Nov 9 1976
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The $100 million spent by the U.S. on a search for life on Mars had produced only disagreement over the findings, Viking project scientists said at a JPL press conference. Four of six Viking scientists said they did not know whether life existed on Mars; one denied that Viking had found life; the sixth said he felt Viking had found "primitive microbes" in the Mars soil samples. All six agreed that Viking had found nothing at either the Chryse or the Utopia landing site representing fossils that would have confirmed a previous existence of life on Mars, Washington Post writer Thomas O'Toole reported.
Dr. Klaus Biemann of MIT, who designed the instrument to look for dead organic matter, noted that nothing had been detected, and explained readouts from other instruments as the result of an exotic chemistry catalyzed by some superoxidant in the surface of Mars and activated by solar ultraviolet rays that penetrated the Mars atmosphere all the way to the surface. Dr. Carl Sagan of Cornell Univ. disagreed, saying that the failure to find dead organisms did not outweigh the activity detected by the biology instruments, which produced readings at a lower temperature and lost them when the sample was heated. This result "smells more like biology than any chemistry I can think of," Sagan added. Vance Oyama of ARC favored a chemical explanation; Dr. Gilbert V. Levin of Biospherics said he leaned toward a biological explanation. Dr. Norman H. Horowitz of Calif. Inst. of Technology, who designed the photosynthesis experiment, favored the biology explanation but regretted the absence of fossils. Dr. Harold P. Klein of ARC said the Viking results "do not rigorously prove there is life on Mars, nor do they rigorously disprove it." New York Times reporter John Noble Wilford described the failure to detect on Mars the organic compounds essential to life processes on earth as "a major surprise," causing most of the confusion over interpretations of the data; a NYT editorial noted that the Mars findings had forced a new look at theories about the origins of life on earth, which "seems neither so certain nor so inevitable as it did before the Viking landings . . ." (W Post, 10 Nov 76, A-9; NYT, 10 Nov 76, A-16; 18 Nov 76, 42)
The National Aeronautic Assn., at its annual meeting in Washington, D.C., announced its selections for Elder Statesmen of Aviation for 1976. The award, established in 1954, honored outstanding Americans over the age of 60 who had made significant contributions to aeronautics. The three persons chosen were: J. Leland Atwood, 72, leader in aviation for more than 50 yr, who headed North American Rockwell (now Rockwell Intl.) until his retirement in 1970 and originated the design concept for the P-51 Mustang; Clifford W. Henderson, 81, originator of the Bendix and Thompson trophy races and the Power Puff Derby, and manager of the National Air Races 1928-1939; and Blanche Wilcox Noyes, 76, who learned to fly in 1928 and won the national closed-course race in 1929, the Miami All-American air race in 1931, and the Bendix trophy for a cross-country flight in 1936. (NAA release 9 Nov 76)
INTELSAT announced plans to conduct a 1977 program of research and development costing more than $5.4 million, to advance technology for its global comsat system. The R&D yearly budget, approved by the recent meeting of the board of governors, would consist of $1.3 million for research to identify technology that appeared promising for the future INTELSAT projects; $2.2 million for contract authority for projects with near-term applications; and $1.9 million for in-house support of such projects. Areas of exploratory research would include spacecraft and microwave technology, communications processing, analysis of propagation and transmission, and studies of materials and devices. Near-term projects would include development of antennas, transponders, and other components; investigation of cross polarization; development of NiH batteries, voice-channel decoders, high-power transistors, and improvement of techniques. (INTELSAT Release 76-33-M)
ESA announced acceptance of the first solid-propellant apogee boost motor produced in Europe-designed and made by SNIA-Viscosa of Italy in collaboration with SEP of France-for use in its Geos (geostationary scientific satellite). The motor, measuring 1.1 m long with maximum diameter of 0.7 m, weighed 305 kg, more than the remainder of the spacecraft, and would serve to inject the satellite into geostationary orbit from the elliptical transfer orbit provided by a Thor-Delta launch vehicle. The satellite was scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral in April 1977. (ESA release 9 Nov 76)
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