Aug 17 1977
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MSFC announced it had begun the first of a series of tests on the external propellant tank of the Shuttle to verify its ability to stand the structural stresses of launch. The proportions of the tank required conduct of the test in phases; the first tests would check out the intertank structure joining the two main segments of the external tank and containing the forward attach points for the two solid-fuel rocket boosters carried by the Shuttle. The heaviest loading would occur at these points, both while the Shuttle was on its pad and while the boosters were thrusting during flight.
The tests would apply upward loads as great as 4.35 million lb to the intertank cylinder subjected to opposing downward forces. The loads would come from computer-actuated hydraulic jacks, 28 on the forward end of the test article and as many as 10 in the center section. Chuck Verschoore, MSFC test engineer, said the forces exerted by the jacks could simulate bending and twisting effects as well as straight up-and-down loading, and could go as high as 140% of the tank's design limits. Test engineers would receive data from as many as 2800 measurement channels. Follow-on tests would check the external tank segments containing the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants. (MSFC Release 77-149)
The NY Times reported an announcement by Hughes Aircraft Company that Telesat Canada had chosen it to negotiate a contract for a new generation of Anik comsats operating at frequencies of 12 and 14 billion cycles per second, to replace in the 1980s the 4- and 6-billion-cps now the standard for national and international communications systems. The higher frequencies would ease radiocommunications crowding in 22 300 mile altitude equatorial orbits, and would expand the number of satellite communications channels to approach the number available on terrestrial microwave and cable links.
Telesat Canada, which had operated that country's domestic comsat system since 1972, said that two rival companies-RCA's Astroelectronics Div. and GE's Space Division-remained in the running with Hughes for award of the contract, which could go as high as $50 million. RCA had built the Satcoms used by the U.S., and GE had built a direct broadcast comsat for Japan. The NYT said the electronics industry had been watching the competition closely because the same three companies had been vying to build 3 data-transmission satellites for Satellite Business Systems in the U.S. (NYT, Aug 17/77, 49)
INTELSAT reported that the Peoples Republic of China on Aug. 16 had become the 98th member of the organization. Peking's Administration of Long Distance Telecommunications had signed the operating agreement, making the PRC the 28th Asian nation to join INTELSAT. China, which had used INTELSAT since 1972, currently had 3 ground stations, 2 near Peking and 1 near Shanghai. It currently operated 23 full-time satellite circuits on the INTELSAT system and was using TV capacity on an as-needed basis. (INTELSAT Release 77-20-I)
The Natl. Space Club announced that the guest speaker at its Aug. luncheon would be Col. W.J. Mellors, head of the Washington, D.C. office of the European Space Agency (ESA) since 1973. Col. Mellors had begun his career with the British army in 1942 and had become commander of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in the Middle East by 1965. After joining ESA in 1970, he 'worked until 1973 with ESTEC, the technology center in the Netherlands. ESA had united the programs of its predecessor organizations, the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) and the European Organization for Development and Construction of Space-Vehicle Launchers (ELDO); its members nations were Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. (NSC bulletin Aug 17/77)
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