Feb 11 1993

From The Space Library

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Current revision

NASA announced that scientist Dr. Robert Watson would receive the Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on February 15.

The AAAS was to honor Dr. Watson, Director of the Process Studies Program Office in NASA's Earth Science and Applications Division, and Dan Albritton of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), for their contributions to the scientific and policy discussions on global ozone depletion. (NASA Release 93-26)

NASA announced the selection of 11 new science mission concepts in the Discovery Program for further study during this fiscal year. The Discovery missions were selected from 73 concepts discussed at the Discovery Mission Workshop held last November. The potential projects were those thought to have the highest scientific value as well as a reasonable chance of meeting budgetary guidelines. Discovery missions were designed to proceed from development to flight in less than three years.

The 11 mission concepts to be studied were: Mercury Polar Flyby, Hermes Global Orbiter to Mercury, Venus Multiprobe Mission, Venus Composition Probe, Cometary Coma Chemical Composition, Mars Upper Atmosphere Dynamics, Energetics, and Evolution Mission, Comet Nucleus Tour, Small Missions to Asteroids and Comets, Near Earth Asteroid Returned Sample, Earth Orbital Ultraviolet Jovian Observer, and Wind Sample Return. In addition, three concepts were targeted for further consideration during the fiscal year: Mainbelt Asteroid Rendezvous Explorer, Comet Nucleus Penetrator, and Mars Polar Pathfinder. (NASA Release 93-027)

Astro-D, a cooperative x-ray astronomy mission with Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and NASA, was scheduled for launching February 11 from the ISAS Kagoshima Space Center in Japan.

The Astro-D project, which was to put a high-capability x-ray observatory into orbit, had been designed to help understand the physics of a variety of cosmic sources. During early operations, the observatory's four telescopes were to point at approximately two targets per day. This number would be increased to as many as six per day; the targets would include supernova remnants, stars, neutron stars, black holes, active galactic nuclei, and clusters of galaxies. (NASA Release 93-28)

NASA completed its review of the flight readiness of Columbia Shuttle Mission STS-55, a mission dedicated primarily to the German Space Agency for research in life and microgravity sciences. During the review, inspectors decided to replace the Shuttle's high pressure oxidizer pumps.

The replacement comes because officials were uncertain whether the retainers for seals in Columbia's high-pressure oxidizer pumps were a new and tighter kind or an old variety. If a retainer broke, a piece of it could damage the turbine blades and the engine could shut down, according to Larry Salter, its a main-engine expert at NASA. A paperwork problem caused the confusion. NASA officials said that at least some of the eight Space Shuttle missions launched since March 1992 might have been put into orbit without proper inspection of the retainers. (NASA Note to Editors: N93-7; B Sun, Feb 11/93; USA Today, Feb 11/97; W Post, Feb 11/93; P Inq, Feb 11/93; AP, Feb 11/93; NY Times, Feb 12/93; Av Wk, Feb 15/93)

The Russians have attempted to sell previously classified Soviet satellite pictures to American scientists and oil companies. The photographs were not taken by Soviet spy satellites but by other spacecraft, such as the Mir Space Station. Oil companies considering prospecting for oil in Russia were particularly interested, according to Sergey Vikhrov, of the All-Russian Foreign Economic Association on Geological Prospecting. (AP, February 11/93)

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