Aug 4 1977
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(New page: NASA announced it had scheduled launch of two Voyager spacecraft toward the outer planets, one on Aug. 20 and the other about 12 days later. The Voyager 2 would go first and the [[Voya...)
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NASA announced it had scheduled launch of two Voyager spacecraft toward the outer planets, one on Aug. 20 and the other about 12 days later. The Voyager 2 would go first and the Voyager 1, flying a faster trajectory, would go later; it would reach Jupiter 4mo ahead of Voyager 2, probably in March 1979. By the time it reached Saturn, Voyager 1 would be 9mo ahead of the other craft. NASA planned to use the gravitational field of Jupiter to send the Voyagers on to Saturn by means of a "slingshot" technique; Voyager 1 would reach Saturn in 1980, 3.2yr after launch, on a trip that would take 6.1yr without the gravity assist. Estimated cost of the Voyager project (not counting launch vehicles, tracking and data acquisition, or flight support) would be $320 million. (NASA Release 77-136)
NASA announced that IBM Corp., under contract to LaRC, had developed the most efficient solar cell for space use reported to date. The new solar cells, derived from compound semiconductors gallium aluminum arsenide and gallium arsenide, had an efficiency of 18% instead of 13 to 14% for commercially available silicon-derived cells. High efficiency cells could fill a power requirement with fewer numbers, meaning less weight to be launched and maneuvered as well as reduction in mission cost. The new cells had a "window layer" of gallium aluminum arsenide on the surface of the gallium arsenide cell. Absorption of sunlight in an ultra thin layer just below the surface of a solar cell had meant loss of some of the energy at the surface, accounting for the low efficiencies of previous cells; presence of the window layer had reduced this loss. (NASA Release 77-163)
JSC announced that a summer workshop at the Univ. of Calif., San Diego, would discuss scientific and technological exploitation of lunar and asteroid materials. Participants selected for the workshop were geoscientists and geoengineers from government, private industry, and the university community. Univ. of Calif. professor and lunar researcher Dr. James Arnold, chairman of the workshop committee, would present to NASA's Office of Space Science the group's recommendations on research to be attempted and on the exploitation possible at present levels of understanding. (JSC Release 77-43)
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