The Global Atmospheric Research Program Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE) ended its operations off the coast of Senegal [see 15 June-23 Sept.]. (NOA.A Release 74-154)
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