December 1975

From The Space Library

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Current revision

Goddard Space Flight Center and the Fla. Dept. of Natural Resources had approved the first long-range, space-assisted program to develop an "early warning system" for the onset of red tide, an ocean-borne organism that had left tons of dead fish rotting on beaches around the world. Dr. Warren A. Hovis of GSFC had designed an ocean-color scanner capable of detecting subtle variations in the color of coastal waters that might indicate changes in concentration and species of marine phytoplankton, especially the red-tide dinoflagellate Gymnodinium breve. Red tide had been a major problem because of oxygen depletion in ocean water from fish decomposition, and eye and respiratory infections caused by toxic particles produced in the organism. Shellfish beds affected had been closed for months by authorities. An outbreak of red tide in 1971 had cost the state of Fla. more than $20 million in lost tourist business. The ocean scanner, developed for use in the Nimbus-G pollution-sensing spacecraft scheduled for launch in 1978, could be used in photographic overflights by aircraft and Landsat spacecraft, in connection with on-site sampling of ocean waters by research ships, to detect the organism in time to take countermeasures and warn the public about affected areas. (Spaceflight, Vol 17 No. 12, Dec 75, 425)

The boards of directors of the All-Women Transcontinental Air Race and the Ninety-Nines, Inc., had decided to terminate the Powder Puff Derby-world's largest and longest speed race for light aircraft-after the 1976 bicentennial race, because of the nation's current financial and energy problems, the National Aeronautic Association announced. Sponsored by NAA since its beginning in 1947, the derby had a safety record unparalleled in air race history: no fatalities. The NAA newsletter noted that the derby had inspired countless women to fly, and that recent races had more than 100 aircraft competing. The final derby had been scheduled for 12-19 July 1976 from Sacramento, Calif., to Wilmington, Del. (NAA News, Dec 75)

Space scientists and astronomers had been wrestling with a "cultural crisis" in putting names to features of distant worlds that had never been clearly seen before, as closeup views of several planets became available and more were on the way. Working through the International Astronomical Union, the scientists had been forced to look beyond the names of scientists and explorers that had been used almost exclusively for objects on the moon and on Mars. A meeting on the problem in Moscow in July 1974 had agreed that objects on Venus would be called after women famous in mythology and history. New maps of the recently photographed surface of Mercury would bear the names of contributors to the arts and other' humanities; the scientists had sought advice from scholars in the humanities to get the widest possible representation from past and present cultures.

The Moscow meeting on new approaches to names for planetary features had been preceded by intense work on naming newly discovered configurations on the moon and on Mars. A complete scheme of names for more than 500 large formations on the far side of the moon-visible only to spacecraft because one side of the moon had always been turned toward earth-had been approved in 1970. Soviet scientists had rejected suggestions of names from the humanities for features on the moon and on Mars; they had urged a fresh start on Mercury, a new planet, with formations named not only for authors, as the Americans had originally suggested, but also for persons in other branches of the humanities. (NYT, 25 Dec 75, C10)

Space communities that could supply enough energy to the earth to end its energy crisis permanently had been described in an article by Dr. Gerard K. O’Neill in Aerospace magazine. Recalling the conclusions of Princeton Univ. conferences on space colonization in 1974 and 1975, and his own testimony before the Subcommittee on Space Sciences and Applications of the House Committee on Science and Technology 23 July 1975, Or. O'Neill said that within 13 yrs after beginning construction in space, the amount of usable electricity delivered to the point where power would enter the distribution system would exceed the peak capacity of the Alaska pipeline. An investment of about $96 billion over a 6-yr period would serve to establish the beachhead colony, and even with program costs of up to $300 billion the payback after 9 yr would exceed the total investment and interest, he estimated. (Aerospace, Dec 75, 3)

Establishment of manufacturing facilities in space might be feasible within this century, Dr. Gerard K. O’Neill wrote in the December issue of Science magazine. Construction of satellite solar power stations (SSPSs) from lunar materials, for example, could be shown more economical than building such stations on earth and lifting them into orbit. The space manufacturing facility (SMF) that had been envisioned by Dr. O'Neill and others would be a self-sustaining habitat for a large number of people whose energy needs could be met by solar power used directly for agriculture, as process heat for industry when concentrated by mirrors, or indirectly as electricity. Dr. O'Neill had assembled tables and figures from the literature to accompany his argument for the SSPS as a means of meeting increased demands for electricity on earth in a time of shortage of fuels and concern about use of nuclear energy. (Science, Vol 190, 4218)

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